MEXICO'S NEXT PRESIDENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100110013-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 5, 2012
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: May 24, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/05: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100110013-8
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WASHINGTON POST
24 May 1987
.7 Jack Anderson and Dale fan Atta zr
Mexico's Next President
Mexican President Miguel de la
Mk id
enormous implications for the United
States: his choice of successor as the
next six-year president of Mexico.
There will be a pro forma election,
of course, but the winner will be the
person de la Madrid anoints. That's
how the system works south of the
border. De la Madrid isn't giving out
any hints about his choice. We spoke
to him recently in Mexico City, and
his coyness was impermeable.
Still, our sources in Mexico Citz, and
in various V.Vesternigelligence agencies
say the odds at this time?a year before
the election?favor Interior Minister
Manuel Bartlett Diaz. And as luck would
haie?it, Bartlett would be the best
choice as far as U.S. interests are con-
cerned:
Two things appear to make Bart-
lett unbeatable as long as he doesn't
step out of line on his way toward de
la Madrid's blessing.
First, as the official who ran every
election?clean or fraudulent?since
1981, Bartlett has the support of
many functionaries of the Institutional
Revolutionary Party, or PRI, the
dominant Mexican political party.
Quite simply, they owe him their jobs.
The second reason is the use Bart-
lett has made of his own institutional
power base. Insiders tell us he has
amassed huge confidential files on
party leaders and anyone else with
political influence in Mexico.
De la Madrid will reveal his choice in
September or October. If, as we predict,
Bartlett is the designated successor, it
will mean a rosier period for U.S.-Mexi-
can relations. Bartlett has personal rela-
tionships with a number of important
U.S. officials, while no influential U.S.
politician seems to have ties with the
two other top candidates under consid-
eration by de la Madrid: Energy Minis-
ter Alfredo del Mazo and Budget Minis-
ter Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
Bartlett is described as "a smart,
wily fellow" by one U.S. official who
makes his living studying Mexico. He
is humorless and tough, as befits the
head of the Interior Ministry, which
does all the dirty work the ruling
party needs done.
It was from the Interior Ministry
that Luis Echeverria Alvarez rose to
become president in 1970. He gained
a reputation for brutality when his
minions killed some 400 people in
putting down strikes that began with
student unrest in 1968.
It's interesting to see how Bartlett
handled a similar situation earlier this
year. A student strike at the National
Autonomous University of Mexico
ended peacefully after 19 days with
concessions to the students.
Reagan administration sources are
convinced that the choice of budget boss
Salinas as the next president would be
disastrous for U.S. interests. Among
other suspected sins, he is thought likely
to declare a long-term moratorium on
interest payments to U.S. banks and
individuals for Mexico's massive debts.
Furthermore, they believe he is a com-
mitted leftist in foreign policy.
Del Mazo, brought into the Cabinet
only last summer, has risen in esteem
because he is a proven campaigner,
looks good on television?and as energy
minister oversees PEMEX, the state-
owned oil company, which is indispens-
able to the Mexican economy.
None of the hopefuls has yet won the
endorsement of Fidel Velasquez, long-
time head of the Confederation of Mexi-
can Workers. Even de la Madrid has
acknowledged privately that Velasquez
will have great influence in the selection.
But it is still de la Madrid who will
make the ultimate decision, and all the
candidates would do well to keep their
ambitions from showing too blatantly.
One who didn't was the respected trea-
sury minister, Jesus Silva Herzog. He ,
got a bit too pushy, and de la Madrid
fired him last summer.
401987, United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/05: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100110013-8