PRI finally delivered on its threat to seek impeachment against Emilio González Márquez, and filed a petition in the federal chamber of deputies to have the Jalisco governor removed from power for a range of impeachable offenses, including violating the Constitution as well as various federal and criminal laws.
The issue at hand: A social conflict regarding the Tenacatita beach in Jalisco in the municipality of La Huerta. A group of villagers were kicked off property adjacent to the beach, as the surrounding property has allegedly been sold to a company that wants to turn it into a a beach resort. The case appears to be as nasty as it sounds: The locals have been harrassed, beaten, received death threats, by both private security guards as well as local Jalisco state police backing them, in order to force them off the land they say is theirs and noone's to sell.
Federal deputies from PRI, such as David Hernández Pérez and Salvador Caro Cabrera, wants to have the governor impeached. In a seeming "nailing-Al-Capone-for-tax-fraud" maneuver, they argue the governor has blocked a federal highway that gives access to the disputed property, violating free transit, to the beach, which the Mexican Constitution establishes as a public good. While future investigations of the alcoholic governor will likely show up much worse malfeasance than this (particularly showering taxpayers' money on Catholic church ,which in Jalisco is remarkably reactionary), this one may actually well come to a fruition: Reportedly, Francisco Rojas, who is head of PRI's huge parliamentary group, is backing the petition of the Jalisco legislators.
Notably, less than two months ago, the lower house of Congress voted unamimously to demand that the Jalisco government follow recommendations by the state's Human Rights Commission) to remove police forces, unblock the road, and end its siege and allow free access to La Huerta. The governor's response? Completely ignoring it.
Should this really come to be - should governor González Márquez' arrogance finally take him down - there will be some serious celebration by your truly fueled by the finest product of Jalisco - a state that so much deserves a better government than its current foul-mouthed drunkard.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
TEPJF rejects Veracruz election complaints, despite dirty phone talk
The Federal Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF) on Tuesday finally rejected the official complaints lodged by PAN against the July 4 gubernatorial elections in Veracruz, as well as a separate complaint by PRD-Convergencia, and thus finally validated the victory of PRI's Javier Duarte de Ochoa. The opposition parties had protested against alleged infractions such as the theft of electoral ballots, illegal diffusion of a poll, promotion of electoral propaganda outside of the allotted time period, and failure to transmit a debate between the main candidates. Yet perhaps gravest were the charges that outgoing governor had used public resources to promote Duarte and other PRI candidates. Ahead of the elections, tapes were released by PAN where Governor Fidel Herrera seemingly ordered the state apparatus to work for PRI's victory. Herrera notably responded by rejecting the tapes' authenticity, yet at the same time accusing PAN and the PGR, the attorney general's office, of illegal wiretapping.
Yet TEPJF rejected all the arguments, including those based on the tapes, as the electoral court found this apparent strong evidence to be "inadmissible" as it had been obtained illegally.
Moreover, in an echo of 2006, the court did accept the argument from PAN's Miguel Angel Yunes that the Veracruz electoral authorities had refused to accept various complaints from the candidate, such as dirty campaigns that linked Yunes to corruption and pederasty- yes, no joke! - yet the TEPJF concluded there was no evidence that this filthy "swift-boating" was linked to the ruling PRI.
It is the law, and Miguel Angel Yunes is not exactly a saint when it comes to electoral transgressions himself, yet it pains me to see that Herrera got off completely scot free with his one, handing this important state to PRI ahead of the 2012 presidential election.
Yet TEPJF rejected all the arguments, including those based on the tapes, as the electoral court found this apparent strong evidence to be "inadmissible" as it had been obtained illegally.
Moreover, in an echo of 2006, the court did accept the argument from PAN's Miguel Angel Yunes that the Veracruz electoral authorities had refused to accept various complaints from the candidate, such as dirty campaigns that linked Yunes to corruption and pederasty- yes, no joke! - yet the TEPJF concluded there was no evidence that this filthy "swift-boating" was linked to the ruling PRI.
It is the law, and Miguel Angel Yunes is not exactly a saint when it comes to electoral transgressions himself, yet it pains me to see that Herrera got off completely scot free with his one, handing this important state to PRI ahead of the 2012 presidential election.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
No longer a "Danger to Mexico"? AMLO courts business sectors
During the 2006 presidential campaign, dirty media campaigns from the PAN but also "swift-boat"-style black propaganda ads from representatives of Mexico's business sectors, contributed to AMLO's narrow loss. This time, ahead of his desire to run in 2012, it is quite notable how AMLO is seeking to convince business sectors that he is far from the "Danger to Mexico" the dirty ads once made him out to be.
In Monterey, Nuevo León, on Tuesday, AMLO met with key businessmen and leaders from the Asociación Nacional de Empresarios Independientes (ANEI), including former PAN governor Fernando Canales Clariond, who was notably also the secretary of economy and energy under Fox, and presented his business program to them. It was not a hostile crowd. Businessman Fernando Turner Dávila notably that one should not satanizar or "demonize" the former presidential candidate. ANEI is a relatively new organization, yet has attracted more than seven thousand small and medium business, many of whom have lost out given the general economic cllimate and economic policies of Calderón.
Yesterday in Guadalajara, he similarly met with businessmen from the a Cámara Nacional de Comercio (CANACO) and Unión de Comerciantes del Mercado de Abasto (UCMA). AMLO declared.
Three more comments:
1) As many noted in 2006, AMLO's business proposals were hardly radical, and he was not a leftwing extremist bent on implementing socialism or anything similar, but actually very pro business. Yet his rhetoric was not: The social democrats in the PRD repeatedly asked him to calm down his attacks on the oligarchy, now "mafia," as it would scare away business. As Jésus Ortega told me, "Yes, 'First the Poor,' but let us not forget about the middle class, and business sectors.' Had AMLO listened then, he would likely have been president now.
2) He nonetheless continues in the best populist fashion with attacking the "oligarchy" - that is, not the entire upper classes or business (he is certainly not a class warrior in the Marxist sense), but just like the classic populists, attacking only some selected parts - the "mafia," those "robbing the country," and so forth.
3) What doe his hard-core ultraloyal "radical" supporters think of AMLO's open courting of business? While a few might find it contradictory, it is my hunch that most of them are perfectly fine with it, as the whole radical-thing is a but a mere cover for them to opportunistically jump on board with AMLO due to tactical benefits from an alliance with him. That goes particularly for PT and Convergencia, who were able to save their party registries due to him, but also for the "radicals" within PRD.
In Monterey, Nuevo León, on Tuesday, AMLO met with key businessmen and leaders from the Asociación Nacional de Empresarios Independientes (ANEI), including former PAN governor Fernando Canales Clariond, who was notably also the secretary of economy and energy under Fox, and presented his business program to them. It was not a hostile crowd. Businessman Fernando Turner Dávila notably that one should not satanizar or "demonize" the former presidential candidate. ANEI is a relatively new organization, yet has attracted more than seven thousand small and medium business, many of whom have lost out given the general economic cllimate and economic policies of Calderón.
Yesterday in Guadalajara, he similarly met with businessmen from the a Cámara Nacional de Comercio (CANACO) and Unión de Comerciantes del Mercado de Abasto (UCMA). AMLO declared.
"There are no substantive differences. In the economic model we want to reinvigorate the economy generate jobs, so in this there is complete agreement. We will continue talking and exchanging views....We want them to directly know the things that we are proposing, so that there is no distrorion, so that no one is jumping on a media campaign to instill fear in the people."Miguel Alfaro Aranguren, head of CANACO in Guadalajara, when asked if AMLO was still a "danger to Mexico," responded,"It is very hard to label someone like that." Indeed it is. Perhaps someone should have acted a bit more responsibly before tacking this label to AMLO in 2006 as well?
Three more comments:
1) As many noted in 2006, AMLO's business proposals were hardly radical, and he was not a leftwing extremist bent on implementing socialism or anything similar, but actually very pro business. Yet his rhetoric was not: The social democrats in the PRD repeatedly asked him to calm down his attacks on the oligarchy, now "mafia," as it would scare away business. As Jésus Ortega told me, "Yes, 'First the Poor,' but let us not forget about the middle class, and business sectors.' Had AMLO listened then, he would likely have been president now.
2) He nonetheless continues in the best populist fashion with attacking the "oligarchy" - that is, not the entire upper classes or business (he is certainly not a class warrior in the Marxist sense), but just like the classic populists, attacking only some selected parts - the "mafia," those "robbing the country," and so forth.
3) What doe his hard-core ultraloyal "radical" supporters think of AMLO's open courting of business? While a few might find it contradictory, it is my hunch that most of them are perfectly fine with it, as the whole radical-thing is a but a mere cover for them to opportunistically jump on board with AMLO due to tactical benefits from an alliance with him. That goes particularly for PT and Convergencia, who were able to save their party registries due to him, but also for the "radicals" within PRD.
