Candidate Ponders Governor's Public Neutrality

(Acapulco, JG 1 December) The two main candidates for the governorship of Guerrero are friends, cousins, and until recently, faithful members of the PRI, the party that dominated Mexican politics for over 70 years and is staging another comeback. Agurre said, "I don't know if there are are any open wounds," in reference to the harsh in-fighting by the the two campaigns. The Senator might ask himself why Añorve resents the defection from the party and the mounting of an opposition campaign against him. More telling was Aguirre's comment, "I never understood why Governor Torreblanca Galindo distanced himself from me." The governor has declared himself neutral in the race for the statehouse, since his private preference has been for his long-time friend Añorve, but the candidate of his political party is Aguirre. These questions were raised yesterday in a press interview of the candidate by the Jornada de Guerrero, which is seen as having an editorial position more to the left of center.

Investigation discloses no time during the current governor's mandate that he was seen in public with Senator Aguirre; on the contrary, there were several instances of evident tension between the two, especially considering that Agurre was in the opposition party at the time. Aguirre wanted to widen the highway leading out of Acapulco to the north towards Pie de la Cuesta, and Torreblanca interposed fierce opposition to the project. Later, when Aguirre changed political banners to run against Añorve, the PRD Governor publicly scolded his fellow party leaders for "selling the candidacy for a bowl of porridge."

Nevertheless, the PRD candidate says that the PRD Governor has always treated him with respect and cordiality. In their formal meeting on October 28, when the governor met with all three candidates seriatim, Aguirre says that the "distance" question was touched upon, albeit very implicit. "I said, 'I never did anything against your interests,' and he said that was right, and the same was true from his side. So there is nothing that really breaks us apart or distances or divides us. It's just that we see differently on some political issues. I respect that, and I am sure that he does, too, and that's all there is to that."

When asked about his relationship with Añorve Baños, his cousin and political opponent, Aguirre said that for his part there were no hard feelings, and that the two will have to mend the relationship after the elections. In the last analysis, the family is forever, and politics is, well, termporal. Aguirre is the godfather of Añorve's youngest son. He said, "We are not only cousins, we are compadres," in both the literal and figurative senses of the word. I'm sure he feels the same way."