Former Mexican presidential candidate reported missing

MEXICO CITY - A former Mexican presidential candidate who has remained a power broker in the ruling party was missing amid signs of violence, the federal attorney general's office said yesterday.

Prosecutors said that Diego Fernandez de Cevallos' car was found near his ranch in the central state of Queretaro. They said some of his belongings were found inside the car as well as unspecified "signs of violence."

The Mexican newspaper El Universal reported that federal sources said Fernandez de Cevallos had been kidnapped, but a federal prosecutor's spokeswoman said she couldn't confirm that.

Fernandez de Cevallos, 69, was the 1994 presidential candidate of the National Action Party that now governs Mexico and he has continued to be an influential figure, as well as one of Mexico's most successful attorneys.

The bearded, cigar-chomping candidate jumped out of obscurity during Mexico's first televised debate by presidential candidates in 1994, striking a chord with the middle class with his calls to topple a party that had held power since 1929.

He finished second to Ernesto Zedillo that year, but his party finally won the presidency six years later when Vicente Fox was elected.

Fernandez de Cevallos served as a senator and congressman while also winning some of the country's largest court judgments, often in suits against government agencies.

Meanwhile, recent violence against politicians is intensifying fear that Mexico's drug cartels could control July 4 local elections in 10 states by supporting candidates who cooperate with organized crime and killing or intimidating those who don't.- AP