"Noroña's penis": Ciro Gómez Leyva
I commented yesterday on the antics of Gerardo Fernández Noroña, the former PRD-turned-PT diputado who is seen as one of the most "radical" of the andresmanuelistas, or ultra-loyal backers of former presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). In today's Milenio, Ciro Gómez offers a quite humorous commentary on the PT legislator:
"What is one to say about the machismo of the new diva of political vaudeville, Gerardo Fernandez Noroña, who shouts that those who are looking for him will find him, who is telling Genaro García Luna to his face that he is a murderer. Wow! The brave Noroña, with immunity from prosecution. I suppose that to maintain this level, in the next appearance he will take out his penis and demand a right of reply."More here.
¡Qué alguien me explique! Why did AMLO senators vote against the tobacco tax?
Yeidckol Polevnsky, Rosalinda López, Josefina Cota Cota and Francisco Castellón Fonseca are four of the PRD senators who on numerous occasions have professed their loyalty to Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and among a group of PRD and PT senators who most recently declared they would back AMLO as a presidential candidate.
Two days ago, however, when the Senate ratified the proposed rise in 7 pesos - a mere 50 U.S. cents - increase in tobacco taxes per cigarette pack, the four legislators voted against it - the only ones from the PRD to do so. In addition, three Convergencia senators, a party that also has declared its ultraloyalty to AMLO, did the same - Ericel Gómez Nucamendi, Francisco García Lizardi and Eugenio Govea Arcos.
From the Partido del Trabajo, ostensibly diehard andresmanuelistas, its senate coordinator Ricardo Monreal abstained from voting, while his PT colleague Javier Obregón Espinoza voted in favor.
Why? Why on earth would these ostensibly "radical" politicians vote against raising the tobacco tax?
¡Qué alguien me explique!
a) Is it that AMLO is particularly pro-smoking?
b) Can it be that these "radical" senators are really corrupt opportunists, bought and paid for by the tobacco industry?
c) ????
You make your pick.
Two days ago, however, when the Senate ratified the proposed rise in 7 pesos - a mere 50 U.S. cents - increase in tobacco taxes per cigarette pack, the four legislators voted against it - the only ones from the PRD to do so. In addition, three Convergencia senators, a party that also has declared its ultraloyalty to AMLO, did the same - Ericel Gómez Nucamendi, Francisco García Lizardi and Eugenio Govea Arcos.
From the Partido del Trabajo, ostensibly diehard andresmanuelistas, its senate coordinator Ricardo Monreal abstained from voting, while his PT colleague Javier Obregón Espinoza voted in favor.
Why? Why on earth would these ostensibly "radical" politicians vote against raising the tobacco tax?
¡Qué alguien me explique!
a) Is it that AMLO is particularly pro-smoking?
b) Can it be that these "radical" senators are really corrupt opportunists, bought and paid for by the tobacco industry?
c) ????
You make your pick.
PT deputy Fernández Noroña at it again: Calderón a "drunkard."
Professional rabble rouser Gerardo Fernández Noroña, who was spokesperson for the PRD, loudly resigned from the party, and then became a national deputy for the Workers Party (Partido del Trabajo, PT), produced yet another memorable moment in San Lázaro, in relation with the appearance of the (admittedly inept) Secretary of Communication and Transportation, Juan Francisco Molinar Horcasitas in Congress. Noroña dixit:
"In this spurious cabinet there are three secretaries that are even worse than Calderón. They are Molinar Horcasitas, Javier Lozano and Genaro García Luna, and are of a cynicism, a shameless, a bad abominable chore, you should be in prison, and they will be, because in life all is temporary... and moreover they need to be like this, they need to be like this in order to take a job from a drunkard like Calderón."OK, so Noroña, who rejects the legitimacy of Calderón at any and all occasion, can be quite entertaining in his antics. Yet how much good does these insults do to make Mexico a better place - and to make the Chamber of Deputies a more respected institution?
Three most sensible statements from Marcelo Ebrard in Madrid
From Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico City chief of government, during his visit to commemorate the Spanish exiles who fled to Mexico during and after the Spanish Civil War, when Lázaro Cárdenas opened the doors for them:
1. On AMLO:
Amen to all three.
1. On AMLO:
"I have a good relationship with him, with different accents and different tactics and strategies. But the deal is that the Left must only have one candidate, because anything else would be madness."2. On how to choose the Left's candidate:
"We will determine the candidate with a simple method, which is that in the second half of 2011, through polls, decide who has the ability to better represent the Left in order to what the majority of the electorate thinks. If we do an internal consultation, between party members who would vote this day, we will be making a strategic mistake."3. And finally, on the Spanish exiliados:
"The exiles didn't arrive in Mexico in order to demand; they arrived in order to give and share what they had: labor, knowledge, talent, creativity, teaching, and solidarity."
Amen to all three.
Feigned anger as Alonso Lujambio marks territory as presidential candidate.
Federal Secretary of Education Alonso Lujambio, in an attack on both Marcelo Ebrard and Enrique Peña Nieto, made his biggest step yet toward presenting himself as a contender for the 2012 presidency. In Madrid, Spain, in what would have been the first debate between the three "pre-candidates," Lujambio criticized both his possible future opponents for failing to show up this would-be coming-out party, a forum arranged by Fundación Botín, bankrolled by Banco Santander, to engage in a first open debate with the education secretary. Neither Ebrard nor Peña Nieto attended the forum.
Lujambio huffed and puffed at this perceived affront: Against Peña Nieto, he noted:
What the incident did serve to do, however, was to present Alonso Lujambio as a candidate for the nomination to be PAN's presidential candidate - if any doubt remained, that is.
Lujambio huffed and puffed at this perceived affront: Against Peña Nieto, he noted:
"It alarms me that señor Peña Nieto has become an example of unilateral communication. From the monologue of the [political television/internet] ad, or that of paid news stories. It alarms me that he will only appear publicly in controlled environments, encapsulated for smiles and photos."Yet his anger was more than a tad feigned: It was revealed that Peña Nieto had announced days ago he would not attend; as for Ebrard, when his team learned about the participation of former president Carlos Salinas, a figure loathed by the left, in the said forum, Ebrard backed straight out of it.
What the incident did serve to do, however, was to present Alonso Lujambio as a candidate for the nomination to be PAN's presidential candidate - if any doubt remained, that is.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
PAN leadership approves alliance in Mexico State. Of note: Talks with PT and Convergencia
With no opposing votes and merely one abstention, the national executive committee of the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) voted in favor of "exploring" an alliance with the Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) in the state of Mexico.
While this outcome was a foregone decision, it is of note that PAN national president César Neva revealed that PAN is also having talks with the Partido del Trabajo (PT) and Convergencia, the two smaller parties aligned with AMLO and who like him publicly and loudly reject any electoral alliance with PAN in Mexico State. It indicates that should a PAN-PRD common candidate materialize, significant sections of both parties may break with AMLO's intransigent line to support the candidate rather than any quixotic run by AMLO's "own" left-wing candidate.
While this outcome was a foregone decision, it is of note that PAN national president César Neva revealed that PAN is also having talks with the Partido del Trabajo (PT) and Convergencia, the two smaller parties aligned with AMLO and who like him publicly and loudly reject any electoral alliance with PAN in Mexico State. It indicates that should a PAN-PRD common candidate materialize, significant sections of both parties may break with AMLO's intransigent line to support the candidate rather than any quixotic run by AMLO's "own" left-wing candidate.
From Ebrard: NO means NO for alliance with PAN for presidency. Will AMLO take note?
It didn't seem to matter how many times national PRD leader Jésus Ortega declared that PRD will not seek a common presidential candidate for 2012: AMLO and his "radical" supporters keep on existing that this is really the ulterior motive of the PAN-PRD talks to launch a common candidate in 2011 in Mexico State.
Yet now Marcelo Ebrard, in Spain for events relating to the Spanish Civil War, yesterday again made it very clear that an alliance with PAN for the presidency would not be "logical" or "desirable": The parties are far too different; the electoral alliances at the state levels follow a very different logic.
To repeat: There will NOT be an alliance with PAN at the national level for 2012. There won't. The PRD will not have a common candidate with PAN for 2012. They won't. PAN.And.PRD.Will.Not.Ally.In.2012.
Will AMLO finally take notice and stop accusing the PRD of planning this?
Yet now Marcelo Ebrard, in Spain for events relating to the Spanish Civil War, yesterday again made it very clear that an alliance with PAN for the presidency would not be "logical" or "desirable": The parties are far too different; the electoral alliances at the state levels follow a very different logic.
To repeat: There will NOT be an alliance with PAN at the national level for 2012. There won't. The PRD will not have a common candidate with PAN for 2012. They won't. PAN.And.PRD.Will.Not.Ally.In.2012.
