IN MEXICO, THE POLS VS. THE TECHNOCRATS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000706940044-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 15, 2011
• Sequence Number: 44
• Publication Date: July 2, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/15 :CIA-RDP90-009658000706940044-1
A~,~Ti~'LE APP~AREO
ON PAG
2 July 1986
MG( ANDERSON an~F u~tE MN AiA
In Mexico, the Dols vs. the Technocrats
exico'e serious economic problems have
M brought on a crucial struggle at the highest
levels of the country's political system. The
outcome will have a great impact on the United
States, for it could decide whether our neighbor
struggles out of its desperate situation ?r succumbs
to violent revolution.
The battle for control of the government-and
ulrimately for the hearts and minds of the Mexican
people-is between the "technicos" (technocrats)
who are now in control and the "politicos" (old-line
party bosses) who yearn to regain their old power.
The stru
has drawn close scrutin b U.S.
an >s
e
m
e most
recen
a
e
nce
tunate:
ntraat to the first six presidents in the
modern Mexican system, [President Miguel] de la
Madrid and his two predecessors all rose to the top
largely by dint of flair performances as regime
bureaucrats. All three appointed men of similar
backgrounds to most of their Cabinet posts, and
moat of [de la Madrid's] current Cabinet
secretaries have never held elective office.
"Opposition to this trend comes from the older
generation of state and regional political bosses and
from others concerned with economic
mismanagement. One critic ...lamented the
declining role of the old polirical hands and
predicted that they will have to be brought back
into positions of influence to help guide the country
through its current problems ....They fear that
the new class of technocrats will be unable to
maintain the support of the masses."
In other words, the party bosses will be needed
to sugarcoat the bitter pill of austerity the
technocrats have prescribed for Mexico.
"1'he tension between technocrats and politicians
is one that is heavily freighted with historical sad
psychological baggage," the intelligence estimate
continues, "becau>!e the former bear a striking
resemblancx to the 'cientifioos'-tbe scientific ones
who came to control the country's political
economy in the years before the Revolution. That
violent upheaval had many causes, but high among
them was the armgnnce' sad deLchn~t from the
masses of the president and his circle of
technocratic advisers."
Even if the technocrats are peacefully ousted, it
would have serious implications for the United
States. The Harnrd-educated de la Madrid is
probably the most genuinely pro-U.S. president of
Mexico in decades.
The president's popularity is sopping, though
how widespread the slippage is camwt be
determined. The derisive whistles that greeted him
at the Workl Cup soccer opening-considering the
high prices of the rickets-indicated only that
middle- and upper-class Mexicans are unhappy over
his austerity program.
As for the president, a few days after his
nomination by the ruling PRI party-which has
been tantamount to election for more than half a
century-a journalist asked him if he was a
technico or a politico.
"Politicians are the ones who win the nominarions
and the elections," he relied.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/15 :CIA-RDP90-009658000706940044-1