Word: camacho
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Salinas chose as his negotiator was Manuel Camacho Solis, a former mayor of Mexico City who had resigned when he lost out to Colosio in the competition for Salinas' blessing as the presidential nominee. As a consolation, Salinas named Camacho Foreign Minister, then tapped him to represent the government in the peace talks. In that role he stole the limelight from Colosio, and in late February he came up with tentative agreements on improved medical care, housing and other services for impoverished communities, along with proposed reforms intended to make elections harder...
...Camacho infuriated much of the P.R.I. by using his position in the peacemaking spotlight to hint that he might make an independent run for the presidency. Uncertainty over his spoiler potential had ruffled the stock market and shaken the peso. Only last Tuesday, the day before Colosio was murdered, did the ex-mayor finally announce he would stick to the peace talks rather than run. But he had already made life difficult for Colosio by focusing attention on the government's failure to provide basic services for the poorest parts of the country and putting pressure on the candidate...
...Camacho repeated what he had said on Tuesday, that he had no intention of seeking the presidency. With Salinas' support, he could still get the nomination, but speculation now centers on Ernesto Zedillo, the murdered candidate's campaign manager, and Fernando Ortiz Arana, the president of P.R.I. There are other potential candidates among the Cabinet ministers, but party rules say the nominee must not have held senior government positions in the six months before the election -- and voting is now closer than that...
Ironically, Colosio's murder may have given the ruling party a boost. His candidacy had not caught fire, and his image suffered by comparison with Camacho's. Now the fallen Colosio is being elevated to martyrdom, with supporters in his home state calling his death "Sonora's version of the John F. Kennedy assassination." Mourners gathered in the giant square in front of party headquarters in Mexico City, carrying banners with Colosio's name. "Justice! Justice!" they cried. Now the party may reap a sympathy vote. "Yesterday," declared Reforma columnist Raymundo Riva Palacio the day after the assassination, "the P.R.I...
Salinas' delicate handling of the popular Zapatista demands has so far proved politically shrewd. He salvaged his reformist image, and his handpicked P.R.I. presidential candidate, Luis Donaldo Colosio, retains a 60%-to-27% lead over his closest rival. But the policy could still backfire. There is widespread speculation that Camacho, a respected former mayor of Mexico City who was passed over in the presidential sweepstakes, might use the Zapatista negotiation as a springboard to an independent presidential bid. Many ruling party faithful blame Salinas' concessions in Chiapas for a sharp increase in strikes and demonstrations across the nation. Indians...