Staying on Top

Worried, the P.R.I. wins big

The omens were dark. An earthquake had shaken the ground, birds in the town square were squawking feverishly, and all night long the wind whipped through the streets. In addition, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (P.R.I.), which has won every major election in Mexico since its founding in 1929, had last month absorbed its worst defeat ever, losing nine municipal and five legislative seats in two northern states. On the eve of last week's elections for the legislature in the impoverished southern state of Oaxaca, where leftists had been successfully organizing, and wooing, local peasants, another P.R.I, loss seemed imminent. Yet when the votes were counted, the P.R.I. had swept all 17 seats. The opposition immediately accused the ruling party of having used ten-year-old voters, a drunken electoral representative and out-and-out ballot box-stuffing to ensure victory, but it has so far offered no proof of foul play.

The P.R.I, left little doubt that it intends to preserve its firm grip on Mexican politics. One example of adroit political maneuvering could be seen in the town of Juchitan (pop. 110,000), whose predominantly Indian population had grown increasingly sympathetic to the militant leftist coalition COCEI, which has energetically implemented popular civic reforms. The P.R.I, did not take any legal action last spring when the COCEl reinstalled a radical peasant, Leopoldo de Gyves, as mayor of Juchitan. But as the elections approached, the ruling party began to assert its power. Government-run Oaxacan newspapers ran spurious accounts of fizzled COCEI rallies. Seven days before the elections, P.R.I, and COCEI sympathizers clashed violently in Juchitan, leaving two people dead and dozens injured. Accusing De Gyves of having fomented the incident, the state governor simply replaced him with a P.R.I, man and postponed Juchitan's elections. Finally, on election day, the P.R.I, preserved the contours of democracy without its risks by allowing some 10,000 leftists to stage an impassioned though peaceful rally.

The P.R.I.'s tactics in Oaxaca may have seemed inconsistent with the government's widely publicized goal of tolerating pluralism, but the government has more than political reasons for trying to maintain control of Oaxaca. Although the P.R.I, has tolerated defeats in the north, Oaxaca is dangerously close to Guatemala, the site of last week's coup and gateway to the Central American quagmire. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.