I recently read an article in the New York Times about Cuauhtemoc Cardenas of Mexico. Cardenas is something of a hero in Mexico. Named after an Aztec king, son of the revered Lazaro Cardenas, Cuauhtemoc broke away from Mexico's "ruling" party, the PRI, to start the PRD in the mid 1980's. Cardenas has stirred up quite a following preaching his socialist ideas to Mexico's rural poor. However, I was under the impression that his political career came to an end with the 1988 presidential election. Cardenas made headlines dropping out of the PRI and creating one of its strongest opponents. Cardenas' popularity quickly dissolved after the '88 election, it was very apparent in 2002 when he ran once again and got probably the lowest percentage of votes in his entire career.
Personally, I like Cardenas. If I were a Mexican citizen, I would vote for him, but I think it is political suicide for him and his party to place his name on the ballot sheet. The PRD is the lucky third contender in Mexico's "three-party system." There are many smaller parties that would love to take the PRD's place to battle the PRI and the PAN.
[NOTE: This post was submitted by Crystal Dieleman.]
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