Will AMLO finally take notice and stop accusing the PRD of planning this?
Mexico Supreme Court squashes Ulises Ruis' attempt to evade auditing
While Ulises Ruiz is still enjoys impunity as governor of Oaxaca (given the ridiculously long transition period in this and other states), a ruling by Mexican Supreme Court suggests that he might be in trouble soon after leaving office.
In July, the state congress steamrolled through, among other "covering-the-back-of-an-outgoing-governor legislation," a change to state law that in essence declared that major aspects of Ruiz' government could not be audited. The Supreme Court finally threw out the ruling yesterday, given that the PRI-dominated legislature broke a series of legal procedures in the process, and declared it unconstitutional.
Ulises Ruiz is one step closer to finally answering for the mismanagement during his 2004-2010 disastrous government.
In July, the state congress steamrolled through, among other "covering-the-back-of-an-outgoing-governor legislation," a change to state law that in essence declared that major aspects of Ruiz' government could not be audited. The Supreme Court finally threw out the ruling yesterday, given that the PRI-dominated legislature broke a series of legal procedures in the process, and declared it unconstitutional.
Ulises Ruiz is one step closer to finally answering for the mismanagement during his 2004-2010 disastrous government.
Monday, October 25, 2010
José Ángel Córdova Villalobos, a most reasonable guanajuatense
José Ángel Córdova, secretary of health, has long expressed interest in contending for the governorship of Guanajuato in 2012. Compared with most any other panista from Guanajuato, he comes across as a most reasonable man, in an interview in today's El Universal. On abortion, allowed in the Federal District:
Q: "Would you accept a law like in the Federal District?"
A: "In a given moment, if one governs, one governs for all, and laws are created by legislators, and one must respect the laws because we are a country of institutions."Under the mantle of a "lesser evil" per excellance for the Yunque-infected, PAN-dominated state of Guanajuato: ¡Córdova, gubernador!
PRI's labor reform proposal not very credible.
PRI just presented its own labor reform proposal, which nominally appears to push the party far to the left on workers rights and compensation.
Its main points, from Milenio:
My initial thoughts: Coming from a party that for decades only paid lip service to workers rights enshrined in the Mexican Constitution, and then in the 1980s and 90s together with the PAN did all they could to tear labor rights further apart in the name of the "free market" and "competitiveness," this proposal is simply not credible: Unless PRI's parliamentary group has suddenly made a sharp turn to the left, this reeks of electioneering, and little else.
Its main points, from Milenio:
My initial thoughts: Coming from a party that for decades only paid lip service to workers rights enshrined in the Mexican Constitution, and then in the 1980s and 90s together with the PAN did all they could to tear labor rights further apart in the name of the "free market" and "competitiveness," this proposal is simply not credible: Unless PRI's parliamentary group has suddenly made a sharp turn to the left, this reeks of electioneering, and little else.
The caballada expands: Roberto Gil Zuarth registers for PAN leadership succession
The past weekend and week saw the additional registration for contenders for the PAN presidency of Senator Blanca Judith Díaz and Francisco Ramírez Acuña, former governor of Jalisco (2001-2006), briefly minister of the interior in Calderón's cabinet, and now a federal deputy.
Yet it was the rather surprise announcement by Roberto Gil Zuarth yesterday that he would also seek the nomination that caused the greatest stir. Roberto Gil Zuarth is considered quite a hot-shot in PAN and a quick riser - and he is barely 33 years old. Notably, former interior minister Fernando Gómez Mont, under which Gil served, accompanied him for his registration and declared he would consider returning to PAN, should Gil become its next president. Gómez Mont, to recall, loudly renounced from PAN over the electoral alliances with PRD, and then from the administration of Felipe Calderón this July. He has held a very low profile ever since.
Until now, Senator Gustavo Madero and Ramírez Acuña have been considered the front runners, yet Gil appears closer to Calderón than any of them.
There is one problem: According to party rules, the party's national councilors, who will elect the president Dec 4-5, all need to have been members of at least five years of the party, and Gil only has about 2.5 years of membership in the PAN. His supporters retort that the rule only apply for councilors, and not the party president, and as such does not disqualify Gil. Yet this is pretty disingenuous. Yes, the statutes may only stipulate the national councilors need five years of party membership and say nothing about the president, but a more plausible reading of this is simply that it would be even more unthinkable for a president to have less than five years militancy - after all, what is the logic of demanding it of the PAN council but not the president? Yet the time when PAN was a party that strictly adhered to the internal party rules or even obeyed the spirit of the statues, has long passed. To cite but the most obvious, Calderón himself blatantly intervened to have his designates Germán Martínez and then César Nava appointed as party presidents.
In any event, should there be any doubt as to Calderón's preferences, Germán Martínez (2007-2009 PAN president) declared that Roberto Gil would represent calderonismo as well as post-calderonismo, as the tenure of head of PAN's excecutive committe would extend to 2013, after the presidential elections. Ramírez Acuña and particularly Madero until now appeared the strongest contenders; now, many may place their money rather on Gil.
Yet it was the rather surprise announcement by Roberto Gil Zuarth yesterday that he would also seek the nomination that caused the greatest stir. Roberto Gil Zuarth is considered quite a hot-shot in PAN and a quick riser - and he is barely 33 years old. Notably, former interior minister Fernando Gómez Mont, under which Gil served, accompanied him for his registration and declared he would consider returning to PAN, should Gil become its next president. Gómez Mont, to recall, loudly renounced from PAN over the electoral alliances with PRD, and then from the administration of Felipe Calderón this July. He has held a very low profile ever since.
Until now, Senator Gustavo Madero and Ramírez Acuña have been considered the front runners, yet Gil appears closer to Calderón than any of them.
There is one problem: According to party rules, the party's national councilors, who will elect the president Dec 4-5, all need to have been members of at least five years of the party, and Gil only has about 2.5 years of membership in the PAN. His supporters retort that the rule only apply for councilors, and not the party president, and as such does not disqualify Gil. Yet this is pretty disingenuous. Yes, the statutes may only stipulate the national councilors need five years of party membership and say nothing about the president, but a more plausible reading of this is simply that it would be even more unthinkable for a president to have less than five years militancy - after all, what is the logic of demanding it of the PAN council but not the president? Yet the time when PAN was a party that strictly adhered to the internal party rules or even obeyed the spirit of the statues, has long passed. To cite but the most obvious, Calderón himself blatantly intervened to have his designates Germán Martínez and then César Nava appointed as party presidents.
In any event, should there be any doubt as to Calderón's preferences, Germán Martínez (2007-2009 PAN president) declared that Roberto Gil would represent calderonismo as well as post-calderonismo, as the tenure of head of PAN's excecutive committe would extend to 2013, after the presidential elections. Ramírez Acuña and particularly Madero until now appeared the strongest contenders; now, many may place their money rather on Gil.
Santiago Creel, youtubeando
In a time were ever more Mexican politicians are youtubeando in order to try to circumvent restrictions on "pre-campaigning" or the promotion of their political candidacies before the official start of the election season, Santiago Creel Miranda is the most recent addition to this practice. Creel is using YouTube to promote his money-laundering reform, in the process seeking to breathe life in a rather stagnant bid for PAN's nomination of presidential candidacy in 2012.
Beyond Creel's rather wooden appearance, the proposal at first hearing does seem to make quite sense to me, including a registrar for any transaction above 10,000 pesos, to combat organized crime.
AMLO's magical realism: "In 2006 we won by close to 10 percent... now we are going to win by 20 points"
I am not sure if it's correct to say that AMLO is getting ever more erratic and radical - the aftermath of the 2006 to me exposed him as a man who seemed incapable of accepting defeat. as well as any errors or his own making.
It is nonetheless striking to hear him today, four years after, when absolutely no serious academic study, no testimony, no evidence whatsoever has been presented that AMLO actually won in 2006, declare,
It is nonetheless striking to hear him today, four years after, when absolutely no serious academic study, no testimony, no evidence whatsoever has been presented that AMLO actually won in 2006, declare,
"I have my calculations and in 2006 we won with nearly 10 points, that was the extent of fraud that they did to us, and now we are going to win over them by 20 points because there are more people supporting us."Where does this come from? Does he truly believe in what he is saying? I am not sure what is the most disconcerting, with regards to the future stability of Mexico's democracy - that he does, or that he doesn't.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
AMLO's erklärungsproblem: PAN-PRD alliance in Mexico draws broad support
AMLO continues his tireless quest to sink the PAN-PRD alliance in Mexico State, denouncing the top PRD leadership as in cahoots with Calderón and utterly unrepresentative of the party as a whole, which he claims is universally rejecting a PAN-PRD common candidate.
