Word: echeverria
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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There are some checks and balances, but in typical Mexican fashion, they operate indirectly. If a President leans too far to the left, as did López Portillo's predecessor, Luis Echeverria, businessmen can express their displeasure by withholding investments; if he leans too far to the right, as did Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, who ruled from 1964 to 1970, labor leaders and peasant organizations can protest with crippling strikes. To accommodate such pressures, Mexican Presidents usually swing away from the direction of their predecessors, in an effort to appease whatever faction was left most dissatisfied by the previous administration. Echeverria...
During the erratic presidency of Luis Echeverria, the system came closer to breaking down than at any other time since the 1910 revolution. Frightened by his leftist economic proposals, like forming state enterprises and financing them with freshly printed money, many businessmen quietly transferred funds to safer havens, in Europe and the U.S. Inflation and a declining balance of trade forced Echeverria to devalue the peso in 1976 by about 50%, incurring the anger
...middle-class supporters, who saw their savings and life-styles threatened. Mexico's support for a 1976 U.N. resolution equating Zionism with racism provoked a short-lived boycott of Mexican resorts by American Jewish tourists, thereby staggering an industry that is the nation's largest employer (460,000 jobs). Echeverria's unpopularity had its impact on the election of his successor. In an expression of discontent with the P.R.I., voters ignored the party's customary flamboyant campaign; only 50% of them bothered to cast their ballots...
Even today, Mexicans remain puzzled as to why Echeverria chose Lopez Portillo as his successor. Although the two had been friends since their student days at the National University, they had little in common. Echeverria was a politician to his ringer tips, and something of a political demagogue. Lopez Portillo was an unknown technocrat and law professor who had never run for public office. The outgoing President was almost strident in his efforts to establish Mexico as a leader of the Third World. His successor appeared to be a dedicated academic, most comfortable when studying archaeology or writing a novelette...
...theory, prevalent at the time of his nomination, was that after leaving office Echeverria secretly hoped to manipulate López Portillo from behind the scenes. A more plausible explanation is that the former President recognized how deep Mexico's malaise really was, and in a statesmanlike manner settled on a capable economist who could restore business confidence. When he handed over the sash of office on inauguration day, a newsman asked: "What is going to happen to the Echeverristas now?" The ex-President answered: "There are no Echeverristas, only López Portillistas...