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