Mexican politician 'disappeared'

A former Mexican presidential candidate, Diego Fernández de Cevallos, was apparently abducted near his hacienda in the central Mexican state of Querétaro. The office of the Mexican attorney general declared on May 14 that it had news that the former leader of the National Action Party (PAN) had “disappeared” and that his vehicle had been recovered. There were signs of a violent struggle at the scene, according to the prosecutor’s office. Some of Fernadez de Cevallos belongings were found with the vehicle, while national and state authorities have begun an investigation into the politician’s disappearance.

Fernández de Cevallos represented his party in the presidential elections of 1994 against Ernesto Zedillo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). His opponent, Ernesto Zedillo won the election. Fernández de Cevallos is one of the most influential politicians in his era, having served in the nation’s congress as a deputy and then a senator until 2006. The bearded lawyer and politician was known for his flamboyant speeches and for campaigning on horseback – dressed in the traditional garb of a Mexican horseman, the “charro.”

Born in 1941, he was thought to have had very good chances of winning the 1994 election following a debate with Zedillo and the Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD) candidate Cuaohtemoc Cardenas, but his candidacy failed when his campaign flagged following accusations that he had been suborned by the PRI, which had been in power for nearly 70 years. Mexico is currently facing some of the worst violence since the Revolution nearly one hundred years ago as narcotics cartels and the Mexican government continue to wrestle over power.