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Former Mexico City mayor muses on Salinas' electoral techniques and looks ahead to July vote
His name touches on two great currents in the Mexican conscious. The son of one of nation's greatest presidents founded what many call the first real challenge to the ruling party, when the man named after a legendary Aztec rebel split from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the late '80s to form the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).
Many observers cited as the reason for the split his anger over being passed over by former President Miguel de la Madrid and his all-powerful dedazo leading up to the 1988 presidential election. Carlos Salinas de Gortari was chosen instead as the PRI candidate.
What transpired in the months that followed has become electoral lore. Cardenas enjoyed a groundswell of support against the Harvard-educated, exceptionally slick Salinas and was ahead on election night until the heralded, state-of-the-art computer system crashed. When the system booted back up, Salinas was in the lead and de la Madrid's pick would roll into Los Pinos, while shouts of "fraude" boomed around the country.
Cardenas ran for the presidency two more times, but he would never get as close to victory as he was that one night in the summer of 1988. He did become Mexico City's first opposition mayor in 1997.
With this year's midterm elections fast approaching, BUSINESS MEXICO conducted a telephone interview with Cardenas, who is currently teaching a class at the University of Chicago on the rise of Cardenismo. In the brief conversation, the former governor and senator from Michoacan claimed Fox's "Alliance for Change" platform has proved a farce. he also expressed his continued concern over the nation's ability to conduct transparent elections and stressed the importance of rolling with the punches in the high-stakes world of Latin American politics.
Many people have mentioned you as the ideal candidate to head the PRD delegation in the Senate. Will you be a candidate?
No, I have not considered or planned this. I am going to wait and see how the situation develops and look at the situation in 2005. The candidates have already been registered, so I will only be involved in these elections as an observer and a supporter...