Frontera NorteSur June 2001

Portrayal of the road in the Cd. Juárez press has depicted its backers as PRI supporters and Chihuahua City residents. Chihuahua Governor Patricio Martínez, a member of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), has backed the road as a necessary part of the state's development. Other proponents of the construction say that the new road will divert traffic and air pollution away from Cd. Juarez's already crowded bridges. Martínez's critics say that he built the road across land owned by his political supporters so as to increase the value of their holdings.

Those against the construction of the Cd. Juárez bypass are portrayed in the press as PAN members and Cd. Juárez residents. The initial round of protest against the road was made by Cd. Juárez residents who believed that the money devoted to the highway should have been spent instead on Cd. Juárez infrastructure needs. Gustavo Elizondo, the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) mayor of Cd. Juárez, has been against the construction as well. Cd. Juárez residents also seems to fear that development projects previously targeted for their city will move instead to San Jerónimo.

New Mexico has expressed its approval of the highway which should increase economic development in southern New Mexico and Doña Ana County, two of the US's poorest areas.

Source: El Diario, May 24, 2001. Article by Margarita Hernández.

Cd. Juárez Mayoral Candidates Attend Rough Public Meeting

The Ciudad Juárez mayoral candidates were verbally attacked by members of the audience at a public meeting held on Saturday, May 19, 2001.

Sponsored by a Catholic group, Comunidades Eclesiales de Base (CEB), the encounter between politicians and city residents began with a session in which people described the difficulties and problems they face in the city's underdeveloped neighborhoods. The second part of the meeting was to have been dedicated to responses by the mayoral candidates to the reports that they had heard. The moderator ended the session after some of the attendees had begun booing the candidates and getting out of their chairs to approach the table where the candidates were seated.

The neighborhoods represented at the meeting were Plutarco Elías Calles, Rancho Anapra, Lomas de Poleo and Granjas de Chapultepec. The main problems discussed by the community representatives were lack of paved streets, running water and land for home building. Also discussed were the general treatment of women and the disappearance of women in Cd. Juárez and corruption in city government.

In attendance were all of the mayoral candidates from all of the major political parties except for Jesús Alfredo Delgado Muñoz of the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN). Attending the meeting were Roberto Barraza Jordán of the PRI, Norma Guillermina Solís Torres of the PRD, Héctor González Mocken from the Alianza por Juárez, Víctor Manuel Reyes Gloria of the PSN and Fernando Holguín Cárdenas from the Convergencia por la Democracia.

The politicians at the meeting were upset that Delgado, the PAN candidate, did not show up as he had promised. Delgado is widely expected to win the election as Ciudad Juárez currently has a PAN mayor, Gustavo Elizondo. Cd. Juárez also voted unanimously for the PAN in last year's presidential election which brought Vicente Fox, a member of the PAN, to the presidency.

Solís, of the PRD, said that Delgado did not join the meeting because, "he doesn't know anything and has nothing to say--he represents the continuation of city corruption and the abuses that Fox hopes to commit." The last charge was a blast at Fox's desire to tax food and medicine, a policy widely disliked throughout Mexico. Solís' party, the left PRD (Partido de la Revolución Democrática), is strongly against the new taxes.

Source: El Diario, May 20, 2001. Article by Juan Manuel Cruz.

State Police Find Plot to Kill Chihuahua Governor

Arturo González Rascón, the Chihuahua Attorney General, said yesterday that investigators have definitively ruled out the possibility that Cruz Victoria Loya acted alone when she allegedly shot Chihuahua Governor Patricio Martínez on January 17, 2001. This stands in contrast to statements made by González in late January when he said that his office was not investigating any sort of plot in the assassination attempt.

Previously, on January 24, Mexican President Vicente Fox said on television that he saw the attempted murder of Governor Martínez as the work of narcotraffickers. This view was substantiated in following weeks by a letter from the FBI which has been much-discussed in the Cd. Juárez media. The letter said that the FBI had heard from an informant inside the Cd. Juárez drug cartel that there was a plan to assassinate Governor Martínez.

González said that he began to believe in a murder conspiracy after mercury capsules were found in Loya's jail cell. González told El Diario that according to the Centro de Investigaciones de Materiales Avanzados (Advanced Materials Investigation Center) the liquid mercury would have caused the rapid death of Loya. Investigators are now trying to determine who may have brought the capsules to Loya.

Source: El Diario, May 2, 2001. Article by Olga Aragón.

