The broad goals of the new party, the PRD, were democratization, social justice, an independent foreign policy, a role for the state in the economy, and defense of the revolutionary heritage, which included Pemex. Even though the PRI tarred the PRD as forming a part of the radical left, it would have been considered a moderate social democratic party if it had been in Europe.
As Lorenzo Meyer observed in 1991, in its early years the PRD was far too dependent on its outstanding figure, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, “The PRD continues without congealing as a party and as alternative project, as it remains absolutely dependent on one factor to mobilize the electorate: the person of engineer Cuauhtemoc Cardenas. . .” Cardenas became the court of last resort for those who lost in party committees. When he tried to stay out of internal conflicts, critics accused him of ducking responsibility and letting the party drift. When he stepped in to resolve them, he was accused of authoritarianism.125
The fortunes of the PRD improved after the 1994 elections. The factional disputes that had bedeviled the party lessened. The PRD’s public image improved as President Zedillo involved the party in the political process, including negotiating the 1996 political reform. Also, as the Zedillo administration recognized PRD electoral victories, the PRD was no longer cast in the role of the violent protestor. Finally, the election of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as president of the PRD for the 1996—1999 term improved the party’s fortunes. The election itself showcased the PRD’s increasing maturity, as 360,000 voters nationwide cast a vote without violence or significant charges of fraud. Unlike Cardenas and Porfirio Munoz Ledo, his predecessors as president of the PRD, Lopez Obrador was not a notable at the time of the PRD’s founding. Rather, Lopez Obrador rose to his leadership position within the party combating election fraud and Pemex contamination in his home state of Tabasco. Lopez Obrador won the PRD presidency on the basis of successfully weathering crises, which involved PRD-led mobilizations and negotiated solutions.126
After becoming party president, Lopez Obrador offered PRD congressional and gubernatorial nominations to many individuals not affiliated with the PRD, including members of the PRI and PAN, if they renounced their previous political affiliations. This brought new constituencies into the party. Under Lopez Obrador’s leadership, the party began to organize Sun Brigades, groups of party workers named for the party’s Aztec sun logo. Thousands of these brigade members went house-to-house explaining the PRD’s program and dispelling doubts voters might have had about the party.127
The party’s improved fortunes were apparent in 1997, as Cardenas, the PRD candidate for mayor of Mexico City, won with 46 percent of the vote, the same percentage of the vote he had won there in 1988. This impressive comeback was facilitated by Cardenas using the vastly increased financial resources provided by the 1996 political reform to produce sophisticated, clever TV commercials that enhanced his public image. In addition, Cardenas benefited from the intense animosity most Mexican felt toward Salinas after 1994, since he was associated with having adamantly rejected the Salinas presidency.128
In 1997, Cardenas’s high polling numbers before the Mexico City election energized the PRD nationwide. This was reflected in the party winning 25.7 percent of the vote and receiving 125 deputies, 25 percent of the total. This increased vote percentage also reflected the party’s emphasis on the defense of democratic rights and the living standards of the poor as well as the toning down of its leftist rhetoric. Journalist Antonio Jaquez commented on this rhetorical shift: “The left of the PRD is increasingly afraid to use the word ‘left’. It’s a left in which the former ‘-isms’ that were its ideological base—socialism, communism, Maoism, Trotskyism—have been replaced by a new - ism: pragmatism.” This formula led to a sharp increase in PRD officeholders. Just before the 2000 presidential elections, 116 deputies and fourteen senators represented the party in Congress. PRD mayors and governors presided over a quarter of the population, and the party was either the first or second strongest political force in fourteen states.129
World History
