Cuauhtemoc Cardenas

Cuauhtemoc Cardenas moved into Mexico’s presidential residence when he was only 9 months old and lived there five years. Uncomfortable with the idea of living in Chapultepec Castle, President Lazaro Cardenas, his revered father, moved his quarters later to a small house on a hill surrounded by pine trees, known as Los Pinos. Ever since, Cardenas the younger has been trying to go home again.

He first tried in 1988. After realizing that the method by which the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, chose its presidential candidate amounted to an anointing, Cardenas called for the democratization of his party. He lost and quit the PRI. He then formed a coalition of parties that chose him as its presidential candidate. Cardenas surprised everyone by seriously challenging the candidate of his former party, Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

Cardenas still swears that he was robbed of victory, a charge that is hard to prove. But there is no doubt that opposition parties had virtually no chance of winning in 1988.

Cardenas ran again for the presidency in 1994, a bad year to ask citizens to vote for change in Mexico. The year before, the PRI’s presidential candidate was assassinated. Then, on Jan. 1, 1994, an armed rebellion broke out in Chiapas. Mexican citizens went to the polls and voted for political stability in the person of Ernesto Zedillo.

Cardenas’ chances this year are bleaker than ever. In a race that began with six candidates but is narrowing to two, Cardenas consistently ranks a distant third in the polls. Though he was elected governor of Mexico City in 1997, he has few accomplishments to brag about. He does believe, however, that things have improved during his tenure.

But Cardenas is optimistic, as usual. He’s accustomed to being the underdog, he says. Furthermore, he points out that his party, the Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, has a national presence now.

Cardenas has been married to Celeste for 37 years, and they have three children. The eldest, Lazaro, is a member of the Chamber of Deputies. Cardenas was interviewed in Los Angeles and in Mexico City, where he lives.

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Question: Wasn’t the PRI primary election last November a big step forward for democracy in Mexico?

Answer: It was just another fraudulent state election managed by the state, but I must recognize that the PRI’s advertising blitz has been so efficient that a large part of Mexico’s public opinion doesn’t see it as the usual kind of PRI election.

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Q: But wasn’t the PRI’s internal campaign brutally competitive?

A: The campaign was brutal. But it also set in motion the PRI’s electoral mechanisms that have always been so effective nationally. The opposition parties must take note of this. It worked for the PRI as a mock election nine months before the presidential election.

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Q: How do you compare your current candidacy with those in 1988 and in 1994?

A: I feel stronger now, and there is a reason for it. The PRD is now a national party, and our organization has grown dramatically. We have won governorships in five states and offices in 300 municipalities. We have the second-largest representation in the Chamber of Deputies.

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Q: Are you a good governor of Mexico City?

A: I worked very hard to combat corruption, to improve the infrastructure of the city, to take care of the social problems of the people . . . and I think we accomplished a lot.

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Q: Can you give me some examples?

A: We arrested more than 1,200 judicial agents. We either fired or jailed about 800 police officers. We stopped the rising trend of crime and reversed it. For example, in the last four months of 1999, there were no bank robberies compared with 200 during the same period in 1998. We have brought potable water to areas of the city where there was none. We paved streets at double the pace of past administrations. We have set up offices across the city to assist women and street kids with their problems.

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Q: Do you believe ordinary citizens have noticed these improvements and will vote for you in July?

A: Well, I am very aware that there is a permanent campaign in the media to belittle what we have done. But I . . . am sure the people notice the improvements.

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Q: How do you judge Mexico’s transition to democracy?

A: Painfully slow.

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Q: Yet, doesn’t your party govern Mexico City virtually without opposition?

A: We need to modify our electoral laws to allow for political coalitions. We have to modify the Constitution to allow for . . . the referendum, the popular initiative, plebiscites. We have to define the tools for impeachment and accountability for public officials. We have to limit the power of the president to make real the balance of powers.

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Q: What difference would a PRD government make for the people?

A: PRD governments are honest, whereas PRI governments, in general terms, are corrupt.

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Q: But all the PRD governors are former PRI members.

A: Yes, but none of them is a crook.

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Q: Are you putting your reputation on the line for them?

A: Totally. I personally vouch for them all. But honesty is not the only thing that sets us apart. We have very different public policies.

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Q: Imagine you are president but Congress is divided among three parties. How can you make things happen?

A: That’s something that happens in many democratic countries and shouldn’t scare us: You talk to the opposition, negotiate with them and hope that, at the end of the day, reason will prevail.

