VZCZCXRO4217
PP RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHME #1873/01 1721231
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 201231Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2283
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 001873 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ENRG PINR MX
SUBJECT: MEXICAN SENATOR SANTIAGO CREEL REMOVED AS PAN 
SENATE PARTY LEADER 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  PAN's surprise removal of  the party's 
Senate Leader June 9 stemmed from  dissatisfaction with his 
ability to win passage of an administration-backed energy 
reform bill.  A party insider and a think tank expert told 
Poloff that Santiago Creel's poor relationship with the media 
had undermined his effectiveness in making the case for the 
bill to the public.  A colleague and supporter of Creel 
inside the Senate suggested poor personal relations between 
PAN President German Martinez and Creel also factored 
significantly into the decision.  Creel was replaced by 
Gustavo Madero who has made it clear campaigning for adoption 
of the energy reform bill will be a priority and has already 
ruffled opposition party feathers in the process.  The move 
signals that President Calderon has shored up his position 
within the party to the extent that he and Martinez could do 
something like this to someone who was the President's 
strongest rival just two years ago.   END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. SBU) Many reasons contributed to PAN President German 
Martinez's decision to replace Creel, including his inablity 
to parry opposition PRD efforts to de-rail fast track 
approval of energy reform in April, revelations that he had 
fathered an out-of-wedlock child with a prominant actress and 
friction with the party's leadership.  Creel also didn't 
catch many breaks from Mexican media, with which he 
maintained a conflictual relationship.  Political analyst 
Juan Pardines pointed out that Creel had alienated the major 
broadcasters in particular by supporting the Electoral Reform 
law that severely reduced the revenue stream from political 
ads and last year applauding the Mexican Supreme Court's 2007 
decision to overturn many of the anti-competition provisions 
of the 2006 Radio and Television Law.  Resentful of Creel, 
the two broadcast giants, TV Azteca and Televisa, have made 
it a point to deny him the television coverage necessary to 
making the administration's case for energy reform. 
 
Creel Fails to Deliver on Energy Reform 
 
¶3. (SBU) Juan Carlos Luna, the PAN Party's Director General 
for International Relations, maintained that, media hostility 
aside, Creel had simply mishandled PRD's opposition to the 
administration's energy bill, saying party leaders were 
frustrated that the Senate agreed to a 71 day debate on 
energy reform in return for an end to the PRD's April seizure 
of Congress.  He said the lengthy energy debate has played 
into the hands of the PRD, which has framed the reform bill 
as an assault on Mexican sovereignty, undermined the 
administration's chances of winning adoption of meaningful 
reform and enabled the opposition party to regain some of the 
ground and credibilty it lost over the past year and a half. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Luna also alleged that the delay has also afforded 
PRI an opportunity to squeeze concessions out of the PAN to 
secure its support.  Luna claimed that President Calderon 
reportedly agreed not to remove unpopular, underperforming 
PRI Governors of Puebla and Oaxaca, both under a cloud for 
heavy-handed actions in 2006.  (Comment:  We believe it is 
unlikely that Calderon would seriously consider exercising 
his constitutional right to remove sitting governors.  End 
Comment.)  Luna also said that the PRI has asked PAN not to 
seriously contest local and gubernatorial elections next year 
in areas where PRI maintains solid control, as well as to 
hold back in pushing substantial labor reform that would 
threaten PRI union bosses.  Luna indicated that Creel has 
been made the scapegoat for PAN concessions to PRI demands. 
 
All Politics is Personal 
 
¶6. (SBU) According to PAN Senator Adriana Gonzalez, a 
colleague and friend of Creel's, however, the primary reason 
that Creel was dismissed was because of a difficult working 
relationship between Martinez and Creel.  It also bears 
recalling Creel ran against Calderon for the PAN presidential 
nomination.  Gonzalez maintained Martinez feels more 
comfortable with the newly named PAN Party Senate leader, 
Gustavo Madero.  Gonzalez also expressed disdain over 
Martinez's decision to name Madero without consulting with 
PAN Senators as prescribed by internal PAN party rules. 
According to International Republican Institute 
representative in Mexico Juan Henao, the move will hurt the 
President and party in coming months as the appearance is 
that it was done in a non-transparent fashion. 
 
Madero Bio 
 
¶7. (U)  Meanwhile, Gustavo Enrique Madero Munoz, named to 
replace Creel, is already making headlines.   Madero, from 
the state of Chihuahua, is nephew of the legendary 
 
MEXICO 00001873  002 OF 002 
 
 
revolutionary leader Francisco I. Madero and describes 
himself as &one more of the barbarians from the North.8 
Madero has a reputation for being direct and tough when 
negotiating.  While polite by nature, he can become extremely 
severe in responding to reporters who do not have their facts 
straight.  He exercises regularly and is in good physical 
shape.   He makes an attractive case as the point person for 
promoting and defending PAN and GOM economic proposals given 
his experience and contacts with both the private and public 
sectors. 
 
¶9. (SBU) COMMENT: Although the magnitude of the change, and 
the way in which it was handled, indicate that Calderon has 
consolidated his position in the party, the replacement of 
Creel comes from a position of legislative weakness in a last 
ditch effort to recover lost ground on energy reform.  Madero 
has made it no secret he intends to make winning passage of 
the administration's energy reform bill a priority. 
Ironically, though, his initial steps seem to have set back 
efforts to secure the PRI votes he needs.  Suggestions that 
he was reneging on "deals" with the PRI to secure its support 
and his announcement that he was prepared to peel off PRI 
Party Senators one by one only provoked a hostile PRI Party 
rebuke.  Calderon already has expended significant political 
capital on a number of major initiatives in his first year 
and a half in office--fighting organized crime, reform of the 
penal justice system, and pension and tax reform.  While the 
administration's energy bill will not solve all of the 
problems of Mexico's energy sector, it would be a major 
political victory if the new PAN coordinator could somehow 
pull it off and add another notch to Calderon's belt. END 
COMMENT. 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American 
Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / 
GARZA