PRI's Labastida says he wants to be conduit for change in Mexico

Labastida

June 28, 2000
Web posted at: 10:17 p.m. EDT (0217 GMT)

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From staff and wire reports

MEXICO CITY -- Francisco Labastida says he has been swimming against the political current ever since he launched his presidential campaign.

The candidate for the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI) not only has to convince voters he will bring change to Mexico, he has to convince the country that his party, in power for the last 71 years, has a role in an increasingly democratic Mexico.

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"Some things have changed and some things have not changed," Labastida said in a recent interview with CNN. "A process of change in such a big country cannot happen overnight."

The election is to take place Sunday. Labastida and Vicente Fox, the candidate of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), are locked in a dead heat in what is seen as a watershed election that could seal Mexico's transition to full-blown democracy from one-party rule.

End of an era

Labastida is the first PRI candidate who had to win a party primary. Previously, the ruling president selected his successor through a ritual known as the "dedazo."

Loosely translated, it means "pointed finger."

That all changed last year, when the PRI leadership took a calculated risk and announced that it would hold a primary to pick the party candidate.

Challenged by three other party leaders, Labastida won a landslide victory last November, and he quickly promised an administration of change if he won the presidency.

The change proposed by Labastida has to do with humanizing economic policies.

"I propose that we change strategies so that all of us share the costs of development and that those who have less don't pay more," he said.

The official party has traditionally had support among the rural poor.

Labastida has concentrated on those voters -- offering access to credit and vowing to eradicate the poverty that has forced tens of thousands to flee to the United States in search of jobs.

"It is not enough to have economic growth if we don't actively work to generate more jobs," he said.

Labastida has been in public service for 37 years. He was governor of the state of Sinaloa, and also served as secretary of the interior under President Ernesto Zedillo.

It was while he was interior minister that he faced the glare of U.S. newspaper reports saying he turned a blind eye to drug trafficking during his term as governor of Sinaloa.

Labastida was quick to deny the charge: "During my governorship, not only did we not protect or aid any individual or group connected to crime or delinquency, but, in fact, my family and I were victims of violent aggression because of the fight that we face," he said.

Mexican Foreign Minister Rosario Green filed a formal protest with the United States over the newspaper report, which cited a secret report obtained from the Central Intelligence Agency.

The CIA refused to confirm or deny the existence of the report.

Some say Labastida has been groomed to be the next president, but he says he never looked for the job.

"I said to myself when I entered public service that I would work to produce results, not to climb the ladder of power. I proposed to work towards bettering the country and that has always been my primary objective," he said.

If he were to attain the presidency, it would be after Mexico's most closely watched election in recent history, and possibly the most democratic.

CNN Mexico City Bureau Chief Harris Whitbeck and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Candidate Vicente Fox's campaign site(In Spanish)
Candidate Francisco Labastida's campaign site
Federal Electoral Institute(In Spanish)
The Council of the Americas
PAN -- National Action Party (in Spanish)
World History Archives: Mexican politics
Internet resources on Mexican politics
CIA Factbook 1999: Mexico
InterWeb Mexico

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