Power and Money Pass from BC State Government to City Governments

A financial support accord that will assist with the decentralization of the Baja California state government was signed yesterday between the state and the cities of Tijuana and Playas de Rosarito. BC Governor Alejandro González Alcocer said that the decentralization program will allow for more efficient governing. The money which the accord relates to will be used for infrastructure needs in the cities.

González, surrounded by members of his cabinet, announced the transfer of 43 million pesos (approximately US $4.8 million) to the Rosarito city government. The money will be spent on such things as sewage pipes, the paving of city roads and regional development.

Tijuana Mayor Francisco Vega de Lamadrid also expressed his support for the accord which he believes will allow city governments to better living conditions for their residents.

Source: Frontera, May 30, 2001. Article by Isabel Tejeda.

BC PRI Gubernatorial Candidate Speaks

Daniel Quintero Peña, the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) candidate for the governorship of Baja California, said that he will form "a transparent government, free from fraud, that will frontally combat corruption and crime." Quintero was previously the mayor of Ensenada, BC.

Quintero said that July 8, 2001 will be a historic day because it will give the PRI the opportunity to win the state government and recuperate what he termed the state's lost years under the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN). The PRI candidate said that his party is much more organized now and will win the election.

If he is victorious Quintero states that he will create a space in which all the state's social sectors can help govern. He promises an inclusive, transparent, honest, just and democratic government. Quintero made these statements May 8, 2001 in Méxicali where he was campaigning with Aurelio Flores Peña, the PRI candidate for Méxicali mayor.

Source: Martín Borchardt.

PAN President Says Fox Plan for Tax Increase Won't Hurt BC Candidates

Luis Felipe Bravo Mena, the national president of the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), said that the severely-criticized tax increases that President Fox, a PAN member, is trying to establish will not affect the PAN's election-time possibilities in Baja California where voting will take place this year.

In an interview with FNS writer Martín Borchardt, the PAN leader said that Mexicans will understand that economic reform is absolutely necessary to take on the challenge of development.

The PAN election campaign in Baja California will begin Wednesday, May 9, 2001 when the PAN's BC gubernatorial candidate, Eugenio Elorduy, will head a series of meetings in BC cities.

Bravo also said that changes among PAN membership will continue to take place as the party updates its ranks just as every institution does on a regular basis.

Source: Martín Borchardt.

Labor Day Marches in Baja California

Yesterday, on May 1, in Méxicali 6,000 workers belonging to various unions and organizations marched through the streets of that city led by Baja California Governor Alejandro González Alcocer and Mayor Víctor Hermosillo. Workers demanded salary increases, lower electrical rates and no taxes on food and medicine (the Fox government wants to begin taxing these items).

In Ensenada 600 workers protested for wage raises and against new taxes and the Fox government's neoliberal policies. Among the workers were people from the Seguro Social, Secretaría de Salud, Sindicato de Maestros, Federación de Sindicatos de Trabajadores al Servicio del Estado (Fstse) and the Confederación Revolucionaria de Obreros y Campesinos (CROC).

In Tijuana 3,000 teachers and members of federal unions marched across part of the city in recognition of the May 1 Labor Day. However, members of the CTM (Confederación de Trabajadores de México) and the CROC did not participate in these marches but instead had meetings at their own centers.

Source: Frontera (Tijuana), May 2, 2001.

Tamaulipas Political Parties React to May 1, Labor Day Marches

The Partido de la Revolución Democrática (Mexico's largest left political party, PRD) in Tamaulipas said that marches by the working class on Mexico's May 1 Labor Day are an expression workers' rejection of President Fox's fiscal policies and economic programs.

Pedro Alonso Pérez, president of the PRD's state executive committee, stated that Fox's attempt to tax food and medicine are a typical neoliberal act and will only bring greater poverty and marginalization to the country and will exacerbate social tensions.

PAN response

Ubaldo Guzmán Quintero, the Partido Acción Nacional coordinator for the legislative branch, denied that the marches were protests against President Fox and his fiscal reform policies. Fox is also a member of the PAN.

Guzmán went on to say that unionized workers were manipulated by their leaders and that they did not even know why they were marching.

Guzmán also stated that in the end it will be the National Congress that modifies and approves Fox's fiscal proposals. He added that, " . . . all serious financial analysts are talking about the advantages that the reforms could have for the country and if there are not more resources then it will be difficult to create more employment and a better standard of living."

Source: El Mañana (Reynosa), May 3, 2001.