Yet this weekend, the state branches of the PRD and PAN in Mexico State held their first mass meeting to debate the possible alliance, which also attracted a considerable contingent of PT and Convergencia supporters. The leadership of the these two parties had actually earlier announced their presence in the event, held in Nezahualcóyotl, but pressure from AMLO very likely forced them to desist from attending.
The Mexico State rumor mill has it that quite a few cadres from at least Convergencia are actually keen to join the PRD-PAN alliance, even though Convergencia n Friday presented Alejandro Gertz Manero, who was President Vicente Fox' first Secretary of Public Security, as its own candidate. In attendance was also Gabino Cué, the Convergencia candidate who won the Oaxaca gubernatorial elections heading an alliance that also included PAN, though Cué notably distanced himself from the leadership in that event, making it clear that he supports a PAN-PRD alliance in Mexico State.
Similarly , the PAN-PRD event yesterday also drew another highly popular alliancistas , the highly popular Xóchitl Gálvez, who most recently ran as gubernatorial candidate in Hidalgo, elections whose outcome are still disputed (The PT, to be sure, also backed her, until AMLO then commanded the party to desist).
All in all I think it is fair to say that AMLO's claim that the supporters of a PAN-PRD alliance are only found at the very top echelon of the PRD, is simply not true. In Mexico State, given the increasing support for a common candidate to beat the PRI, he has, in fine German, an erklärungsproblem.
Yet this weekend, the state branches of the PRD and PAN in Mexico State held their first mass meeting to debate the possible alliance, which also attracted a considerable contingent of PT and Convergencia supporters. The leadership of the these two parties had actually earlier announced their presence in the event, held in Nezahualcóyotl, but pressure from AMLO very likely forced them to desist from attending.
The Mexico State rumor mill has it that quite a few cadres from at least Convergencia are actually keen to join the PRD-PAN alliance, even though Convergencia n Friday presented Alejandro Gertz Manero, who was President Vicente Fox' first Secretary of Public Security, as its own candidate. In attendance was also Gabino Cué, the Convergencia candidate who won the Oaxaca gubernatorial elections heading an alliance that also included PAN, though Cué notably distanced himself from the leadership in that event, making it clear that he supports a PAN-PRD alliance in Mexico State.
Similarly , the PAN-PRD event yesterday also drew another highly popular alliancistas , the highly popular Xóchitl Gálvez, who most recently ran as gubernatorial candidate in Hidalgo, elections whose outcome are still disputed (The PT, to be sure, also backed her, until AMLO then commanded the party to desist).
All in all I think it is fair to say that AMLO's claim that the supporters of a PAN-PRD alliance are only found at the very top echelon of the PRD, is simply not true. In Mexico State, given the increasing support for a common candidate to beat the PRI, he has, in fine German, an erklärungsproblem.
For all intents and purposes, it's official: Calderón's sister Luisa María wants to govern Michoacán
It was ostensibly a mere celebration of her 54th birthday, but the cries of “¡Cocoa gobernadora!, ¡Cocoa gobernadora!" left little doubt that event held in honor of Luisa María Calderón Hinojosa was all but an official declaration of her candidacy to be PAN's candidate for governor of Michoacán in 2011.
A range of federal and local deputies were in attendance, as well as the three federal secretaries (Economy, Bruno Ferrari; Health, José Ángel Córdova Villalobos; Environment, Juan Rafael Elvira Quezada) and the governors of Guanajuato and Morelos, Juan Manuel Oliva Ramírez and Marco Antonio Adame Castillo, though also prominent local priístas, stoking further suspicions that Calderón's ambitions to place his sister as governor of this home state is leading to local alliances with the Michoacán PRI state branch.
Yet the festivities came to a an abrupt end with the news that Eduardo Villaseñor Meza, a local PRI notable, was hit and killed by a truck as he was leaving the party.
A range of federal and local deputies were in attendance, as well as the three federal secretaries (Economy, Bruno Ferrari; Health, José Ángel Córdova Villalobos; Environment, Juan Rafael Elvira Quezada) and the governors of Guanajuato and Morelos, Juan Manuel Oliva Ramírez and Marco Antonio Adame Castillo, though also prominent local priístas, stoking further suspicions that Calderón's ambitions to place his sister as governor of this home state is leading to local alliances with the Michoacán PRI state branch.
Yet the festivities came to a an abrupt end with the news that Eduardo Villaseñor Meza, a local PRI notable, was hit and killed by a truck as he was leaving the party.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Jesús Silva Herzog arrested... for drunk driving!
It might be illusory, yet one might read the incident as a small sign that the law in Mexico at least in some cases apply to poor and rich alike: Jesús Silva Herzog Flores, son of the prominent economist of the same name, a priísta of the old guard, and secretary of finance under President Miguel de la Madrid, of tourism, and ambassador to the United States under Carlos Salinas, at age 75 was put in the dock yesterday for driving with an alcohol level of 0.42, above the legal limit of 0.40. He was let go after filing a ready-made form offered by entrepreneurial coyotes who question the illegality of the new Conduce Sin Alcohol anti-drink-and-drive program in Mexico City, spending 10 hours in detention. It should be added that he hardly appeared to be too drunk, taking his arrest in stride and with humor.
The best part: When questioned as to his identity, Herzog answered: "My name is Chucho," that he was unemployed, but that he was still a very busy man... Final point: Herzog ran against AMLO in 2000 to be mayor of Mexico.
Being a prominent priísta of the old school might not just not be all that it used to be.
The best part: When questioned as to his identity, Herzog answered: "My name is Chucho," that he was unemployed, but that he was still a very busy man... Final point: Herzog ran against AMLO in 2000 to be mayor of Mexico.
Being a prominent priísta of the old school might not just not be all that it used to be.
AMLO off the hook: IFE wisely abstains from fining him, which might have ended his candidacy for 2012
The Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) wisely abstained from fining Andrés Manuel López Obrador for illegal political propaganda, which actually might have inhibited his presidential candidacy for 2012.
While unlikely, one precedent did exist: in Quintana Roo, one "pre-candidate" for a seat in the chamber of deputies in Quintana Roo was actually disqualified for participating on the grounds that she had started campaigning for the nomination of her party before the allowed time period. In this case, the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), following political ads sponsored by the Partido del Trabajo (PT) where AMLO appeared, had complained to IFE that AMLO was similarly engaging in campaigning too early, as well as complaining that AMLO and PT were "denigrating" the presidency in another ad.
Notably, AMLO was absolved on both accounts - yet the PT was not. Yesterday, IFE ordered the PT to pay a fine of one million pesos for the latter offense. As it were, PAN also received almost 7 million pesos in fines for their own electoral transgressions, making it a bit harder for AMLO to maintain his line that all of Mexico's political institutions are controlled by "The Mafia" and Carlos Salinas. While one would think the IFE based their decision on objective standards of legality, one might only contemplate the hell AMLO would raise had IFE deemed him to be engaging in forbidden "pre-campaigning," and thus disqualified any possibility of a 2012 candidacy.
Victory for progressive forces on abortion in Quintana Roo: Conservative wave stemmed?
Following the legalization of abortion in Mexico City, conservative forces counterattacked on the state level by drastically curbing abortion rights in a range of states, in many cases making the legislation far harsher than under the laws of the Reforma period of Benito Juárez in the 19th century. One of these states was Quintana Roo, where the state congress, to its discredit, in April 2009 banned abortion in all its forms from "inception," the term preferred by the ultraright. The tragedies did not wait long to appear: The case of an 11-year girl who was raped by her stepfather and forced to give birth according to the reformed law, was only the tip of the iceberg. Now the state congress finally stood up to its previous reckless stupidity and voted to change the legislation, after a proposal by PRI legislator María Hadad Castillo, to allow for abortion in the case of rape or if the woman's life is in danger.
It is a small step forward, but forward nonetheless. Is it also a signal that the wave of social ultraconservatism sweeping across many of Mexico's state governments 1-2 years ago, is losing steam? For the health of Mexico's women and their freedom to decide over their own body, I surely hope so.
It is a small step forward, but forward nonetheless. Is it also a signal that the wave of social ultraconservatism sweeping across many of Mexico's state governments 1-2 years ago, is losing steam? For the health of Mexico's women and their freedom to decide over their own body, I surely hope so.
Jalisco gov denies sponsoring "gay conversion" - yet attacks opponent as "intolerant"
The state government of Jalisco, far too often the laughingstock of the nation, in a statement denies sponsoring the "gay conversion" event to be held there in November, arguing that the use of the official logo of the government in material promoting the event was due to it being used without permission, as the conference will be attended by Jesús Manuel Fonseca, of the state General Coordination of Social Affairs. In the same, however, the state government offers no explanation why Fonseca should attend such a quack event in the first place, but rather lauds him as an internationally "accredited psychologist." Instead, the government, rather than acknowledging the local PRD deputy Raúl Vargas López for having discovered what suuuuurely must be the unauthorized use of the state logo, denounce him as an "intolerant" - for standing up to the charlatan fearmongers that promote the nonsense of "gay conversion" through prayer and snake oil.
