TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/111990/1119007.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 3.5 KB | 84 lines

                                                                                MEXICO, Page 75

The Man Behind the Mask


A President who expects -- and gets -- results


    The burden of power has added weight to his taut cheeks,
sketched lines under his eyes and erased the spontaneity from
his grin. The face of Carlos Salinas de Gortari recalls Mexico's
ubiquitous clay masks: one side smiles, free of trenchant
thought; the other is a frieze of pained contemplation. That,
Nobel laureate Octavio Paz wrote in The Labyrinth of Solitude
40 years ago, is typical of his countrymen: "His face is a mask,
and so is his smile."

    Salinas seems to be tugging his country out of a feudal
past, yet he is also pulling Mexico back to an era of
paternalistic rule by an all-powerful caudillo. Behind the
engaging grin, twinkling eyes and computer-like mind is a man
obsessed with his public image. "He is fascinated with power and
control," says a longtime acquaintance. "Whether it's politics
or football, he wants to win every time. And if he doesn't, he
can be very nasty."

    You want to like him. There is something modern and hopeful
about Salinas that separates him from traditional Mexican
politicians. His office gives a carefully cultivated impression
of efficiency. He expects -- and gets -- results. Decisions come
from the top with the expectation that they will be implemented,
not debated.

    Salinas was to the presidential manner born. His father
Raul was Minister of Commerce and Industry in the 1950s and a
man who schooled his son early in the uses of power. Carlos'
family connections and the Ph.D. he earned at Harvard in
political economy and government assured him success. But in
Mexico the path to power is politics, and politics means the
Institutional Revolutionary Party (P.R.I.). By the mid-1970s
Salinas was hustling up the ladder.

    After his appointment as Secretary of Planning and Budget in
1982, he oversaw unpopular cuts in spending and real-wage
reductions that could have dimmed his presidential aspirations.
But only one vote is needed to become chief executive of Mexico
-- that of the sitting President.

    In October 1987 President Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado
unveiled Salinas as the P.R.I.'s presidential candidate for
1988, anointing him as crown prince. But his struggle was not
over. Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, the son of a venerated former
President, broke with the P.R.I. and ran a populist campaign
that drew unexpectedly strong support. Partisans insisted that
Cardenas won and that the 50.3% of the vote credited to Salinas
was the result of massive fraud. Though election chicanery is
commonplace in Mexico, Salinas is the first President to have
the legitimacy of his mandate widely questioned.

    Since taking office, Salinas has worked hard to cement his
personal popularity. He makes frequent helicopter trips, known
as giras, outside Mexico City, to take the national pulse.
Wherever he goes, he renders instant verdicts on pleas for
sewers, electricity, roads, hospitals, and is known to follow
through on his promises.

    Although he is only one-third through his six-year term,
the question of Salinas' successor already pervades Mexican
political life. Because the President is barred from re-election
himself, his ability to impose his choice on the country is the
foundation of the P.R.I.'s lock on power. But the very reforms
he has set in motion may prevent Salinas from extending the
60-year-old political monopoly that put him in office.


By John Moody/Mexico City.