Word: zedillo
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...rebels in the southern state of Chiapas? Does the governing party's electoral defeat in Mexico's second biggest city, Guadalajara, and in the state of Jalisco portend a loss of political control or a heartening turn toward genuine democracy--or maybe both? Most important, does Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, less than three months into his six-year term, have a consistent strategy for dealing with political and financial crises, or is he just grasping at straws...
Right now it would be hard to make a case for consistency. Only five days after sending troops and tanks to occupy 18 villages in Chiapas that had been controlled by Zapatista rebels, Zedillo abruptly called off the offensive. He ordered the soldiers to do nothing that might lead to shooting, suspended efforts to catch rebel leaders for whom he had caused arrest warrants to be issued and offered the Zapatistas amnesty and political negotiations if they would lay down their arms. He even went along with one of the rebels' prime demands: the resignation of Chiapas Governor Eduardo Robledo...
...elections in Jalisco and its capital city of Guadalajara showed Zedillo in a better light--because his party lost by a landslide. After more than 60 years of control at all levels of Mexican politics by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (P.R.I.), Zedillo has pledged to lead the country toward a real pluralistic democracy. To make good, Zedillo must show that the P.R.I. will allow honest elections and abide by the results. The P.R.I., in other words, can win back public confidence only by losing a few important elections. Many party reformers quickly resigned themselves to the victory--by more than...
Government sources had hinted for weeks that Zedillo would undertake some strong action to try to rebuild credibility after the peso's disastrous devaluation. That the Zapatistas should be the target was logical: their activity inspired the erosion in investor confidence that ultimately led to financial panic. But Zedillo's evidence for a spreading Zapatista insurrection was sketchy. Arms caches that authorities discovered held little more than a handful of firearms and several dozen grenades...
...President has staked much of his dwindling authority on the military offensive. As a Mexico expert in Washington put it, ``If Zedillo's military plan works quickly, fine. Markets will be happy, and everyone can get on with business.'' But if Zedillo is wrong about the narrow base of support for the Zapatistas, he might spark a guerrilla war lasting for years. And further gore a presidency that has more than five long years...