By Richard N. Baldwin T. /HispanicVista.com
The Speaker Of The House

     The Speaker of the House is a woman. This is a historical first in the history of the country. She is also a member of the opposition party to the administration's party. This also makes her the second most powerful member of the federal government. And as such, she has been making quite a name for herself. Her name is Ruth Zavaleta.

     Who? Ruth Zavaleta is known as the Speaker of the House in the Mexican Congress. Technically the Chamber of Deputies but in fact it is the same as the House of Representatives in the United States. The Mexican House is made up of 600 plus members that represent districts in México, as does the House in the US. And as in the US House, the members of the Mexican House voted her into that office.

     From here on, the status and performance between Ruth Zavaleta and her US counterpart, Nancy Pelosi is somewhat different. Both are from "left of center" parties and both have a "right of center" administration to deal with. And their own parties have some wide differences within their memberships. In other words, there are "moderates" and also a far-left contingent.  But between the two, Zavaleta is more of a "centrist," while Pelosi plays more to the hard left fringe.

     The party of Zavaleta is the PRD, also the party of Andres Manuel López Obrador (known as AMLO) who in 2006 was the narrowly defeated presidential candidate in our last presidential election. AMLO lost by less than one percent point to the now president, Felipe Calderón. Now AMLO refuses to recognize Calderón as the president and continues to strut about while calling himself as the "Legitimate" president. Therefore, there is a big split in the PRD between Zavaleta's fraction and the AMLO fraction. Zavaleta's fraction is known as the "New Left" which is willing to work with the other parties in the congress to hammer out agreements on new legislation. AMLO's faction refuses to even talk with the PAN party of Calderón.

     There is some history here. The PRI, the party that held the presidency for 70 plus years and up until the last election had the majority in the congress launched a policy to "oppose, not to propose" after the 2000 election that put president Fox of the PAN into office. That obstructionist policy, conducted by the then PRI presidential candidate, Madrazo, was what brought the PRI down from being the largest party in the congress to third place, behind the PAN and the PRD. After that trouncing, the PRI learned that being only obstructionist at a time where many reforms to the government must be worked out cost then the election in a big way. Zavaleta's "New Left" concept demonstrates that avoiding being obstructionist can work to Mexico's and her party's benefit.

     A major sweeping judicial reform that gets into changes in the national constitution was recently passed by the congress. Both the PAN and the PRI formulated the legislation, but a clause that permitted searches without warrants of homes was regarded as an abuse of protected civil rights by the PRD. The PRD probably could have killed the entire program. But instead of following the AMLO opposition formula, Zavaleta worked with the other parties to hammer out a compromise. It was successful and the search without warrants clause was eliminated. Both the House and Senate passed the bill. It passed in the House by around 600 to about 20 votes.

     Zavaleta said that she couldn't ignore the objectionable parts of the reform but was willing to talk with the other parties to work things out. The end result is that México has a major needed reform in the process of completion (ratification by a majority of the states) that is to the great benefit to the Mexican people.

     While Zavaleta will not sell out her beliefs on what is right for the people, she and her New Left fraction has proven to be something that can work with other parties and get needed things done in the congress. As such, she has gained wide respect for herself from her party (at least the New Left fraction) and from the majority of the parties in the House. While maintaining her party's platform, she is also a realist and a talented politician.

     However, in the PRD party election of 16 March, it looks like the "Hard Left" under AMLO has won control of the PRD. Many have thought that whatever faction would win this election would trigger the other faction to bolt and go their own way. There is no love lost between AMLO and Zavaleta, and my guess is that we will see another party formed soon. And they will probably be named the "New Left Party."

     It will be interesting to see how Zavaleta makes out with other upcoming reforms like energy and labor where there are many strong differences on what path to take.

     And, if I might suggest, it might be a good idea for Nancy Pelosi to come down to México and take a few lessons from our Ruth.

     The Madrazo concept of opposition only simply doesn't work. The PRI in México learned that lesson. Something that the PRD under the AMLO seems not to have learned.

     And another consideration is how wide a spectrum of beliefs can a party represent without coming apart.
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Richard N. Baldwin T., a HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com) contributing columnist, lives in Tlalnepantla, Edo de México. E-mail at: R1041643422@aol.com

 

 

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