Standoff in Michoacán: Calderón is no Morelos
History is alive and well in Michoacán. President Felipe Calderón appeared in the state to celebrate the Constitution of Apatzingán, which was signed in this municipality on Oct. 22, 1814, and was much the work of the great michoacano José María Morelos. Apatzingán, notably, is on the frontlines of the "drug war," located in the Tierra Caliente, a zone in the state where the gangster outfit La Familia Michoacana has a very strong presence. Calderón, as might be expected, tried to draw a line from Morelos' heroism to his own "cause":
Yet there is more: The Constitution, while it never really entered into force, served as an important example for later liberal reforms in Mexico. While Morelos was originally a priest - and, to be sure, the Mexican catholic church excommunicated him and has never reversed the decision - the Constitution clearly called for the subordination of the church to the state. Calderón, through his interior minister, has kept a shameful silence the past months as the most ultrareactionary elements of the Mexican Catholic church has blatantly interfered in domestic politics, accusing Supreme Court judges of being corrupt, calling the democratically elected mayor of Mexico City a "dictator," denouncing his party as "fascist," and so forth.
Yet there is even more: Among the articles of the Constitution were:
And whatever will come out of the case of the Michoacanazo I am for sure convinced of one thing: Felipe Calderón, you are no Morelos.
"Morelos signed the Constitution and gave his life to protect it and safeguard and the Congress that made it possible. He never made a pact with the enemies of Mexicans"The forced attempt to latch on to Morelos' legacy is a bit of stretch: Morelos was a radical anti-slavery priest who fought and died for Mexico's independence from Spain, displaying an immense courage putting his personal safety at risk at each point along the way.
Yet there is more: The Constitution, while it never really entered into force, served as an important example for later liberal reforms in Mexico. While Morelos was originally a priest - and, to be sure, the Mexican catholic church excommunicated him and has never reversed the decision - the Constitution clearly called for the subordination of the church to the state. Calderón, through his interior minister, has kept a shameful silence the past months as the most ultrareactionary elements of the Mexican Catholic church has blatantly interfered in domestic politics, accusing Supreme Court judges of being corrupt, calling the democratically elected mayor of Mexico City a "dictator," denouncing his party as "fascist," and so forth.
Yet there is even more: Among the articles of the Constitution were:
19. The law must be equal for all
30. Every citizen is deemed innocent until declared guilty
The elephant in the room is of course the Michoacanazo, where 34 out of 35 state functionaries, arrested for alleged links with the drug gangs, were recently set free due to the complete lack of any evidence.
In a not-too-veiled reference to the case, local PRD deputy Raúl Morón, addressing Calderón in name of the local state congress, demanded the right "to elect our popular representative without fear of the politicization of justice": Morón dixit:
"It does not escape the judgement of citizens that it is entirely contradictory to demand the strict application of the law for some and to give others the privelige of impunity. It does not escape the judgement of citizens to declare in a speech that the government defendes federalism as a system of government and, at the same time, decide to intrude on local powers that the Constitution sets aside for other orders."Ouch. Beyond the impropriety or not of the politicization of the memory of Morelos and the Constitution of Apatzingán, I find it to be quite a tribute nonetheless that both Calderón and the local congress, from opposite sides, try to attach themselves to these icons of Michoacán.
And whatever will come out of the case of the Michoacanazo I am for sure convinced of one thing: Felipe Calderón, you are no Morelos.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Enrique Peña Nieto: Hypocrisy 101
From at least January 2010, and up until the present: Peña Nieto attacks "lamentable and perverse" alliances between the PRD and PAN, due to the ignoring of their basic ideological differences: How can they ignore how ideology matters!
Yesterday: Peña Nieto now wants less ideology and more pragmatism: Referring to countries such as Brazil and Chile,
Yesterday: Peña Nieto now wants less ideology and more pragmatism: Referring to countries such as Brazil and Chile,
"They have had an ability to see the future with pragmatism, while Latin American countries have opted for or have wanted to look backwards or to find in ideologies the solutions to their problems."
If the PRD-PAN alliance in Mexico state, which Peña Nieto has done all in his power to block, are not the foremost example of putting electoral pragmatism to win a key goal- blocking a PRI win in the state - ahead of their own ideological differences - which obviously exist - then what is?
Manlio Fabio Beltrones still in ring for the PRI 2012 nomination
Manlio Fabio Beltrones Rivera is one of PRI's most cunning cadres, and has far from given up his own presidential ambitions. The PRI Senator, denying that he is self-promoting his candidacy for the presidency, recently launched a video on youtube that is clearly promoting... well, his presidential candidacy. Beltrones denies it. You be the judge.
De-homofy thyself! Jalisco does it again: State sponsors "gay conversion" events
Raúl Vargas, local deputy for the PRD in Jalisco, is denouncing the state administration and secretary of state Fernando Guzmán Pérez Peláez for embezzlement. Why? Because the secretariat he heads is sponsoring the event Camino a la Castidad - yes indeed, the "Path Toward Chastity," which has as "motivational speakers" characters such as Paul Check of "Courage International" and Richard Cohen, an "ex-gay" and guru of "conversion therapy," which purports to convert gays through prayer and meditation.
By sponsoring the event, the state government secretariat is not only embezzling tax payers' money, who given Jalisco's many social problems would most likely rather have their money spent on police, schools, and hospitals rather than this idiocy; it is also fomenting discrimination of gays and, of course, utterly violating the separation between church and state. Richard Cohen is a psychotic charlatan who is, among others, linked to the 2009 Anti-Homosexuality Bill of Uganda, or "Kill Gays bill" as it was quickly known. Now, the state government of Emilio González Márquez, is giving these hate mongers an additional platform - and yet again making the state the laughingstock of Mexico.
Poor Mexican gays, so far from god, and so close to Jalisco.
By sponsoring the event, the state government secretariat is not only embezzling tax payers' money, who given Jalisco's many social problems would most likely rather have their money spent on police, schools, and hospitals rather than this idiocy; it is also fomenting discrimination of gays and, of course, utterly violating the separation between church and state. Richard Cohen is a psychotic charlatan who is, among others, linked to the 2009 Anti-Homosexuality Bill of Uganda, or "Kill Gays bill" as it was quickly known. Now, the state government of Emilio González Márquez, is giving these hate mongers an additional platform - and yet again making the state the laughingstock of Mexico.
Poor Mexican gays, so far from god, and so close to Jalisco.
PAN nervous about losing Guanajuato
Prominent panistas are seeking to assure that there is no danger of a split in the PAN guanajuatense, following the firing of Gerardo Mosqueda Martínez from the state administration of Juan Manuel Oliva Ramírez. National party President César Nava, who is holding a very low profile these days and will step down in a few weeks as PAN leader, broke his recent silence by declaring simply that "In Guanajuato the heard of horses is large, how great, this is not a problem at all." Yet it certainly is: Mosqueda Martínez is not even a PAN member, represents the most reactionary wing of the PAN, and is loathed by prominent panistas that include the head of the state party branch, who already declared he would not vote for him.
Even former President Vicente Fox, who hails from Guanajuato and governed the state 1995-199, at the opening of a local PAN headquarter in León called for unity, "because we cannot let go of the governorship nor of the Presidency." The growing Guanajuato schism between PAN and the catholic extremists of El Yunque may tear the party apart, and not only in this state.
Even former President Vicente Fox, who hails from Guanajuato and governed the state 1995-199, at the opening of a local PAN headquarter in León called for unity, "because we cannot let go of the governorship nor of the Presidency." The growing Guanajuato schism between PAN and the catholic extremists of El Yunque may tear the party apart, and not only in this state.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Alfredo del Mazo Maza, Peña Nieto's Doppelgänger
Milenio published an interview with Alfredo del Mazo Maza , mayor of Huixquilucan de Degollado in Mexico State since 2009, and before that secretary of tourism in Enrique Peña Nieto's government of Mexico State.
Alfredo del Mazo Maza has long been mentioned as Peña Nieto's anointed heir to succeed him as governor of Mexico State, and is many ways a carbon copy of the governor: He is young (35), relatively telegenic, and, most importantly, a third-generation del Mazo, the scion of a political dynasty: both his father and grandfather were governors of Mexico State.
Regardless, the Milenio story doesn't exactly reveal any new information, and del Mazo engages in the usual platitudes of PRIspeak, though a few comments are telling:
Alfredo del Mazo Maza has long been mentioned as Peña Nieto's anointed heir to succeed him as governor of Mexico State, and is many ways a carbon copy of the governor: He is young (35), relatively telegenic, and, most importantly, a third-generation del Mazo, the scion of a political dynasty: both his father and grandfather were governors of Mexico State.