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Q: Then, how come the PRD has been unable to negotiate one single issue with President Ernesto Zedillo?

A: Because neither Zedillo nor the PRI, which has a majority in Congress, are guided by reason. They hold their jobs to defend their personal interests. That is why they invested a fortune rescuing the banking system instead of spending that money on social programs.

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Q: Don’t you agree that if the banking system had not been rescued, it would have been a complete disaster for Mexico?

A: No. The problem is the way it was done. Instead of paying the money to the banks, we proposed to rescue debtors and to assist businesses that are productive so that they can pay back what they owe.

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Q: What is Mexico’s worst problem?

A: The increasing number of Mexicans living in poverty. Unemployment is also on the rise, and the economy is stagnated.

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Q: How will you decrease poverty?

A: With economic growth and more investment. There are no magical solutions to alleviate poverty.

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Q: How will Mexico attract foreign investors?

A: By creating conditions that are favorable for them. Doing away with corruption. Reforming our fiscal system to make it promote the country’s economic growth. Investing in productive activities. Creating employment. These are some of the things we have to do to alleviate the terrible standard of living that is prevalent now in Mexico.

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Q: Do you believe your image is attractive to foreign investors?

A: In the two years of my tenure as mayor, there was more foreign and domestic investment in Mexico City than during the six years of my predecessor.

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Q: In what sectors of the economy was there heavy investment?

A: Construction . . . but there was also a lot of investment . . . in financial services.

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Q: Do you accept the free-market economy?

A: It would be absurd and suicidal to change the constitutional model. Yet, our economic policy must set social-policy goals, which is what past governments have neglected to do.

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Q: Would you privatize more state-owned companies?

A: There is nothing else left to privatize.

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Q: Pemex, the state-run oil company, will require a huge influx of capital in the next 15 years. Would you consider privatizing some parts of it?

A: I believe we must invest in Pemex, but the problem with Pemex is the current fiscal system. . . . The government uses 90% or 95% of the company’s profits for its expenditures, leaving Pemex with no possibilities to invest in its needs.

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Q: What are the alternatives to Pemex?

A: I would formalize the informal economy. For example, I would broaden the base of the taxpayers. I would do a fiscal reform that would allow us to get more tax revenue.

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Q: How would you increase exports?

A: We must seek to incorporate small and medium-size businesses into globalization. We must help these smaller businesses become more competitive in the domestic and international markets. We must reactivate the agricultural sector to include regions that have been kept isolated from globalization.

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Q: Has the North American Free Trade Agreement worked for Mexico?

A: NAFTA has worked, but domestic economic policies have not worked. The past three administrations . . . did not have a plan to integrate the maquiladoras into the domestic market. We have to have an industrial policy that seeks to integrate all its parts. There hasn’t been any effort to decentralize the economy, and, as a result, our economic growth is very uneven.

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Q: What parts of NAFTA would you amend?

A: Agriculture needs major repairs. The way it is structured now is a disaster for the sugar industry, grains, cattle, etc.

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Q: How serious is the problem of public safety and how does it affect investment in Mexico?

A: We are talking two problems. When the standard of living of the people deteriorates, crime grows. One way to deal with crime is improving the people’s standard of living. But we also must launch a frontal attack against organized crime, and that begins with cleaning up the police forces. When a governor of a state heads a band of kidnappers, as we have had in Mexico, we have a serious problem.

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Q: How do you judge the relationship between Mexico and the United States?

A: From one government to the other it looks fine. But the relationship should be more equitable. The Mexican government must work harder to make that happen. . . . Too many Mexicans die crossing the border. We have to look at the causes of migration and devise strategies like those the Europeans worked out to compensate poorer countries like Greece, Portugal and Spain . . . so they could compete with the continent’s more developed nations.

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Q: Would you travel to Washington and propose compensatory funding for regions in Mexico?

A: I would tell Washington that the worst thing we can do . . . is to ignore the problem. We must talk about immigration and many other issues that are constant problems in the bilateral relationship.

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Q: Do you believe Washington would be sympathetic to these proposals?

A: Absolutely. The problem is that the Mexican government has not even tried to talk about these issues.

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Q: Do you believe Mexico cooperates with the U.S. on matters relating to drug trafficking?

A: We have to clean up our police force, but we should also expect a more energetic response from the U.S. After all, it consumes more drugs than any other country in the world and . . . profits from it the most. *