Amid Rising Pressure, Mexico Interior Minister Quits : Politics: President names well-connected party member to powerful post after resignation of his longtime friend.

In what analysts called a triumph for politicians over technocrats within the ruling party, President Ernesto Zedillo on Wednesday replaced the powerful Interior minister, his longtime friend Esteban Moctezuma Barragan, with a man closely tied to an important traditional political faction.

Moctezuma, who as Interior minister was responsible for domestic security, resigned after suffering mounting criticism as order appeared to break down.

Last week, a police officer and judge associated with the controversy over the bankruptcy of the metropolitan bus system were killed, and Tuesday the bus drivers union blocked the entrances to the Interior Ministry, preventing federal employees from working.

Moctezuma met privately with Zedillo, and his resignation was announced minutes later by presidential spokesman Carlos Salomon. He had attempted to resign twice before in recent weeks, but Zedillo refused to accept, according to a source close to Moctezuma.

Moctezuma has been named a special adviser to the president on reforming Mexico’s political system.

Zedillo is putting his friend on staff at Los Pinos, the presidential residence, to protect him and to help him revive his career later on, said one political analyst, who asked not to be named.

His replacement, Emilio Chuayffet, is the governor of the state of Mexico, which surrounds the capital, and was previously director of the Federal Electoral Institute.

He has been closely associated with Alfredo del Mazo, a powerful former labor minister with close ties to unions, said Mexican political analyst Roderic Camp.

Del Mazo is generally believed to be a rival of Carlos Hank Gonzalez, another traditional politician, who was a major supporter of Zedillo’s presidential campaign last year.

Del Mazo, Camp said, “wasn’t somebody who fit the technocratic mold. He advocated a more moderate economic policy.”

Chuayffet is generally expected to be a moderating influence on the free-market reforms that many Mexicans blame for this country’s current economic crisis.

He has more political experience than Moctezuma, who was criticized for lack of political savvy and inability to halt leaks from the Interior Ministry’s intelligence-gathering operations.