Regardless, the Milenio story doesn't exactly reveal any new information, and del Mazo engages in the usual platitudes of PRIspeak, though a few comments are telling:
"In the interview, Alfredo del Mazo Mazo practically has the same tone of voice as Peña Nieto, and even his hand movements are similar to those of the head of Mexico State:"The team that trained Gelboy has trained him equally well: My money is on del Mazo Maza.
Two candidates register to contend for PAN's presidency: One point left out
Gustavo Madero and Cecilia Romero yesterday registered officially to contend for the PAN presidency. The former is a current national senator, and his appearance was a tour de force in that he arrived with a posse of more than 100 prominent supporters, including seventeen PAN senators, and the "moral leader" of the party, Luis H. Álvarez. The latter was until recently head of the INM, the national migration institute, until she was finally fired from her post due to incompetency and failure to curb corruption and abuses in her agency - accusations that harks back years, but was impossible to ignore following the murder of 72 migrants in Tamaulipas. Romero, however, rather than keeping a low profile is heading for an even bigger prize, the PAN presidency. Also of note: She is also a hardcore opponent of any state-level electoral alliance with the PRD.
Two points:
Two points:
1) What neither La Jornada nor Milenio mention in their coverage is that Romero is a close ally of the most ultra-right elements of PAN, and is moreover part of El Yunque, an extremist catholic secret society.
2) The fact that Madero felt compelled to display such a show of force is to me an indication that her candidacy is taken seriously by the more moderate elements in PAN represented by Madero.
As is well known in particularly U.S. politics, displaying incompetence, ideological extremism, or utter stupidity was never a hindrance for postulating for public office; on the contrary, as can be well observed these days, it may even be a plus. The same goes for Cecilia Romero.
A few points regarding the PRD's level of party institutionalization
Students of the Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD), Mexico's only serious leftwing party, tend to coincide on a few things: The party is not "institutionalized," in political science jargon, in that it has not a strong and firm party organization, it does not speak with one relatively common and consistent voice, it does not have clear established and respected internal rules for creating programs, recruiting candidates, and party leaders, and is in general involved in much internal and external turmoil. My main point has long been that the party cannot make up its mind whether to be a partido-moviemiento, or a movement-party of the personalistic kind, or a regular, more traditional party type, and to try to explain why this is so. A visual image might help here: To "storm" the congress dais and block the streets, or to work for gradual reform in congress.
Another clear indicator of whether a party has achieved or is moving toward institutionalization is the relationship it has with its party founder(s): Does the party continue to appear a mere appendage of the founder(s)'s ideas, program, or, to be sure, presidential candidacy? Or, has the party transcended its first leaders in that it does not merely follow his dictates, but has an autonomous program and leadership independent of him ? (thus far, invariably "him" and not "her").
I do not argue that the PRD today is an institutionalized party; its vicious infighting over the candidacy of AMLO vs. Ebrard, which the Mexico State 2011 election is but a mere proxy for, is a telling point here.
But: I do want to make note of one thing. Both Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, the PRD's founder and 3-times presidential candidate, and Andrés Manuel Lópes Obrador, his hijo político and 2006 presidential candidate, are both rejecting the PRD-PAN alliance in Mexico State. However, the party leadership, under Jésus Ortega, is still following their own line. Ortega dixit: "One will keep in mind these opinions, but the strategy is to continue with the alliances."
In other words, whatever one thinks of the wisdom of the PAN-PRD alliances, I think it is an extremely healthy sign that the PRD is clearly demonstrating that it is no longer blindly following the dictates of AMLO or Cárdenas. I can think of no other PRD leader who has demonstrated a greater degree of autonomy than Jésus Ortega. While merely one step in a (very) long and larger process of party institutionalization, for the PRD's development this is nonetheless quite a leap forward.
Another clear indicator of whether a party has achieved or is moving toward institutionalization is the relationship it has with its party founder(s): Does the party continue to appear a mere appendage of the founder(s)'s ideas, program, or, to be sure, presidential candidacy? Or, has the party transcended its first leaders in that it does not merely follow his dictates, but has an autonomous program and leadership independent of him ? (thus far, invariably "him" and not "her").
I do not argue that the PRD today is an institutionalized party; its vicious infighting over the candidacy of AMLO vs. Ebrard, which the Mexico State 2011 election is but a mere proxy for, is a telling point here.
But: I do want to make note of one thing. Both Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, the PRD's founder and 3-times presidential candidate, and Andrés Manuel Lópes Obrador, his hijo político and 2006 presidential candidate, are both rejecting the PRD-PAN alliance in Mexico State. However, the party leadership, under Jésus Ortega, is still following their own line. Ortega dixit: "One will keep in mind these opinions, but the strategy is to continue with the alliances."
In other words, whatever one thinks of the wisdom of the PAN-PRD alliances, I think it is an extremely healthy sign that the PRD is clearly demonstrating that it is no longer blindly following the dictates of AMLO or Cárdenas. I can think of no other PRD leader who has demonstrated a greater degree of autonomy than Jésus Ortega. While merely one step in a (very) long and larger process of party institutionalization, for the PRD's development this is nonetheless quite a leap forward.
For the record: Panistas also have a sense of humor!
A group of young panistas or members of the ruling Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) symbolically "closed" the Government House of the state governor, Emilio González Márquez, distributing stickers with the face of the governor, who is an ultra-conservative and has gained much notoriety for appearing drunk in public, and the slogan, "If you drink, don't govern, " and "PAN, yes - El Yunque, no"
Who ever said the panistas don't have a sense of humor!
More importantly, it is a reflection of what to me seems to be a growing internal PAN divide between more younger cadres, pro-business yet quite socially liberal, and the ultra-conservative elements in the party linked to the secret catholic society El Yunque.
Who ever said the panistas don't have a sense of humor!
More importantly, it is a reflection of what to me seems to be a growing internal PAN divide between more younger cadres, pro-business yet quite socially liberal, and the ultra-conservative elements in the party linked to the secret catholic society El Yunque.
Saying 'sorry' is not enough: PAN rejects readmitting Ana Rosa Payán
Speaking of El Yunque: PAN's national executive committee, after nine months of deliberation, yesterday rejected the request by Ana Rosa Payán Cervera to be reincorporated into the party that she left three years ago.
Payán was twice PAN mayor of Merida, the first-even woman to hold the job, but upon her failure to get PAN's nomination for governor of Yucatán, loudly resigned from the party. In these of PAN-PRD alliances, it is worth recalling that PRD-PT-Convergencia for a moment thought of recruiting Payan as their gubernatorial candidate, but faced massive internal opposition within PRD: Payán, with other prominent panistas such as Manuel Espino, Cecilia Romero and Carlos Abascal Carranza, to just name a few, is a prominent member of El Yunque, and only became mayor of Merida through an alliance with this sinister organization and other local ultra-right outfits and media, and of course the church.
Yet that did not stop the "radical" PT and Convergencia from throwing the lot with her. Denied the nomination, Payán left the PAN and approached every party imaginable in Yucatán begging to be its nominee; PT and Convergencia jumped on the offer, and Payán ran on their label. It's hard to decide who is the most opportunistic - the ultra-right Payán joining PT and Convergencia, or the latter two, ostensibly left-wing parties, for embracing her. In any event, she finished with barely three percent of the vote.
Yet despite saying she's sorry - literally - to PAN, they have not forgotten her sharp attacks on her old party in 2007, and its executive committee refused to reincorporate her among its ranks. Even for the nominally catholic PAN, there are, it seems, limits to forgiveness.
Payán was twice PAN mayor of Merida, the first-even woman to hold the job, but upon her failure to get PAN's nomination for governor of Yucatán, loudly resigned from the party. In these of PAN-PRD alliances, it is worth recalling that PRD-PT-Convergencia for a moment thought of recruiting Payan as their gubernatorial candidate, but faced massive internal opposition within PRD: Payán, with other prominent panistas such as Manuel Espino, Cecilia Romero and Carlos Abascal Carranza, to just name a few, is a prominent member of El Yunque, and only became mayor of Merida through an alliance with this sinister organization and other local ultra-right outfits and media, and of course the church.
Yet that did not stop the "radical" PT and Convergencia from throwing the lot with her. Denied the nomination, Payán left the PAN and approached every party imaginable in Yucatán begging to be its nominee; PT and Convergencia jumped on the offer, and Payán ran on their label. It's hard to decide who is the most opportunistic - the ultra-right Payán joining PT and Convergencia, or the latter two, ostensibly left-wing parties, for embracing her. In any event, she finished with barely three percent of the vote.
Yet despite saying she's sorry - literally - to PAN, they have not forgotten her sharp attacks on her old party in 2007, and its executive committee refused to reincorporate her among its ranks. Even for the nominally catholic PAN, there are, it seems, limits to forgiveness.
