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It is an all out war

© Yhezel Armando Vargas

On the first moths of his term as President people made jokes -sometimes-cruel ones- about him supposed incompetence, about his dependence from his antecessor and about his weakness as a leader. The general idea about his first days as President was that after receiving the country in one of its best moments he "blew it".

Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon became President at age 43 because of a historic accident. Zedillo was not made to be a leader, seen as a boss's "yes man". Without other visible talents besides his impressive educational background, he would supposedly be a top administrator throughout his career in government.

On March 23rd 1994 Luis Donaldo Colosio, the PRI Presidential candidate was assassinated in Tijuana. Carlos Salinas, the incumbent President had to choose a substitute quickly or be the PRI's hard-liners would impose a candidate. Salinas didn't have much of a choice, his cabinet members were unable to run because the constitution mandated that public official resigned six months before the election, so Salinas' decision favored his until then loyal and quiet subordinate.

On the campaign Zedillo proved himself as a President's man, he refused to criticize Salinas' shortcomings as a leader and praised his antecessor's accomplishments repeatedly. When he took office in December 1994 Zedillo had to recognize the terrible economic situation he inherited from Salinas and the worst economic recession in Mexico's history began.

In March 1995, just three months into his term Zedillo incarcerated Raul Salinas, the former President's brother, Raul was charged on homicide, corruption, money laundry and falsification, guilty or not Salinas has been in jail for six years.

Popular resentment turned against Carlos Salinas, and he became one of the most hated Presidents in Mexican history. Salinas may be guilty of many of the crimes and mistakes that he has been accused of, but he has been, certainly, a scapegoat for the present administration.

This is the first day of Zedillo's last week as President, several week ago an all out war erupted between he and Salinas, so far it has been a unfair fight with Zedillo backed by the Presidency. On December 1, when Fox is sworn in Zedillo will be a private citizen again and he will have to prove if he was always a strong man or he was simply a weak man behind a strong institution.

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