Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06MEXICO6867
2006-12-11 20:34:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Mexico
Cable title:
A CONVERSATION WITH PRD MORAL LEADER CUAUHTEMOC
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 006867
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/08/2016
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL MX
SUBJECT: A CONVERSATION WITH PRD MORAL LEADER CUAUHTEMOC
CARDENAS
REF: MEXICO 04987
Classified By: POLITICAL MINISTER-COUNSELOR CHARLES V. BARCLAY, REASONS
: 1.4(B/D).
Summary
--------
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 006867
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/08/2016
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL MX
SUBJECT: A CONVERSATION WITH PRD MORAL LEADER CUAUHTEMOC
CARDENAS
REF: MEXICO 04987
Classified By: POLITICAL MINISTER-COUNSELOR CHARLES V. BARCLAY, REASONS
: 1.4(B/D).
Summary
--------------
1. (C) On December 7, Poloffs met with PRD "moral leader"
and founder and three time presidential candidate Cuauhtemoc
Cardenas to get his perspective on the events leading up to
Felipe Calderon's inauguration as president. Cardenas
lamented the damage done to the PRD's public image by Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador's (AMLO) post-electoral protest tactics.
He is optimistic that inter-party tensions will soon settle
and that the PRD will start to negotiate with the PAN on
much-needed reforms. Cardenas gives Calderon and his
incipient presidency the benefit of the doubt and expects
that with his superior political skills, he will be able to
push reforms much further than Fox. End summary.
On the PRD
--------------
2. (C) Cardenas told poloffs that AMLO's protest tactics,
specifically the two month long encampment in the Zocalo and
on Mexico City's principal boulevard, as well as PRD
legislators' successful effort to block former President
Fox's State of the Nation speech on September 1 (ref A) and
their unsuccessful attempt to block Calderon's December 1
swearing-in ceremony, have hurt the party's image. He feared
that public dissatisfaction with the PRD would be reflected
in next year's municipal and state legislative elections, as
well as in the gubernatorial races in Yucatan and Baja
California. Although inter-party tensions remain high,
Cardenas is optimistic that the dust will settle "in a few
weeks" and expects the PRD will start acting less like a
protest movement and more like a normal opposition party.
With regard to Marcelo Ebrard's recently inaugurated
municipal administration in Mexico City (GDF),Cardenas
thinks the new GDF will eventually have to recognize and work
with Calderon. Speaking from his own experience as mayor of
the city, he said it was impossible to run the city
effectively without having a good relationship with the
federal government.
On Calderon
--------------
3. (C) Cardenas offered Calderon the benefit of the doubt,
expressing personal respect for the president and a
cautiously optimistic prognosis for his administration. He
said he had met Calderon on a few occasions, but does not
know him very well. Overall, Cardenas' thinks the new
president has both good intentions and the political skills
to push reforms further than Fox did. With regard to
Calderon,s cabinet selections, he said that they represent
the new president's "mold" or "ideology" and that there were
no surprises. He suggested that Calderon get out of Mexico
City and tour the country more. On policy, he thinks that
security, creating jobs, and achieving real growth should be
Calderon's main priorities.
Comment
--------------
4. (C) There has never been much love lost between Cardenas
and AMLO, and both Cardenas and his son Lazaro Cardenas
Batel, Governor of Michoacan, were decidedly unsupportive of
AMLO during the presidential campaign and post-election
crisis. Both refused to join Lopez Obrador in his Zocalo
rallies and other protests, and have also publicly recognized
Felipe Calderon's triumph (despite AMLO's call for the
contrary). Indeed, Cardenas, public criticism of AMLO's
civil resistance tactics was the first public evidence of a
deep fissure within the ranks of the PRD. Ildefonso Aguilar,
a trusted advisor to Cardenas, told poloff earlier that
Cardenas was on "stand-by" mode, waiting for AMLO's engine to
run out of steam. Recently, however, Cardenas renounced his
role to head the GOM Commission organizing the official
observance of the Mexican revolution's centennial and the
independence bicentennial in 2010, in order to "maintain
MEXICO 00006867 002 OF 002
party unity." Cardenas' move is likely a tactical decision
to garner internal party support for his son Lazaro as the
2012 PRD presidential candidate.
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity
BASSETT
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/08/2016
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL MX
SUBJECT: A CONVERSATION WITH PRD MORAL LEADER CUAUHTEMOC
CARDENAS
REF: MEXICO 04987
Classified By: POLITICAL MINISTER-COUNSELOR CHARLES V. BARCLAY, REASONS
: 1.4(B/D).
