VZCZCXRO0747
PP RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHHO #0082 0582344
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 272344Z FEB 06
FM AMCONSUL HERMOSILLO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1301
INFO RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO PRIORITY 0381
RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUEHHO/AMCONSUL HERMOSILLO 1665

UNCLAS HERMOSILLO 000082 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/MEX; EMBASSY MEXICO FOR POL, MCCA DONAHUE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON MX
SUBJECT: PRI PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MADRAZO CAMPAIGNS IN SONORA 
 
REF: A) HERMOSILLO 0029; B) HERMOSILLO 0036 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  Roberto Madrazo, presidential candidate of the 
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), held a large political 
rally February 26 in southern Sonora.  He warned of water 
shortages and promised better economic development programs if 
elected.  Sonora Governor Eduardo Bours did not attend Madrazo's 
event, but did invite the PRI candidate to a private breakfast. 
Their political differences continue to simmer.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) PRI presidential candidate Roberto Madrazo staged his 
first major political rally in Sonora on February 26, speaking 
to a crowd estimated at 10,000 persons outside Etchojoa, in the 
southern part of the state.  Madrazo emphasized the need for a 
"hydrological vision" for Mexico to address growing scarcities 
of potable water and water for agriculture and industry.  He 
also spoke of his experience as governor of Tabasco in cracking 
down on crime, another theme of interest to the crowd. 
 
¶3. (U) Madrazo decried "government left to improvision and 
chance," and promised to replace it with well-structured, 
integrated regional development programs.  In that context, he 
dismissed the proposal of PRD candidate Lopez Orbrador for a 
"bullet train" through Sonora as wasteful.  Madrazo also noted 
that rapidly rising remittances sent by illegal migrants working 
in the U.S. revealed a failure by the Fox administration to 
provide jobs in Mexico. 
 
¶4. (U) Local press coverage was skeptical, even mildly hostile 
towards Madrazo.  The major Sonoran dailies ran the photos and 
acknowledged that 10,000 people had attended the political 
gathering.  However, they noted that many participants drifted 
away before the main speeches and focused attention on the use 
of the traditional PRI machinery and techniques to assemble the 
crowd:  free transport (reportedly 570 buses), free tortas and 
sodas, small payments, and above all obligatory participation 
ordered by the Mexican Workers Confederation (CTM).  Audience 
reaction to Madrazo was described as "lukewarm". 
 
¶5. (U) PRI Governor Eduardo Bours was notably absent from the 
Etchojoa rally.  He was, however, the subject of the most 
widely-reported quote from the speech when Madrazo said (rough 
translation):  "I told my friend, Eduardo Bours, that I will 
send him a master key to open Los Pinos so he can put himself in 
the kitchen and take out every resource that Etchojoa, Navajoa, 
Obregon and all Sonora needs." 
 
¶6. (SBU) In the weeks before Madrazo's arrival to Sonora, Bours 
had made it know that he would not attend any public meetings 
with the PRI candidate, but would meet him for coffee.  In fact, 
Bours invited Madrazo to breakfast on February 26 at his family 
home in Obregon.  Afterwards, both sides indicated that 
selection of PRI candidates for state and municipal offices had 
been discussed, but no mechanism had been agreed upon.  Madrazo 
later told interviewers that Bours continued to support the PRI 
and would vote for him. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment:  The issue of whether the national or 
state-level PRI party organization controls selection of local 
candidates is the most immediately important and practical point 
of difference between Madrazo and Bours.  More generally, Bours 
has crafted a reputation as an exemplar of the reform wing of 
the PRI and he claims to find himself frequently at odds with 
Madrazo over the development of the national party.  There is 
also a long tradition of fighting for as much autonomy from 
Mexico City as possible that Bours is aware of as a factor in 
local assessments of him.  While a more public split between 
Madrazo and Bours was avoided on this visit, local observers 
regard their political differences as only barely papered over. 
End Comment. 
 
CLARKE