Schisms also happen on the political right: El Yunque-PAN fight in Guanajuato heats up
Gerardo Mosqueda Martínez renounced as the Secretario de Gobierno, or secretary of state of Guanajuato's state government, in order to pursue the PAN's nomination to be its candidate for goverrnor.
While leaving government 20 months before the election seem to suggest that Mosqueda Martínez was fired for his ambitions rather than having left voluntarily, this would in itself too noteworthy.
(For instance, on the national level, many may recall how Vicente Fox kicked out then-Secretary of Energy Felipe Calderón for his activism, only to have Calderón return to snatch the nomination ahead of Fox' favorite Santiago Creel).
What is, however, noteworthy is that Gerardo Mosqueda Martínez is a very prominent member of the ultra-right catholic extremist organization El Yunque, and very close to Elías Villegas Torres, the man who has often been signaled as the leader of this secretive organization. Now, Mosqueda Martínez will fight against the PAN party machinery to be its gubernatorial candidate, a party of which he is not even a member: He is a yunquista, not a panista.
Governor of Guanajuato Juan Manuel Oliva has often been accused of being in the hands El Yunque, yet the current affair serves to suggest a schism between more moderate sectors of PAN, and the Yunque. Oliva's desired heir apparent is his minister of social development, Miguel Márquez, yet he is apparently not too far to the right for the yunquista. Nor, to be sure, is federal Secretary of Health José Ángel Córdova, who has long expressed his desire to enter the fight for the nomination.
The case of Gerardo Mosqueda Martínez seems to me quite interesting for two reasons:
1) It is indicative of the ever-loosening control of Felipe Calderón of PAN, and certainly show should el yunque manage to install Mosqueda as its candidate
2) The PAN-Yunque coalition is in Guanajuato under some serious strain, and a schism might well happen in the local state branch of PAN.
On a national level, just like the U.S. Republican party, who struggle with incorporating their own tea party loonies (without exaggerating this parallel), the Mexican PAN is an uneasy mix of social reactionaries and ultraconservatives, with relatively liberal minded and moderate christian democrats, such as Fox. While the coalition has held up since 1939, more or less, it may not last forever, especially following the wear-and-tear of eight years in government.
While leaving government 20 months before the election seem to suggest that Mosqueda Martínez was fired for his ambitions rather than having left voluntarily, this would in itself too noteworthy.
(For instance, on the national level, many may recall how Vicente Fox kicked out then-Secretary of Energy Felipe Calderón for his activism, only to have Calderón return to snatch the nomination ahead of Fox' favorite Santiago Creel).
What is, however, noteworthy is that Gerardo Mosqueda Martínez is a very prominent member of the ultra-right catholic extremist organization El Yunque, and very close to Elías Villegas Torres, the man who has often been signaled as the leader of this secretive organization. Now, Mosqueda Martínez will fight against the PAN party machinery to be its gubernatorial candidate, a party of which he is not even a member: He is a yunquista, not a panista.
Governor of Guanajuato Juan Manuel Oliva has often been accused of being in the hands El Yunque, yet the current affair serves to suggest a schism between more moderate sectors of PAN, and the Yunque. Oliva's desired heir apparent is his minister of social development, Miguel Márquez, yet he is apparently not too far to the right for the yunquista. Nor, to be sure, is federal Secretary of Health José Ángel Córdova, who has long expressed his desire to enter the fight for the nomination.
The case of Gerardo Mosqueda Martínez seems to me quite interesting for two reasons:
1) It is indicative of the ever-loosening control of Felipe Calderón of PAN, and certainly show should el yunque manage to install Mosqueda as its candidate
2) The PAN-Yunque coalition is in Guanajuato under some serious strain, and a schism might well happen in the local state branch of PAN.
On a national level, just like the U.S. Republican party, who struggle with incorporating their own tea party loonies (without exaggerating this parallel), the Mexican PAN is an uneasy mix of social reactionaries and ultraconservatives, with relatively liberal minded and moderate christian democrats, such as Fox. While the coalition has held up since 1939, more or less, it may not last forever, especially following the wear-and-tear of eight years in government.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
40-year-anniversary of death of Mexico's greatest president: Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas calls for unity
In a commemoration of the the 40th anniversary for the death of his father, Lázaro Cárdenas del Río, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano called for the unity of left, democratic, and progressive forces. Flanked by Leonel Godoy, governor of the Cárdenas' home state Michoacán, and Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, the PRD founder declared:
1. As always, the issue is not so much who was there but who was not: AMLO.
2. Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas denouncing personal ambitions? Boy, do you look black, teapot!
3. AMLO already proposed his "Alternative National Protect."
4. A unifying proposal - who will be the unifying personality, ingeniero?
"We are proposing the elaboration of a unifying proposal that contains the agreements of those who identify themselves as revolutionaries, democrats, and/or progressives... Let's put aside personal aspirations or aspirations of groups. Let us not complicate this task with electoral matters, for which time will come to make decisions."Three quick comments, and a question:
1. As always, the issue is not so much who was there but who was not: AMLO.
2. Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas denouncing personal ambitions? Boy, do you look black, teapot!
3. AMLO already proposed his "Alternative National Protect."
4. A unifying proposal - who will be the unifying personality, ingeniero?
PRD takes Ley Peña to the Supreme Court.
The PRD yesterday presented their official case of complaint to the Mexican Supreme Court regarding the presumed unconstitutionality of "Ley Peña" or Enrique Peña Nieto's law, the hastily passed amendment to Mexico State's electoral law that directly seek to sabotage a broad multi-party alliance to compete against the PRI in next year's gubernatorial election. Most famously, the legislation prohibits parties from running a common candidate while maintaining separate legislative lists, and drastically reduces party funds and representation at the state electoral institute for electoral alliances.
PT and Convergencia also signed on to the complaint, though this should not be interpreted as if the parties had a change of heart regarding their opposition to joining an alliance that also includes the PAN. Rather, they are upset with the clauses where the parties, even if they end up only allying with with each other and the PRD, will equally lose funds as the coalition will "count as one" rather than assigning funds, media slots, etc to each individual party.
I am not sure how far they will come with this. The manner in which Peña Nieto rammed through the anti-alliance legislation was highly disrespectful of the democratic process and filled with irregularities. It exposed the Mexico State governor as an opportunistic Machiavellian who will do everything he can to have PRI successor elected to replace him, even if it means undermining democratic institutions and poisoning the political climate by riding roughshod over the opposition. Every step of the process was filled with irregularities, though whether they will "add up," of sorts, in order for the Supreme Court to declare the law unconstitutional, is a different matter. The fact that PAN didn't join them in doing so - at least not yet - may be a sign the PAN knows the case is far from waterproof legally speaking.
Regardless: Should the Supreme Court find the "Ley Peña" unconstitutional, and in time for it to affect the 2011 gubernatorial election, it will be a big blow against Peña Nieto.
PT and Convergencia also signed on to the complaint, though this should not be interpreted as if the parties had a change of heart regarding their opposition to joining an alliance that also includes the PAN. Rather, they are upset with the clauses where the parties, even if they end up only allying with with each other and the PRD, will equally lose funds as the coalition will "count as one" rather than assigning funds, media slots, etc to each individual party.
I am not sure how far they will come with this. The manner in which Peña Nieto rammed through the anti-alliance legislation was highly disrespectful of the democratic process and filled with irregularities. It exposed the Mexico State governor as an opportunistic Machiavellian who will do everything he can to have PRI successor elected to replace him, even if it means undermining democratic institutions and poisoning the political climate by riding roughshod over the opposition. Every step of the process was filled with irregularities, though whether they will "add up," of sorts, in order for the Supreme Court to declare the law unconstitutional, is a different matter. The fact that PAN didn't join them in doing so - at least not yet - may be a sign the PAN knows the case is far from waterproof legally speaking.
Regardless: Should the Supreme Court find the "Ley Peña" unconstitutional, and in time for it to affect the 2011 gubernatorial election, it will be a big blow against Peña Nieto.
Julio César Godoy Toscano is out of PRD. Guilty until proven innocent?
Godoy Toscano claimed he renounced from the PRD in order to avoid the party being a "scapegoat." Yet it isclear the PRD leadership, first and foremost its national president Jesús Ortega, but also andresmanuelistas such as Alejandro Encinas, and, to be sure, Michoacán governor and half-brother of Godoy Toscano, Leonel Godoy, in unison demanded that the federal deputy leave the party, following the leak to the media of audio recordings where Godoy Toscano is apparently engaging in jovial conversation with a capo from the La Familia Michoacana gangster outfit.
