Opinion of the PRI

[homelycooking]

The PRI was so full of corrupt businessmen, scheming autocrats and hundreds of otherwise unsavory characters during its years in power that, naturally, its government was despicably venal and illiberal. No excuse can be made for Salinas' collusion with the cartels; for Tlateloco and Dia de Corpus Christi; for the senseless repression of tiny guerrilla cliques in Guerrero with unnecessary force; for the economic turmoil of the '70s and '80s, or for the failure of the government to make the gains and ideals of the revolution against imperialism, foreign and domestic, real for the average Mexican.

But at least the PRI had that noble goal and aspiration. Many lost sight of it, and the few who didn't were consumed by the greed and opportunism that pervaded the party. But those few, like Colosio, saw that great wrongs had been perpetrated on behalf of the party and its candidates. They believed that the party could still represent what it did back in the days of Obregon and Calles - a national front dedicated to protecting what had been gained in the Revolution, a party that all Mexicans, as Mexicans, could unite behind.

While Colosio said, Yo veo un México con hambre y con sed de justicia - others, such as Zedillo, Salinas de Gortari and all of their slimy, powerful friends - saw a different Mexico: one that existed to meet their personal and political ends. Colosio was assassinated; Zedillo continued in the ways of his predecessors, and the PRI lost all legitimacy and honor which it might once have laid claim to.

"Definitely big HPs"