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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!gumby!wupost!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!daemon
- From: imaz%leland.stanford.edu@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu
- Subject: MICHOACAN: Salinas's Political Defeat
- Message-ID: <1992Nov17.005827.26294@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
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- Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
- Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 00:58:27 GMT
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- Lines: 78
-
- MICHOACAN: Salinas's Political Defeat
-
- Eduardo Villase]or is the fourteenth governor that has fallen in the
- first four years of President Salinas's six year term. The removal of
- Villasenor as the governor of the State of Michoacan is the most
- important political defeat of Mexico's President and demonstrates the
- crisis in the Mexican political system. In the opinion of Luis Javier
- Garrido, one of the most important political analysts in Mexico: "The
- fall of the illegitimate governor Eduardo Villase]or Pe]a, twenty one
- days after his entering office is, of course, a direct consequence of
- the failure of a system of imposition which for many decades enabled
- the executive branch of the government to impose its choices on the
- political entities of the country." (La Jornada, October 9th, 1992).
-
- During the entire electoral process in Michoacan the PRD (Party of the
- Democratic Revolution) questioned the legality of the electoral
- authorities who permited and promoted irregularities such as: the use
- of public resources to finance the official party (Institutional
- Revolutionary Party) candidate's campaign; the sudden appearance of
- armed troops in the State's capital during the election process; as
- well as the use of various forms of pressure which forced the citizens
- to vote for the PRI (Salinas's party).
-
- These irregularities in the process were also found by "Convergencia
- por la democracia", organization which includes 150 non partisan civic
- associations and was created to defend the citizen's political rights
- (Michoacan 1992, Electoral Observer's Report, presented by
- "Convergencia de Organismos Civiles por la Democracia.)
-
- The removal of Eduardo Villasenor can be attributed to the multiple
- protests lead by the PRD. On September 15th Eduardo Villasenor took
- office in the presence of President Salinas outside the City Hall
- which was being blocked by the citizens. From that day on, the State
- of Michoacan could not be ruled by Villasenor: the citizens blocked
- government buildings and highways, demonstrated against the governor
- in the different state's townships, and protested against him at every
- public event (the people threw rotten tomatoes at him and told him to
- leave in his visit to the municipality of Lazaro Cardenas). (Proceso.
- October 12, 1992)
-
- On October 6th Villasenor was finally removed as governor of
- Michoacan, one day after he sustained that he had been duly elected to
- rule the State for six years (El Nacional, October 5th, 1992).
-
- Ausencio Chavez, who was pronounced provisional governor of Michoacan
- in the absence of Villasenor, has two problems to solve:1) attend to
- the citizens' demands for new elections in order to elect a new
- governor democratically and 2) guarantee a clean and peaceful process
- for the mayor's election which has been programmed for next December.
-
- The case of Villasenor explains Mexico's political crisis, brought
- about by the Salinas administration. Adolfo Gilly, well known
- historian and political analyst affirms: "The salinism ... it's
- unwilligness to initiate a political reform... is forcing
- modernization the only way possible, amd in a way not anticipated by
- Salinas: the increase of confrontation, conflicts and negotiations in
- real life, of an opposition movement which acts independently ".(La
- Jornada, October,92)
-
- This situation explains the fall of fourteen governors (approximately
- 40% of the state governments in the country) during the present
- administration. Among these, four governors were selected directly by
- President Salinas: Ramon Aguirre in Guanajuato, Fausto Zapata in San
- Luis Potosi, Salvador Neme Castillo in Tabasco, and Eduardo Villasenor
- in Michoacan. (La Jornada, October 9th, 1992 and Motivos, October
- 12th, 1992)
-
- The political situation in Mexico is delicate. If the present
- administration is not able to resolve these problems, Mexico could
- enter a period of social unrest with dire consequences.
-
- Hoping that was interesting for you to know more about whats going on
- in Mexico. I will be bringing more information about it. Especialy of
- what is happening in Tamaulipas- North East of Mexico- right now.
-
- DEMOCRACIA YA, PATRIA PARA TODOS!
-
- Carlos
-