Ricardo Pascoe Pierce
In early June 1996, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, then candidate for the PRD’s national presidency, made an accusation that alarmed members of his party and sparked a national debate. He claimed there was a “conspiracy against the government of President Ernesto Zedillo, intending to force him to resign to create a national crisis.” Faced with this supposed danger, López Obrador argued that the PRD should close ranks with the Zedillo government and defend the constitutional order. He proposed unconditional support for the PRI government.
López Obrador insinuated that a sector of the PRI linked to former President Carlos Salinas was behind the coup attempt.
López Obrador’s accusation came in the context of the PRD’s internal campaign to choose its next national president. The other candidates for the party presidency demanded that he provide information or evidence to support his accusations. What evidence was there to confirm the existence of this conspiracy against Zedillo? Beyond his statements, López Obrador could never present credible evidence of his claim that a “coup d’état” was underway. In fact, there were no rumors of a coup or unusual troop movements in the admittedly turbulent national atmosphere.
However, the proposal that the PRD support Ernesto Zedillo’s government remains part of López Obrador’s accusation proposal. It remained in the PRD’s internal debate during his campaign for the party’s presidency.
Engineer Heberto Castillo, a PRD’s national leadership member, disagreed with López Obrador’s proposal. He said: “I am not going to play into the hands of the rumor mongers who talk about the possible fall of Zedillo. I am against that kind of nonsense…” He later added: “I disagree with López Obrador’s decision to join in the rumors about Zedillo’s fall and offer the PRD’s support…”
Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, then a PRD’s National Executive Committee member, rejected López Obrador’s statement of support for the government. He said that such support “would be to follow the Lombardist line (of Vicente Lombardo Toledano), who always supported governments by saying: if I don’t support them, the Americans will surround us. We must say no to that logic…”
Amalia García, also a candidate for the PRD presidency, said: “It is a serious mistake to propose an agreement of unity and political support to President Zedillo…” She asserted that López Obrador’s statement “contains the old argument that the main enemy is imperialism and that, in the face of this, national unity around the current president is essential.”
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas said, “López Obrador proposed a constitutional solution to the crisis (sic), rejecting a change of persons…” He added that he favored “getting out of the crisis with or without Zedillo, against or in favor of Zedillo.” In fact, even with his traditional ambiguity, Cárdenas supported López Obrador.
It should be noted that other members of the PRD supported López Obrador’s proposal, especially those belonging to the faction known as “los Chuchos.”
Three years later, in 1999, López Obrador received Zedillo’s ‘unconditional’ support to illegally register as a candidate for the Mexico City mayoralty, even though he did not meet the legal requirements for candidacy. Specifically, he did not have a voter registration card in Mexico City, which was a sine qua non requirement to be a candidate in that state. Zedillo forgave him for this “legal slip-up” and allowed him to register in Mexico City, despite having his voter registration card in Tabasco.
López Obrador’s “unrestricted support” for Zedillo in 1996 earned him a place in the 1999-2000 election race. Love is repaid with love.
Today, Sheinbaum is crossing swords with Zedillo. López Obrador maintains his enforced silence. There are things he does not want to talk about, nor does he want them to be known.
@rpascoep
Further Reading: