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"Mexico Newsletter
Oirtcloralr of ImttUittt'
PRI Hardliners Gain in Cabinet Shuffle
lougn Mexican
political pundits hadound of Cabinet moves inost believed Salinas would make changes only to bring some key advisers into the Cabinet. To their surprise, Salinas replaced the Secretary of Government, who oversees internal security and elections, and the Attorney General. These changes, togetherhuffling of key appointments in the Institutional Revolutionary Partyuggest that Salinas is strengthening his control ovcrdpmestic politics well before campaigning begins for national elections
The new Government Secretary, Patrcxinio Gonzalez Garrido,ormer governor of
Other changes also reflect Salinas's intention to exert tighter control over domestic
f
olitics. Paredes's predecessor, Arturo Nunez, takes over as director of the Federal lectoral Institute, which controls key functions in national elections. Meanwhile, another official fromfor his genius at getting votes for theecome responsible for ectoral affairs under Secretary Gonzalez.
appoint
respected neaa ot tne Mexican riuman Kights Commission,lo become the new Attorney General. Carpizo, whoeputation for integrity, is credited with persistence in investigating human rights violations by police during the past two
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Mexico Newsletter
His appointment signals that Mexico Gty will be more sensitive to-and perhaps more responsivecriticism of its human rights record.
Meanwhile, Salinas's replacement of the Secretary of Energy, Mines, and State Industries with one of his closest confidants, Emilio Lozoya Thalmann, widens the field of politicians seeking the PR1 presidential nominationozoya's appointment to the Cabinet gives him the opportunity to prove his political talents before jockeying among presidential aspirants begins in earnest later this year. Lozoya's chances to get the nod from Salinas could dim, however, if otherexico City mayor Manuel Camacho Soli's and Social Security Institute director Emilio Gamboa Pa iron-receive Cabinet appointments later this year, as is widely speculated. |
Events
7 February Gubernatorial, stale legislative, and municipal elections in Baja California Sur
ibruary Gubernatorial, state legislative, and municipal
election* in Guerrero, Hidalgo, and Quintana Roo.
ebruary Attorney General Carptzo attends the Central American Aniinareotic Summit in Belize.
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Developments
New violence erupted following disputed municipal elections in southernMexko. The, while focusing on creating more effective organizational
Postdecuon violence in Qaxaca and Michoacan since December has left several dead and many wounded; more confrontations between opposition militants and police are likely,The violence resultc^&onrenorbi^^cwernment security forces and ruling party officials to dislodge leftist opposition demonstrators from municipal buildings that they had taken over to protest vote fraud in recent local elections. Inarty of Democratic Revolution (PRD) stronghold, state officials have forciblyd^least five townhalls,
ary
Security Situation
City has declared that state authorities are to resolve electoral disputes, PRD leaders have organized marches to the Federal District from Oaxaca and Michoacan to highlight their grievances and to hold talks with newly appointed Government Undersecretary Paredes. The violence is likely to spill over to elections in Guerrero scheduled fcrompromise is reached soon.
en its
>roa
The PRI will unveil plans restructuring thenernbership,|J
The party's uireeTacunonai corpora peasants, organized labor, and an amalgam of bureaucrats, technicians, and middle-class voters known as the popular sector-will be integrated into six distinct units within the party. One of these clusters, the Union Movement, will organize labor groups not already part of the Confederation of Mexican Workers, the PRI's formal labor arm. Other groups will attempt lo capture issue-oriented voters who have shied away from PRI membership in the past.
The National Ccnunission on Human Rights (CNDH)-lhc government's premier human nghts crgaruzabon-has exonerated (he military High Command of alleged complicityigh-profile case of human rights abuse. According to Mexican press, the CNDH ruled last month that enlisted soldiers who burned homes and tortured Chihuahua Indians in October were not under orders from their superiors. The military was found to have properly investigated the matter, charged the appropriate soldiers, and reimbursed the victims. The military's prompt and open investigation probably has bouyed its checkered image with the Mexican public
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