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In late January 2005, three weeks before statewide elections in Guerrero , three young men in suits had set up a stand in the central plaza of Chilpancingo, the state capital, to promote the campaign of Héctor Astudillo, the PRI’s candidate for governor. A giant television screen broadcast the image of the candidate speaking about progress and development for Guerrero. Astudillo was Chilpancingo’s favorite son, and he had done everything a native of the capital could do to prepare himself for the governorship: he had served as a city council member and then mayor before going on to be chair of the state PRI and a senator. Groomed for leadership within his party, he was confident of his victory in a state that had seen no other party in power for over seventy years. The PRI maintained its power in Guerrero through alliances with local caciques, who controlled their municipalities and helped the state government ensure order and get out the vote at election time. In addition to these strongmen , a few families exercised significant control over regions in the state.1 The mostimportantwas,withoutdoubt,theFigueroafamily,whichhadrisentoprominenceintheMexicanRevolutionandthenconsolidateditspoliticalandeconomic influence throughout the twentieth century. No fewer than three Figueroas had served as governor, but their power went far beyond that formal title. Although the Figueroa family was the first among cacique families, they were certainly not alone as de facto power holders because several other families had regional influence in the state. 4 Chilpancingo: The Continuation of Corporatism? 1. See Armando Bartra, Guerrero bronco: Campesinos, ciudadanos y guerrilleros en la Costa Grande, 2nd ed. (Mexico City: Era, 2000); Carlos Illades, Breve historia de Guerrero (Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica,2000);andJorgeRendónAlarcón,SociedadyconflictoenelestadodeGuerrero,1911–1995: Poder político y estructura social de la entidad (Mexico City: Plaza y Valdés, 2003). It is perhaps no coincidence that Guerrero is also one of Mexico’s poorest states, with only 1.68 percent of Mexico’s GDP but 3.16 percent of the population . It ranks close to the bottom of the list in average levels of education and income and at the top in poverty and extreme poverty. Almost two-thirds of the population earns two minimum wages or less, and fully 36 percent earns one minimum wage or less. On average, students complete 6.6 years of schooling, the third lowest completion rate in the country, and well under the national average of 7.8.2 Social movements have arisen periodically to challenge the existing political and social order, but these have generally been put down with force. Starting in the 1960s, several social leaders gave up on peaceful protest and foundedguerrillaorganizationstofightagainstthestateandfederalgovernments. Even today, these rebellions still simmer in the mountains and the coast, the poorest regions of the state. Guerrero has been, without doubt, one of Mexico’s most destitute and openly conflicted states. In the midst of all this, Chilpancingo has been the center of the PRI’s political machine in Guerrero. As the capital, the city has been the home of the state bureaucracy and the companies that depend on it to make their businesses profitable . Compared to the rest of the state, the economy was slightly better and incomes a little higher. So despite a growing opposition party presence in Guerrero in the late 1990s, the PRI had never been seriously challenged here. Chilpancingo was, by all appearances, a town where very little had changed even as the rest of the state lived through decades of political turmoil. Indeed, the city had something of a reputation for being a place where everything and yet nothing ever happened. Many of the tumultuous events taking place in Guerrero passed through Chilpancingo yet rarely seemed to disturb its peace.3 Rebel commanders , army generals, social leaders, union bosses, landowners, peasant organizers , human rights advocates, and political leaders of all stripes had spent time here. Chilpancingo was witness to political negotiations and public debates, to protestsandtheplanningofassassinations.However,thecityitselfseemedlargely 74 A Tale of Three Cities 2. INEGI statistics, available at http://www.sc.inegi.org.mx. 3. Tomás Bustamante Cruz states, “Chilpancingo is one of those places that, from an early age, has not had much of a local history of its own, rather it has received the influence of other cultures in transition . . . . In each stage of its history, we find it to be the scene of social processes that have to do with other regions and social groups, which determine the life of the inhabitants...

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