PRI PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MADRAZO CAMPAIGNS IN SONORA

UNCLAS HERMOSILLO 000082 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/MEX; EMBASSY MEXICO FOR POL, MCCA DONAHUE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON MX SUBJECT: PRI PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MADRAZO CAMPAIGNS IN SONORA REF: A) HERMOSILLO 0029; B) HERMOSILLO 0036 ¶1. (U) Summary: Roberto Madrazo, presidential candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI),held a large political rally February 26 in southern Sonora. He warned of water shortages and promised better economic development programs if elected. Sonora Governor Eduardo Bours did not attend Madrazo's event, but did invite the PRI candidate to a private breakfast. Their political differences continue to simmer. End Summary. ¶2. (U) PRI presidential candidate Roberto Madrazo staged his first major political rally in Sonora on February 26, speaking to a crowd estimated at 10,000 persons outside Etchojoa, in the southern part of the state. Madrazo emphasized the need for a "hydrological vision" for Mexico to address growing scarcities of potable water and water for agriculture and industry. He also spoke of his experience as governor of Tabasco in cracking down on crime, another theme of interest to the crowd. ¶3. (U) Madrazo decried "government left to improvision and chance," and promised to replace it with well-structured, integrated regional development programs. In that context, he dismissed the proposal of PRD candidate Lopez Orbrador for a "bullet train" through Sonora as wasteful. Madrazo also noted that rapidly rising remittances sent by illegal migrants working in the U.S. revealed a failure by the Fox administration to provide jobs in Mexico. ¶4. (U) Local press coverage was skeptical, even mildly hostile towards Madrazo. The major Sonoran dailies ran the photos and acknowledged that 10,000 people had attended the political gathering. However, they noted that many participants drifted away before the main speeches and focused attention on the use of the traditional PRI machinery and techniques to assemble the crowd: free transport (reportedly 570 buses),free tortas and sodas, small payments, and above all obligatory participation ordered by the Mexican Workers Confederation (CTM). Audience reaction to Madrazo was described as "lukewarm". ¶5. (U) PRI Governor Eduardo Bours was notably absent from the Etchojoa rally. He was, however, the subject of the most widely-reported quote from the speech when Madrazo said (rough translation): "I told my friend, Eduardo Bours, that I will send him a master key to open Los Pinos so he can put himself in the kitchen and take out every resource that Etchojoa, Navajoa, Obregon and all Sonora needs." ¶6. (SBU) In the weeks before Madrazo's arrival to Sonora, Bours had made it know that he would not attend any public meetings with the PRI candidate, but would meet him for coffee. In fact, Bours invited Madrazo to breakfast on February 26 at his family home in Obregon. Afterwards, both sides indicated that selection of PRI candidates for state and municipal offices had been discussed, but no mechanism had been agreed upon. Madrazo later told interviewers that Bours continued to support the PRI and would vote for him. ¶7. (SBU) Comment: The issue of whether the national or state-level PRI party organization controls selection of local candidates is the most immediately important and practical point of difference between Madrazo and Bours. More generally, Bours has crafted a reputation as an exemplar of the reform wing of the PRI and he claims to find himself frequently at odds with Madrazo over the development of the national party. There is also a long tradition of fighting for as much autonomy from Mexico City as possible that Bours is aware of as a factor in local assessments of him. While a more public split between Madrazo and Bours was avoided on this visit, local observers regard their political differences as only barely papered over. End Comment. CLARKE