In an effort to increase knowledge and create an opportunity for
discussion, the Latin American Center has scheduled speakers from
the three major political parties in this year’s Mexican
presidential election to give guest lectures at UCLA.
“It brings important people in Mexican politics to UCLA in
a place where (students) wouldn’t see (them)
otherwise,” UCLA alumnus Eddie Urenda said.
Urenda was part of the Program on Mexico, a group within the
UCLA Latin American Center, which conducts research regarding
Mexico.
Today, Juan Hernández, a representative from Mexican
presidential candidate Felipe Calderón’s campaign, will
be lecturing on issues relevant to the election.
The growing population of Mexican citizens living in the U.S.
has begun to have an influence on Mexican politics, said Alfonso
Galindo, head of the UCLA Office in Mexico.
These citizens are eligible to vote in Mexican elections, but
due to their low voter registration, their direct political impact
is currently negligible.
But Galindo believes the situation will likely change.
“In the future, the Mexican-American vote will play a
significant role in the election of the Mexican president if we
find an easier way for them to vote,” he said.
Galindo emphasized that the UCLA campus’ open environment
attracts a variety of speakers who normally do not converge.
“Mexican politicians seldom coincide in a conference in
Mexico because they always think that organizers are biased,”
he said. “At UCLA, with 30 years’ work from the LAC
Program on Mexico, we have been able to show that we are impartial
and willing to work with all ideologies.”
While the three major parties do share some perspectives, their
candidates’ platforms reflect varying views on Mexican
government.
Calderón, the National Action Party ““ PAN ““
candidate, is advocating better public safety, a continuance of a
healthy economic system and a decrease in corruption and organized
crime.
In keeping with the PAN party line, Calderón supports
privatization and a lesser role for the state in business, said
James Wilkie, a UCLA history professor and chairman of the Program
on Mexico.
Traditionally, PAN and the Institutional Revolutionary Party
““ PRI ““ have shared this view, but Wilkie said
Calderón’s ideas for the energy sector differentiate him
from his PRI opponent, Roberto Madrazo Pintado.
“Calderón would like to allow private foreign money
into the energy sector. Madrazo doesn’t want that. He wants
to protect it,” Wilkie said.
While traditionally PRI and PAN have shared their views on a
small role for the state, they differ in the way they view their
constituency.
PRI has traditionally shown political interest in groups and
labor unions whereas PAN has placed emphasis on the individual,
Galindo said.
The third major party, the Democratic Revolutionary Party
““ PRD ““ has a different idea on the government’s
role.
PRD candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador seeks to
return the state to a more active role, “perhaps even a
statist role, again controlling more than 50 percent of the (gross
domestic product),” Wilkie said.
Obrador does not want foreign investment in Mexican energy,
though such a strategy may not meet Mexico’s energy needs,
Wilkie added.
Last week, Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, a founding member of the
PRD, spoke about the difficulty in registering Mexican voters in
the United States.
Rosario Green, a representative of the PRI, was scheduled to
lecture Thursday, but the event has been tentatively moved to April
because of logistical difficulties, Galindo said.