La Maestra's lesson in politicking

Known simply as La Maestra, or "The Teacher" for the last 22 years, Elba Esther Gordillo has headed Latin America's most powerful labor union, representing around 1.5 million teachers throughout Mexico. She is both feared and respected by the country's politicians, and is considered able to swing elections.

Gordillo recently confirmed longstanding speculation that she had helped President Felipe Calderón obtain the narrow victory that made him president in 2006 as part of a deal that allowed her to put allies in the government. "It is not something I am ashamed of," she said. "I do politics." In return, she was handed control of the ISSSTE, the state social security fund, along with a sub-secretariat at the Ministry of Public Education.

"She is a kind of King Midas. She corrupts everything she touches"

The 66-year-old set up a political party in 2005 that has become notorious for obtaining privileges and key appointments in return for its support in elections.

Born in the southern state of Chiapas in 1945, an orphan at age three, and a teacher by the time she was 12, Elba Esther Gordillo began her political career in the PRI, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico for more than seven decades.

In 1989, President Carlos Salinas de Gortari made her head of the SNTE teachers' union. Her task was to bring striking school staff into line. This she did, and ever since, she has consolidated and extended her hold on power.

In 2003, while the speaker for the PRI in Congress, she cut a secret deal with President Vicente Fox of the right-wing PAN to push through tax reform, and was expelled from her party. In response, she set up her own.

In July, Miguel Ángel Yunes, the former head of the social security fund for state workers, and a onetime ally of Gordillo, publicly alleged that in February 2007 he refused her demand to be paid $2 million a month from the fund, apparently to finance the activities of her allies' political party.

"Elba Esther's only interest in life is power and money," Miguel Ángel Yunes said at the time. "She is like a kind of King Midas. Everything she touches she corrupts."

Gordillo's response was to describe the accusation as "rash, frivolous and slanderous" in a written statement, calling on Yunes to present any evidence he might have.

"Yunes is dead as far as I am concerned. He had a very good friend in me; I really liked him," she told EL PAÍS.

Observers say she is an exceptionally loyal friend, and the most dangerous of allies. Former Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda describes her in the following terms: "Gordillo represents both extremes of Mexican politics. She has a terrible reputation, and at the same time, has surprisingly modern and democratic ideas. She is the epitome of the Mexican personality. Each month the Finance Ministry holds back the wages of the 1.2 million state-sector teachers before passing the money on to the state administrations that pay them. This money is deposited directly in the account of the union leadership, which answers to the National Executive Committee, which answers directly to Gordillo."

"To get where I have gotten today has been hard going," is Gordillo's response. "Mexico is a machista country with a cult of authority. This is the result of a mix of the indigenous with the Spanish. I have had to take on men. I have become what I am through living in a man's world. I've made many mistakes, and I know that because of my bad reputation, I must be careful who I give my support to. If I say that this country needs a cross-party coalition, and that the candidate I prefer is [Federal District Mayor] Marcelo Ebrard, then that might damage his chances. That is tough. I am not cynical. I know. I know about my bad reputation. But they can say what they like, Mexico is my cause."

Here endeth the teacher's lesson.