First Independent Governor 'El Bronco' Bets on Trump to Win US Presidency Gabriela Lopez - Reuters
go to original May 17, 2016

So what drives El Bronco? And what is his vision for the future of Mexico? On this episode of Talk to Al Jazeera, we talk to the man who claims to be on a mission to save his people from evil - Governor Jaime Rodriguez Calderon. (Al Jazeera)

A maverick Mexican state governor tipped presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to win the upcoming U.S. election, likening his own shock victory last year to the billionaire’s ascent.

An outspoken rancher known as “El Bronco” (the gruff one), Jaime Rodriguez became the first independent governor in modern Mexico, capitalizing on widespread disaffection with established parties to win Nuevo Leon state on the U.S. border.

“I made a bet ... I said that Trump’s going to win,” Rodriguez said the day after Trump’s main rival for the Republican nomination, Ted Cruz, dropped out of the race. “What’s Trump doing? He’s taking advantage of the anger. The whole world says Trump is mad; that’s what they said about me.”

Speaking in Nuevo Leon’s capital, Monterrey, Rodriguez said he was not a Trump fan, and would not vote for him if he had a ballot.

But, he added, he had met with a group of Mexican migrants in the last few days who also told him they thought Trump would win. They had faith in a Trump presidency as the real estate mogul is known as a job creator, Rodriguez said.

Once a member of Mexico’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, Rodriguez won a landslide election victory in one of the country’s wealthiest states last June after breaking with the PRI and running an anti-establishment campaign.

Read the rest at The Peninsula

Related: Trump Poses New Mission for Mexico's Diplomats (Rice University)

Related: Donald Trump Will Turn the World Against the US, Former Mexican President Vincente Fox Warns (Latin Post)

Related: Mexico’s ‘El Bronco’ Jaime Rodríguez Bucks at Incentives for Car Plant (WSJ.com)

Related: Despite Border Talk, Mexican Elite Supports Donald Trump as U.S. President (Fox News Latino)

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