A Guide to the 18th National Assembly of Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) A PRE-ASSEMBLY REPORT OF THE CSIS AMERICAS PROGRAM, MEXICO PROJECT George W. Grayson November 2001 Policy Paper on the Americas A Guide to the 18th National Assembly of Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) A PRE-ASSEMBLY REPORT OF THE CSIS AMERICAS PROGRAM, MEXICO PROJECT George W. Grayson Policy Papers on the Americas Volume XII, Study 6 November 2001 CSIS Americas Program About CSIS For four decades, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has been dedicated to providing world leaders with strategic insights on— and policy solutions to—current and emerging global issues. CSIS is led by John J. Hamre, formerly deputy secretary of defense, who became president and CEO in April 2000. It is guided by a board of trustees chaired by former senator Sam Nunn and consisting of prominent individuals from both the public and private sectors. The CSIS staff of 190 researchers and support staff focus primarily on three subject areas. First, CSIS addresses the full spectrum of new challenges to national and international security. Second, it maintains resident experts on all of the world’s major geographical regions. Third, it is committed to helping to develop new methods of governance for the global age; to this end, CSIS has programs on technology and public policy, international trade and finance, and energy. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., CSIS is private, bipartisan, and tax- exempt. CSIS does not take specific policy positions; accordingly, all views expressed herein should be understood to be solely those of the author(s). © 2001 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. All rights reserved. The CSIS Press Center for Strategic and International Studies 1800 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006 Tel: (202) 887-3119 Fax: (202) 775-3199 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: http://www.csis.org/ CSIS Mexico Project Leadership Sidney Weintraub, Acting Director, Americas Program Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, Director, Mexico Project M. Delal Baer, Chairman, Mexico Project Meghan Bishop, Research Assistant, Mexico Project © 2001 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. All rights reserved. This report was prepared under the aegis of the CSIS Western Hemisphere Election Study series. Comments are welcome and should be directed to: CSIS Americas Program 1800 K Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20006 Telephone: (202) 775-3299 Fax: (202) 466-4739 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.csis.org George W. Grayson Contents List of Tables .......................................................................................................2 Acknowledgments................................................................................................3 Section One: Introduction ....................................................................................4 Section Two: Key Players......................................................................................8 Section Three: Evolution of the Revolutionary Party............................................10 Section Four: Hot Issues and Hot Committees....................................................12 Section Five: Possible Significance of the PRI’s 18th National Assembly...............20 About the Authors .............................................................................................24 1 A Guide to the 18th National Assembly of Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) List of Tables Table 1. Chronology of Assembly Activities ..........................................................7 Table 2. State-by-State Breakdown of PRI Vote on July 2, 2000 .........................15 Table 3. PRI Performance in State and Local Elections.......................................16 Table 4. Governors, November 2001..................................................................18 Table 5. PRI Presidents and Secretaries-General, 1936–2001.............................18 2 George W. Grayson Acknowledgments I wish to thank Tess Owens, secretary in the Government Department of the College of William & Mary, for spending countless hours expertly typing and retyping this manuscript. Stacey Cooprider, another wonderful human being, deserves recognition for her tremendous contribution to the preparation of the text, as does Valerie Trovato, who expertly and gracefully manages William & Mary’s Government Department. Student assistant Amanda Potts did a yeoman’s job in revising various tables, and graduate student Andy Mack proved a superb proofreader. Mexico’s superb Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) provided incomparable help in obtaining the statistical information that helps to fill these pages. In particular, I am indebted to Jacqueline Peschard, Elecotoral Advisor, Lic. Manuel Carrillo Poblano, IFE’s first-rate chief of staff for international affairs, and to Carlos Navarro, Director of Electoral Studies and Political Agreements. Also assisting hugely in finding electoral and biographical data were Lic. Miguel Medina Hernández, director of the library of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, and the simpática staff member of the National Action Party’s social communications office-María Feliciana Alvarez. No matter how often I called, Ms. Alvarez immediately responded: “How can I assist you?-and she meant it! She is truly a jewel in her party’s crown and I trust that National Actions leadership will reward her with a huge private office in the party’s new headquarters. Lic. Heriberto Sánchez, a staff member in the PAN’s Electoral Action Section, provided hard-to- find results for state and local elections held on October 7. Long meals with Lic. Guillermo Máynez Gil and Professor Oscar Aguilar Asencio, two of Mexico’s most astute political observers, provided culinary and intellectual stimulation. They are both gold mines of knowledge and played a crucial role in helping me revise my roughly hewn early drafts. At a time when it’s fashionable to bash bureaucrats, I must say “muchas gracias” to all of the Mexican and U.S. public servants who held off-the-record conversations with me. Their observations were invaluable. This Guide would not have seen the light of day without the hard work, thorough commitment, and unparalleled professionalism of the Mexico Project’s Meghan Bishop, one of the most talented young professionals in Washington, D.C. At CSIS, I would also like to thank Amy Cougenour-Betancourt, Deputy Director of the Americas Program and the Publications Department for their editorial suggestions. With such bountiful assistance, the author must bear full responsibility for any errors that may have crept into these pages. George W. Grayson <[email protected]> 3 A Guide to the 18th National Assembly of Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) Section One: An Introduction to the National Assembly Why did PRI leaders decide to hold the party’s 18th National Assembly on November 17–20? Above all, the inauguration of Vicente Fox Quesada, candidate of the National Action Party (PAN), on December 1, 2000, converted the PRI into a rudderless boat, making eccentric circles on Mexico’s political waters. Since 1929, the revolutionary party had depended on the nation’s chief executive—who often transmitted his wishes through the secretary of government (Gobernación)—for its ideology, legislative agenda, leadership, dispute resolution, and general orientation. Suddenly, PRI officials faced a political foe in the Los Pinos presidential palace. Without the country’s president to function as its North Star, the party found itself adrift. The lack of direction sparked vicious infighting: Who was responsible for the loss of the presidency? Who was best suited to assume the party’s helm? What should be the PRI’s relationship with the Fox administration? What procedures should the PRI follow in reaching key decisions in the new environment? As if in denial because of losing the presidency, many party bigshots cast about for scapegoats. Some heaped scorn on their defeated standard-bearer, Francisco Labastida Ochoa, and on his ally, party president Dulce María Sauri Riancho. Others lambasted former president Ernesto Zedillo (1994–2000) for championing neoliberal policies deemed responsible for the erosion of the PRI’s grassroots support. Fox’s Political Difficulties Fortunately for priístas, Fox has encountered a series of political setbacks—some his doing, some not—that make one wonder whether a reverse Midas touch has affected him. First, after devoting his first four months to indigenous issues, he satisfied neither the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) nor opponents of autonomy and expanded opportunities for Indian communities. Second, the prominence given to Fox’s suggested extension of the unpopular value-added tax (IVA) to food, medicine, and books supplied detractors with an excuse to attack and attenuate his tax reform. This will postpone final action on both compromise legislation and the 2002 budget. Third, although a skilled vote winner, Fox has encountered difficulty in negotiating and bargaining with legislators to build consensus in the 500-member Chamber of Deputies and the 128-seat Senate. Fourth, Fox has faced criticism for his extensive international travel instead of, as some people feel, focusing on domestic priorities. In contrast to his predecessors Fox will have made an unprecedented 13 trips abroad, visiting upward of 25 countries during his first year at Los Pinos. Fifth, despite the progress Fox made toward a