Summary
--------------
1. (C) On December 7, Poloffs met with PRD "moral leader"
and founder and three time presidential candidate Cuauhtemoc
Cardenas to get his perspective on the events leading up to
Felipe Calderon's inauguration as president. Cardenas
lamented the damage done to the PRD's public image by Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador's (AMLO) post-electoral protest tactics.
He is optimistic that inter-party tensions will soon settle
and that the PRD will start to negotiate with the PAN on
much-needed reforms. Cardenas gives Calderon and his
incipient presidency the benefit of the doubt and expects
that with his superior political skills, he will be able to
push reforms much further than Fox. End summary.
On the PRD
--------------
2. (C) Cardenas told poloffs that AMLO's protest tactics,
specifically the two month long encampment in the Zocalo and
on Mexico City's principal boulevard, as well as PRD
legislators' successful effort to block former President
Fox's State of the Nation speech on September 1 (ref A) and
their unsuccessful attempt to block Calderon's December 1
swearing-in ceremony, have hurt the party's image. He feared
that public dissatisfaction with the PRD would be reflected
in next year's municipal and state legislative elections, as
well as in the gubernatorial races in Yucatan and Baja
California. Although inter-party tensions remain high,
Cardenas is optimistic that the dust will settle "in a few
weeks" and expects the PRD will start acting less like a
protest movement and more like a normal opposition party.
With regard to Marcelo Ebrard's recently inaugurated
municipal administration in Mexico City (GDF),Cardenas
thinks the new GDF will eventually have to recognize and work
with Calderon. Speaking from his own experience as mayor of
the city, he said it was impossible to run the city
effectively without having a good relationship with the
federal government.
On Calderon
--------------
3. (C) Cardenas offered Calderon the benefit of the doubt,
expressing personal respect for the president and a
cautiously optimistic prognosis for his administration. He
said he had met Calderon on a few occasions, but does not
know him very well. Overall, Cardenas' thinks the new
president has both good intentions and the political skills
to push reforms further than Fox did. With regard to
Calderon,s cabinet selections, he said that they represent
the new president's "mold" or "ideology" and that there were
no surprises. He suggested that Calderon get out of Mexico
City and tour the country more. On policy, he thinks that
security, creating jobs, and achieving real growth should be
Calderon's main priorities.
Comment
--------------
4. (C) There has never been much love lost between Cardenas
and AMLO, and both Cardenas and his son Lazaro Cardenas
Batel, Governor of Michoacan, were decidedly unsupportive of
AMLO during the presidential campaign and post-election
crisis. Both refused to join Lopez Obrador in his Zocalo
rallies and other protests, and have also publicly recognized
Felipe Calderon's triumph (despite AMLO's call for the
contrary). Indeed, Cardenas, public criticism of AMLO's
civil resistance tactics was the first public evidence of a
deep fissure within the ranks of the PRD. Ildefonso Aguilar,
a trusted advisor to Cardenas, told poloff earlier that
Cardenas was on "stand-by" mode, waiting for AMLO's engine to
run out of steam. Recently, however, Cardenas renounced his
role to head the GOM Commission organizing the official
observance of the Mexican revolution's centennial and the
independence bicentennial in 2010, in order to "maintain
MEXICO 00006867 002 OF 002
party unity." Cardenas' move is likely a tactical decision
to garner internal party support for his son Lazaro as the
2012 PRD presidential candidate.
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity
BASSETT