Meet the President

In Mexico's "guided democracy," there is only one real political party, only one real presidential candidate.Against token opposition, the chosen man could win overwhelmingly without ever showing his face. Yet after 50 years of rule, the country's all-powerful Institutional Revolutionary Party still strives mightily to keep its image bright and in its own uniquely Mexican way ask approval of the voters. Last week, on the eve of the July 5 presidential election, the sound of fiesta filled the land, and hardly a man who breathed could ignore the campaign.

Fireworks & Flash Cards. From the looks of things, the P.R.I, might be fighting for its political life. The candidate is Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, 52, government secretary in the Cabinet of incumbent President Adolfo Lopez Mateos. His neon slogans glow atop scores of Mexico City buildings; they are whitewashed on hillsides, stone fences and adobe huts, strung across highways and back roads, plastered on thousands of homes, trees and cars. In major cities, P.R.I, advance men fan out in legions before each Diaz Ordaz appearance. At the textile town of Puebla last week, trumpets shrilled and firecrackers exploded to signal his arrival. Past the screaming, cheering crowds he drove in a blinding swirl of confetti--first white, then green, then red for the colors of the Mexican flag.

At the city's Ignacio Zaragoza Stadium, Diaz Ordaz made his way to the gaily draped platform. Facing him was a flash-card section of 2,000 people, flipping pictures of the President, then President-to-be. "Here," he began, "here in this little homeland, I conclude this pilgrimage through all the parts of our great land. I began in Dolores Hidalgo, seat and beginning point of our independence. And I conclude it in the state of Puebla, because here Mexico ratified before the entire world its right, its desire and its capacity to defend that independence." Then it was off to lay a wreath at a local monument, offer flowers at the shrine of a revolutionary hero, visit P.R.I, offices, lunch in a school auditorium, tour the local newspaper office, appear at a meeting of the Women's Council of Puebla, visit the Puebla University and finally dine with some P.R.I, big shots. "If we could only organize our industry this well," said one businessman after the Puebla rally, "all Mexicans would be rich."

Right & Left. When 11 million Mexicans go to the polls, they will give Diaz Ordaz some 90% of their votes. On Dec. 1 he will take over from Lopez Mateos as Mexico's President for the next six years. The lawyer son of a government accountant, he is tough and shrewd--with enough humor to smile at his unprepossessing looks. An able administrator, his politics are somewhat to the right of Lopez Mateos, who calls himself "left within the constitution."As government secretary, Diaz Ordaz crushed a 1959 railroad strike and arrested its leftist leaders; he jailed Mexico's top Communist (and top artist) David Siqueiros on a charge of "social dissolution," outlawed all Communist demonstrations.

At first mention of Diaz Ordaz as the P.R.I, candidate, the Communist weekly Politica printed a grotesque cover photo of him, with the caption: "He will not be President." Though most far-leftists within the P.R.I, are still against him, some who had bitterly opposed Lopez Mateos, have decided to play it cool and support the more conservative Diaz Ordaz.

As for Diaz Ordaz' relations with the U.S., Washington regards him as a friend but an independent one--which is just where most other recent Mexican Presidents have stood.

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