Dora Patricia Mercado Castro: A feminist candidate for Mexico
By John Barham (May 12, 2006)

In the first Mexican presidential debate, held April 26, there were two big surprises. PRD candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador was a no-show, stating that he preferred to remain on the campaign trail and would participate only in the second and final debate prior to the election on July 2. If there was a winner, it was the PAN's Felipe Calderón, who, in all likelihood, further boosted his surging numbers in the polls.

However, the second surprise of the debate was the impressive showing made by Dora Patricia Mercado Castro, a feminist and candidate of the Alternative Social-Democratic Workers Party, a minor party that was established to support Mercado's candidacy.

A native of Sonora, Mercado is a graduate in economics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Throughout her career, the 49-year-old Mercado has been active in championing leftist and feminist causes. During her campaign, she has spoken eloquently in support of abortion rights and gender equality. She has been a candidate for the Chamber of Deputies and, for a time headed México Posible, a minor party that has since ceased to exist.

In a polling system tapping the impressions of potential voters viewing the debate, Mercado received high marks for poise and the expression of her stands on the issues. She was particularly effective when stating her views on education, social security and respect for civil liberties. Of the candidates participating in the debate, Mercado was easily the most courteous. And, as the first woman presidential candidate to debate with men in Mexico, Mercado made history.

In her campaign speeches, Mercado has emphasized that, while Mexico is changing, the major parties have failed to adapt to the times and have not reflected the 21st century in their platforms and policies. The result, she maintains, is economic stagnation and widespread despair throughout society.

Mercado has made it clear that, although she views herself as a protest candidate with little or no hope of winning, she wants to show how the presidency may be used as a vehicle to promote an equitable distribution of wealth and the growth of educational opportunities for all segments of society.

Lacking a sizeable war chest of political contributions, Mercado is pinning her hopes for connecting with voters on a grassroots campaign that avoids "the sterile confrontations that the traditional parties have created" by going directly to those in society who have been most disaffected by Mexican politics.

As for liberties guaranteed by the constitution, Mercado unabashedly states that human rights should never be solely an aspiration in Mexico, but, instead, should be a daily reality.

Although Mercado readily voices her conviction that the time is right for a candidate of the left to assume the presidency, she is not sparing in her criticism of López Obrador, pointing out that, as head of government in Mexico City, AMLO vetoed an ordinance that would have permitted free access to public information. Consequently, she says, citizens of the capital city have been deprived of basic information relating to the use of public resources and the accounting of funds by municipal bureaucrats.

Despite the likely fate that the July 2 election holds for her candidacy, Mercado seems sincerely committed to and even courageous about the causes she espouses. Her feminism does not appear to be that of the flippant variety. For sure, she is not a faux-Frida. Rather, her style of communication is engaging, her positions reasoned and her manner restrained. She gives the impression that she would be a take-charge person in any boardroom in which she would find herself.

If it is true that there has traditionally been a confusing dichotomy for Mexican women, as presented by the images of the Virgin of Guadalupe and La Malinche, Mercado gives the impression that she has been more than successful in bridging the gap. And, if she is a harbinger of the women who will follow her example and become involved in the rough and tumble world of politics, the public forum in Mexico is certain to be enhanced.



John Barham, who has been visiting San Miguel de Allende for more than 18 years, has had a career in higher education as an administrator and instructor that has taken him to Missouri, Texas, New York, Alabama and Saudi Arabia. He lectures frequently in Mexico on Mexican history.