MEXICO: Early Start

The Presidential campaign which will produce a successor to President General Lázaro Cardenas—who is barred by the Constitution from succeeding himself when his first term comes to an end in November 1940—last week got off to an early but gentlemanly start. President Cardenas’ Cabinet, three members of which recently resigned in order to become eligible for the Presidential race, pledged to “abstain radically” from political activities during the campaign in order “to keep the people from having barriers in the free expression of their will.”

Testy, sour-pussed General Francisco J. Múgica, onetime Minister of Communications and Public Works, is an ardent Leftist and widely regarded as the man who will wear the Cardenas silks in the race. He offered to hold a banquet for his two leading rivals, conservative General Manuel Avila Camacho, who resigned as Minister of National Defense, and moderate General Rafael Sánchez Tapia, resigned commander of the Federal Military Zone. The feast would show the country that the three could be political rivals and still good friends. Unfortunately, his opponents did not feel the same way about it. They declined. Candidate Múgica decided to give the banquet for himself.

More extraordinary was the announcement of fiery Rev. Pablo Delgado, a publicity-seeking Mexican preacher and onetime Carranzista who has been holding forth in Texas border towns since he was exiled from Mexico in 1920. He said he would campaign for the Presidency of Mexico exclusively on U. S. soil. Explained Preacher Delgado: “Mexican politics are controlled by opinion in the United States.” His platform: return the expropriated oil lands to their onetime U. S. and British holders.