PRESS RELEASE
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Gretchen Small
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Castro Gubernatorial Campaign
in Mexico Draws Blood on
LaRouche Issue
June 7, 2003 (EIRNS)—At the height of Benjamin Castro Guzman's campaign for the governorship of the state of Nuevo León, in Mexico, cowardly elements of the Social Alliance Party (PAS), on whose slate Castro is running as a candidate, sought to sabotage his campaign, in response to the situation in Washington, D.C.
Castro, who in addition to running for Governor is also a leader of the Ibero-American Solidarity Movement (MSIA), has stirred up a hornets' nest with his aggressive promotion of the economic policies of U.S. statesman Lyndon LaRouche as the only possible solution to the crisis sweeping Mexico. Earlier this week, Castro suddenly found that his campaign account, and that of the 18 federal and local candidates associated with him, had been frozen, on "orders from above." Not accidentally, this scandal exploded at the point that Castro was about to publish a 24-page pamphlet—as had already been announced—containing his proposed economic development program for the North of Mexico and the Southwest of the United States, the which pamphlet features an important and lengthy interview with LaRouche, as well.
Castro has also denounced the plans of the Houston oil cartel to seize Mexico's oil and the natural gas of the Burgos Basin. And he has vigorously come out against drug-money laundering, which has permeated the economy of the entire region.
When Castro initially agreed to run on the PAS slate, he insisted on—and received—assurances that he would in no way be pressured not to present the ideas of Lyndon LaRouche, the currently leading Presidential pre-candidate in the Democratic Party. Despite this, on June 3, Castro was told by PAS party officials in Mexico City that all funds for his campaign had been frozen, on the grounds that "you shouldn't mention LaRouche: He's the leader of a sect, and anyway nobody understands his ideas." PAS officials also pressured the other candidates to break with LaRouche and Castro.
The reality is exactly the opposite, since what the anti-LaRouche grouping in the PAS, and certain circles in Washington, fear, is that LaRouche's ideas are all too well understood, both in Mexico and in the United States.
For example, Monterrey's leading newspaper El Norte, on June 2 launched a poll asking readers the simple question, "Which gubernatorial candidate will you vote for?" Within the first few minutes, Castro was leading the pack of seven candidates, with 29% of the votes. At that point, with very few votes cast, the polling computer mysteriously crashed, and the poll was never completed.
For his part, LaRouche is the front-runner among all the Democratic pre-candidates for the U.S. Presidency, having received more individual contributions than any other pre-candidate to date, according to the official information of the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Castro, in response to the illegal actions taken against him, responded: "The real cause of the problem lies in Washington, and not in Nuevo Leon. As is well-known, it was LaRouche who initiated the exposes of the Chickenhawks in Washington, and their criminal war against Iraq, and this now threatens their control over the Bush Administration. This gang of Chicken-Hawks want to silence LaRouche, and any international voice which backs him, as I do. At the same time, some friends of these Chickenhawks in Mexico are still upset with Mexican President Vicente Fox, because he didn't line Mexico up behind the war against Iraq. These are the same people who don't want these ideas to be discussed, and they believe that by cutting off the money to my campaign, they will silence me. I advise them: It will have exactly the opposite effect."
The Castro campaign reported that it has also filed complaints with the relevant authorities.
Another aspect of the campaign which has these circles panicked, is that, among the candidates running with Castro for various federal and state offices, there is a large number of young Mexicans who are part of the international LaRouche Youth Movement. This growing group of patriotic youths are intervening with increasing vigor in different universities and other forums in Nuevo Leon.
For example, on May 27, thirty youth from the LaRouche movement accompanied Castro at his presentation before the prestigious Graduate School of Business Administration at the Technological Institute of Monterrey (EGADE), which London's Financial Times ranks as the third business school in the world, surpassed only by Harvard and Yale's John F. Kennedy School, and where personalities such as former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger have also spoken recently. Castro proposed to his EGADE audience that they "convert" from the economic dogmas of Anglo-Dutch liberalism, to Lyndon LaRouche's perspective of reconstructing the economies of the world in the American Intellectual Tradition of Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Henry Carey, Franklin Roosevelt, etc.
None of the professors or other authorities present dared to refute LaRouche's ideas, to the great surprise of the students.
Among Castro's other activities was an interview he gave today, June 7, on The LaRouche Show radio webcast program, which was aired on www.larouchepub.com/radio, with simultaneous translation into Spanish. The audio archive of that interview can be heard on that same site, within a few days.
