The Governor of Nuevo Leon, Socrates Rizzo Garcia, resigned his office on Thursday, April 18, 1996. Rizzo, a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), acted as governor since 1991. The governor of this northern Mexican state and his administration had been plagued with problems and charges of corruption since 1995.
Over the past several months Rizzo's administration faced increasingly negative criticism. While engaged in an ongoing legal battle for water rights with the neighboring state of Tamaulipas, the administration fought charges of corruption and influence peddling. The governor's sister publicly accussed him of this. In January, four of Rizzo's top advisers resigned in an attempt to divert attention away from the governor and hopefully quell public demands for Rizzo's resignation. The state's debt recently exceeded US$1 billion ($7.5 billion pesos) which is more than double the state's annual budget. The most recent nail in Rizzo's political coffin came when his state attorney general had to resign after being connected to drug traffickers.
On April 18, Rizzo returned to Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo Leon, from a meeting with federal officials in Mexico city. Governor Rizzo met immediately with the state congress upon his return and asked their permission to resign, which they granted.
The resignation inspired political observations from many Mexican politicians. Porfirio Munoz Ledo , president of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) stated, "I hope this will be the beginning of the end of `Salinistas'" Salinistas is a term for politicians who came to power with the help of former President Salinas and/or followers of Salinas, similar to the term Reaganite in U.S. politics.
The general secretary of the National Action Party (PAN), Juan Antonio Garcia Villa believes Rizzo's resignation was done for public opinion reason by the PRI and it in no way relieves Rizzo from criminal or civil prosecution.
Santiago Onate , the PRI president tried to place a positive face on the situation, stating the resignation "is part of the dynamic political scene" and "the health of his party's political power in Nuevo Leon is not damaged." Onate said, "in no way is the PRI losing its capacity to govern."
Although, his resignation has not silenced public demands from diverse groups that he be investigated and prosecuted, Rizzo became the fourth Mexican governor to resign since President Zedillo took office in 1994. The Governors of Guerrero, and Chiapas resigned amid rumors of corruption, while the governor of the state of Mexico resigned to become the nation's secretary of the interior.
The state congress elected former PRI federal deputy and Monterrey mayor, Benjamin Clariond Reyes as the new governor of Nuevo Leon. Clariond immediately appointed former members of his mayoral administration (1991-1994) to state positions similar to those they held at the city level. Esteban Gonzalez took over the tainted attorney general's office and Othon Ruiz Montemayor was appointed the new state treasurer.
Clariond is precluded from running for Governor in 1997. Mexico's constitution contains a "no re-election clause" which applies to those holding office in official capacity, even if only governor or president for a day. Ironically, the PAN 1997 candidate for governor of Nuevo Leon may be Governor Clariond's cousin, Fernando Canales Clariond. Current Monterrey mayor, Jesus Hinojosa would like to run as the PAN candidate also but can do so only if the state legislature repeals the state law requiring gubernatorial candidates be no more than 65 years old.
Sources: Notimex, Norte, Jose Avila, La Jornada, Diario de Juarez, El Paso Times