Baja Governor’s Resignation Tied to Political Fallout

Xicotencatl Leyva Mortera, the sometimes-embattled governor of Baja California, announced Tuesday that he will leave his post 10 months early to take a position with a federal banking agency negotiating to reduce Mexico’s foreign debt. His departure could come within a week, a spokesman said.

Leyva’s surprise announcement, made during a press conference in Mexicali, the state capital, immediately fueled speculation that the governor was being forced out by Mexico’s new president, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who took office Dec. 1. Mexican governors are considered the direct representatives of the powerful president.

Some Baja journalists have suggested that political leaders in Mexico City have been increasingly unhappy with Leyva, whose five-year administration has been marked by several prominent scandals and stunning political setbacks.

These events have unfolded at a time when Baja, although home to fewer than 3 million people, has assumed an ever-greater role in Mexico’s national scene as a result of the state’s booming economy--a product, largely, of U.S.-related trade. The U.S. dollars earned by assembly plants and tourism along the border are seen in Mexico City as critical to alleviating Mexico’s crushing foreign debt.

Political Star Believed to Have Plummeted

Leyva’s political star within the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party--known by its Spanish acronym as PRI--was believed to have plummeted to new depths in the July presidential elections when Salinas, candidate of the ruling party, was defeated in Baja by Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, candidate of a leftist coalition. Baja was one of only a handful of states, along with Mexico City, where Salinas acknowledged defeat.

But Leyva, in his statement, said he was leaving to take on a new challenge with Nacional Financiera, a government banking agency. Leyva, a lawyer who considers himself a specialist in public financing, said he was asked by the president to assume the position in Washington. He said he will have responsibility for assisting in renegotiation of Mexico’s foreign debt, which now tops $100 billion.

“This is a great honor,” Miguel Angel Torres, chief spokesman for Leyva, said by telephone from Mexicali Tuesday evening. “The foreign debt is one of the principal problems facing our nation.”

Interim Successor Is Expected

The state legislature is expected to name an interim successor to Leyva within the next week, said Torres, Leyva’s spokesman. Hugo Felix, a longtime aide to the governor, is one rumored replacement.

The interim governor will serve until Oct. 31, when Leyva’s six-year term expires. Gubernatorial elections in Baja are scheduled in July, and the competition is expected to be intense. The PRI has never lost a gubernatorial election during its 60 years in control of Mexico.

Leyva, 48, a native of the southern Mexican state of Veracruz and a distant relative of former Mexican President Miguel Aleman, served as mayor of Tijuana, Baja’s most populous municipality, from 1977 to 1979. He is generally credited with doing a credible job as mayor and during a stint for the federal Finance Ministry in Mexico City.

Leyva has earned fewer plaudits in the governor’s post, which he assumed in November, 1983. During his administration, the PRI has twice lost mayoral elections in Ensenada, a municipality of more than 200,000 people south of Tijuana. Those losses preceded the party’s shocking defeat in July’s presidential race.

His administration has also weathered several scandals, some involving alleged corruption of law-enforcement officials by drug traffickers who have become a powerful force in the border state. Last year, the governor was harshly criticized for an alleged cover-up by authorities investigating the slaying of Hector (Gato) Felix Miranda, an irreverent columnist who was gunned down on his way to work. Leyva denied any cover-up, but thousands of protesters demanded his resignation.

Along with the criticisms, Leyva is credited with facilitating the expansion of Baja’s economy and opening the way for the entry of additional U.S. and Japanese investors.