Baja Congress Picks Interim Governor

The Baja California state Congress on Thursday elected Oscar Baylon Chacon, a longtime functionary of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, to serve as the state’s interim governor.

Baylon, 60, a party loyalist who has served in a variety of federal and local posts in the state, assumed office Thursday after the voting during a lengthy session of the Congress in the state capital of Mexicali. He is scheduled to serve until Oct. 31.

Baylon succeeds Xicotencatl Leyva Mortera, 48, who stunned political circles here by announcing Monday that he was resigning to accept a government banking post in Washington. Many analysts believe that Leyva was forced out by Mexico’s new president, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who was said to have become disenchanted with him. But Leyva has insisted he agreed to take the job as a promotion and honor.

Gubernatorial elections are scheduled in Baja for July 2. Baylon is not likely to be a candidate, but instead is expected to serve as a caretaker governor, presumably to be rewarded afterward with another government job.

Intense Competition

The competition is expected to be intense in July’s elections, with opposition parties planning to field strong candidates. The PRI, as the ruling party is known in Spanish, has never lost a governor’s seat in Mexico.

Gustavo Almaraz, a PRI senator from Baja California who is said to be close to President Salinas, has been mentioned prominently as a candidate in July.

Baylon was elected in a party-line vote Thursday. He picked up the votes of all 14 PRI representatives. The remaining five votes, all by opposition representatives, were cast for candidates from their respective parties.

Baylon, a native of the border state of Chihuahua who has long cherished the governor’s post, has lived in Baja California 40 years. A former president of the state PRI organization, he has served as a senator in Mexico City, as a mayor of Tecate and as an administrator of customs in Tijuana.