Elba Esther Gordillo

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Elba Esther Gordillo
Elba Esther Gordillo

Elba Esther Gordillo Morales (b. Comitán, Chiapas, February 6, 1945) is a Mexican politician, formerly affiliated to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and now with the Partido Accion Nacional (PAN). She is also a leader of the (PANAL), or Partido Nueva Alianza, and leader of the National Education Workers' Union (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación or SNTE).

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[edit] Biography

Born in the state of Chiapas, Gordillo is influential in Mexico's notorious political and labor arenas. She has been a member of the National Education Workers' Union since 1960. She became a close ally and collaborator of a self-styled “lifelong leader and moral guide,” Carlos Jonguitud Barrios, whose reign began in 1972, when his Revolutionary Vanguard movement took over control of the national executive committee at gunpoint. When Carlos Salinas de Gortari became president, there was a power struggle that led to Jonguitud's downfall, who was accused of masterminding the assassination of at least 150 dissident teachers, primarily in the southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas. She was appointed General Secretary of this union in April 1989; her task was clear—she had to bring more order to the union by assimilating the dissidents and weakening the remnants of Jonguitud's machine. She was largely successful in achieving these objectives. At the union congress in early 1990, Gordillo was again affirmed as the secretary general of SNTE. In the following two years, she consolidated her position by appointing her followers to important positions, engineering elections of the 56 locals of the union, altering the makeup of the national executive committee to include dissident teachers, and extending the tenure of its leadership by two years. In March 2004 she became the national leader. She is an example of what in Mexico is known as the "cacique" style of labor union political leadership, which is characterized by alliances with the powerful, corrupt elites and ruthless suppression of dissident voices from the bases. She has been implicated in the deaths of several teachers that were struggling to democratize the National Education Workers' Union, chief among them Misael Nuñez Acosta.

At the height of the "Dirty War" waged by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), in 1970 Gordillo joined it. She has occupied several positions in the PRI including Secretary of Organization of the National Executive Council (1986–1987), General Secretary of the Council of National Popular Organizations (1997–2002), and General Secretary of the National Executive Council (2nd most important ranking position within the party).

Gordillo has also served in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate.

[edit] Gordillo vs Madrazo

Elba Esther Gordillo was decisive in Roberto Madrazo's triumph in the elections for the national presidency of the PRI held in 2000 after losing power for the first time in its history, bringing with her the backing of the powerful teachers' union.

Gordillo then became one of the most powerful women in Mexican politics. She was the head of the PRI faction in the Chamber of Deputies, but after a political war with Madrazo she lost that position when a slim majority of 118 PRI deputies voted to oust Gordillo as head of their 224 seat faction in the lower house. Gordillo was forced out of the congress leadership presumably because her political ambitions clashed with those of Madrazo regarding the presidential elections of 2006. High political pressure and illness pushed Gordillo out from public life for about a year, although she retained her post as PRI's secretary general.

In early 2005 Gordillo returned to public life and Madrazo greeted her with open arms. According to PRI rules, Gordillo, as secretary general of the party, should have replaced Madrazo when he stepped down; but, in a surprising political move, Mariano Palacios Alcocer took Madrazo's position instead of Gordillo, who publicly broke with Madrazo just few days before Palacios Alcocer's election. Gordillo accused Madrazo of trying to bribe her with the party's presidency in exchange for supporting his candidacy; she also said that Madrazo had no respect for democracy and just wanted to assure himself of the nomination and was breaking party rules to impose a party leader of his own choosing. The day Mariano Palacios was elected, Gordillo filed a complaint with a federal electoral tribunal asking for protection of her political rights, but the tribunal ruled against her. On September 19 and as a result of the dispute with Madrazo, Gordillo resigned her Secretary General position in the PRI but decided to continue her affiliation with the party.On 13 July 2006, two weeks after the federal elections, the PRI announced her expulsion from its ranks for having supported the PAN and for attacking and slandering against the PRI's leaders and candidates.

[edit] Alliance with the PAN

Gordillo, after being ousted from the PRI, became aligned with the PAN. Her goal was to further consolidate her influence in the Mexican government. In the 2006 Federal elections, along with the teachers syndicate political machine, she helped Calderon of the PAN win the presidency by commanding as much as 4 percent of the vote. She also was successful in representing in congress her new party of the National Education Worker's Union New Alliance party (PANAL). On 13 July 2006, two weeks after the federal elections, the PRI announced her expulsion from its ranks for having supported the PAN and for attacking and slandering against the PRI's leaders and candidates.

[edit] Allegations of Corruption

The UK publication, The Economist [1], reports that Elba Esther Gordillo misappropriates funds from the SNTE for her own personal benefit, or for those close to her. The Economist claims it to be as much as $70 Million. She is also reported to have a house in San Diego, CA worth about $5 Million. Gordillo is linked to corruption in the electoral process in Mexico, using teachers or union workers to rig elections.

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