How much the case has damaged the PRD is clearly far too early to tell, though I take issue with the implications drawn from today's editorial in El Universal. Entited "The Naivety of the PRD," it argues,
How much the case has damaged the PRD is clearly far too early to tell, though I take issue with the implications drawn from today's editorial in El Universal. Entited "The Naivety of the PRD," it argues,
"the PRD committed a very grave error in politics: To put their hands in the fire for a person whose incorruptibility was not guaranteed"So because the PRD was not 100% sure of its innocence, it should not have backed Godoy's legal right to assume his seat as a federal deputy? This seems to me to turning the principle of presumption of innocence thoroughly on its head. Why on earth should the party not have backed the deputy until this point, when his corruptibility was far from guaranteed, not his incorruptibility? Following the release of the tapes, the PRD acted pretty swiftly to detach themselves from Godoy Toscano; to have done so earlier to me would have been to abdicate the very principle of presumption of innocence.
Monday, October 18, 2010
The "morally impossible" victory of the right: AMLO or Juárez?
Another note on AMLO: During his "Loyalty Tour," the PRD's 2006 presidential candidate argued that "the triumph of reaction, as Juárez said, is morally impossible."
Like AMLO, I am also an admirer of Benito Juárez, and while I admit I am hardly an expert on this great Mexican president, I have never found the actual context where Juárez is supposed to have uttered this statement, which AMLO has repeated often in the past. And given AMLO's denunciation of institutions and refusal to accept near any loss, it is frankly more than a bit worrisome: Is also the electoral victory of the right deemed to be an impossibility? That is, will AMLO reject say a PAN-PRD victory in 2011 using the same argument, that it is simply "morally impossible"?
Like AMLO, I am also an admirer of Benito Juárez, and while I admit I am hardly an expert on this great Mexican president, I have never found the actual context where Juárez is supposed to have uttered this statement, which AMLO has repeated often in the past. And given AMLO's denunciation of institutions and refusal to accept near any loss, it is frankly more than a bit worrisome: Is also the electoral victory of the right deemed to be an impossibility? That is, will AMLO reject say a PAN-PRD victory in 2011 using the same argument, that it is simply "morally impossible"?
Marcelo Ebrard: "Today is the beginning of the end of priísta governments in Mexico State"
La Jornada's front page exaggerated the issue a bit - "López Obrador and Ebrard collide over the State of Mexico" - though the appearance of both the current and the former head of Mexico City, both of whom are seeking their party's nomination for the 2012 presidential race, was certainly noteworthy.
In the first major appearance in what can only be regarded as the unofficial launch of his presidential campaign, in the Plaza de los Mártires, Ebrard make a clear call for a common front to defeat the PRI in the upcomign gubernatorial elections in the state, and especially to avoid two candidates of the left, one backed by the PRD, and the other by AMLO: "All that divides [the left] will work in favor of Enrique Peña Nieto, adn all that unifies is will work in favor of the people." While he didn't mention PAN or AMLO by name, the references were quite obvious. Reportedly more than 25,000 people came out for the mass rally, which was also attended by key perredistas such as senators Carlos Navarrete, Graco Ramírez, and Héctor Bautista, the latter a likely PRD candidate for the governorship. Ebrard declared that "Today is the beginning of the end of priísta governments in Mexico State," and promised a government that would implement the the highly popular, and successful, social programs of his Mexico City administration, such as stipends to young adults, children, single mothers, people with disabilities, and senior citizens.
Luis Sánchez, head of PRD in Mexico State and a backer of a Ebrard and a PAN-PRD alliance, also said that the PRD will tomorrow head to the Supreme Court to formally launch a complaint against the recently passed "Ley Peña," which directly seeks to block a PAN-PRD alliance by forcing parties to also present common legislative lists.
AMLO also held meetings, as part of his Gira de lealtad or "Loyalty Tour" to protest the PRD's decision to allow electoral alliances with parties such as PAN, and continued to accuse the party of which he is still nominally a member of having made secret agreements with President Felipe Calderón. According to AMLO, the left - PRD, PT, and Convergencia - can defeat the PRI on their own, as AMLO admittedly did in Mexico State in 2006, though he neglected to add that while 2006 was a presidential election, the year before, PRD's 2005 gubernatorial candidate, which AMLO had handpicked and campaigned heavily for, came in a disappointing third.
In the first major appearance in what can only be regarded as the unofficial launch of his presidential campaign, in the Plaza de los Mártires, Ebrard make a clear call for a common front to defeat the PRI in the upcomign gubernatorial elections in the state, and especially to avoid two candidates of the left, one backed by the PRD, and the other by AMLO: "All that divides [the left] will work in favor of Enrique Peña Nieto, adn all that unifies is will work in favor of the people." While he didn't mention PAN or AMLO by name, the references were quite obvious. Reportedly more than 25,000 people came out for the mass rally, which was also attended by key perredistas such as senators Carlos Navarrete, Graco Ramírez, and Héctor Bautista, the latter a likely PRD candidate for the governorship. Ebrard declared that "Today is the beginning of the end of priísta governments in Mexico State," and promised a government that would implement the the highly popular, and successful, social programs of his Mexico City administration, such as stipends to young adults, children, single mothers, people with disabilities, and senior citizens.
Luis Sánchez, head of PRD in Mexico State and a backer of a Ebrard and a PAN-PRD alliance, also said that the PRD will tomorrow head to the Supreme Court to formally launch a complaint against the recently passed "Ley Peña," which directly seeks to block a PAN-PRD alliance by forcing parties to also present common legislative lists.
AMLO also held meetings, as part of his Gira de lealtad or "Loyalty Tour" to protest the PRD's decision to allow electoral alliances with parties such as PAN, and continued to accuse the party of which he is still nominally a member of having made secret agreements with President Felipe Calderón. According to AMLO, the left - PRD, PT, and Convergencia - can defeat the PRI on their own, as AMLO admittedly did in Mexico State in 2006, though he neglected to add that while 2006 was a presidential election, the year before, PRD's 2005 gubernatorial candidate, which AMLO had handpicked and campaigned heavily for, came in a disappointing third.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
PRI bigshot suggests "truce" with the narcos
Manuel "El Meme" Garza is no insignificant name within the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). The former mayor of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, has been secretary general several times of the PRI, the party in which he has spent more than half a century. He has remained an important operador político, a political fixer, until the present. It therefore is quite notable that Garza recently called for called for a truce, of sorts, with the drug lords, though he adds "in order to catch breath, and later give them a final kick." This disclaimer notwithstanding, it is still noteworthy that a PRI bigshot calls for negotiations with the drug gang. The bigger question, of course, is: How representative is he of the party in general?
AMLO: Ebrard has "every right to be in favor of alliance" - but it is "treason," mind you
It is getting harder for AMLO to maintain his very sharp rejection of a PAN-PRD in Mexico State and elsewhere, while not directly engaging in warfare with Mexico City Chief of Government Marcelo Ebrard. Recently, the wording has become increasingly, well, acrobatic:
On the subject of word gymnastics, there is more. In a rally in Ixtapan de la Sal, south in Mexico State, one of the attendees asked him the very fair question why an alliance was OK in Oaxaca, but not in Mexico State. (In Oaxaca, to recall, AMLO kept his mouth shut even though PAN was part of the opposition alliance behind Gabino Cué). His answer:
AMLO's verbal gymnastics simply cannot cover up for the intrinsic contradictions of this and other stands:
* He want's Peña Nieto out, but will even launch his own candidate against a PAN-PRD alliance, which will clearly destroy any chances of the left, and AMLO, to win in Mexico State/
* He argues that PAN and PRI are all the same - yet why then would it be such a disaster should the PRI return to Los Pinos, if there aren't really any differences between them?
Don't expect these contradictions to be resolved any time soon.
"The Chief of Government is entirely in his right to declare himself in favor of an alliance, but I already made my position clear, and that it is a treason to the principles of the Left."How does one square that semantic circle? One the one hand it is legitimate to support the alliances, yet on the other it is treason?
On the subject of word gymnastics, there is more. In a rally in Ixtapan de la Sal, south in Mexico State, one of the attendees asked him the very fair question why an alliance was OK in Oaxaca, but not in Mexico State. (In Oaxaca, to recall, AMLO kept his mouth shut even though PAN was part of the opposition alliance behind Gabino Cué). His answer:
"The conditions were different. I disagreed; I made a tour of all municipalities, and in Oaxaca there was the reason of the governor, it was something special, so then here in Mexico State, less so. We won't be impressed here."What is one to make of this? One the one hand, it was OK to go against Ruiz (then why not Peña Nieto?), as things were different there (how?), but he was still against it, for the record.
AMLO's verbal gymnastics simply cannot cover up for the intrinsic contradictions of this and other stands:
* He want's Peña Nieto out, but will even launch his own candidate against a PAN-PRD alliance, which will clearly destroy any chances of the left, and AMLO, to win in Mexico State/
* He argues that PAN and PRI are all the same - yet why then would it be such a disaster should the PRI return to Los Pinos, if there aren't really any differences between them?
Don't expect these contradictions to be resolved any time soon.
Adiós, Friedrich Katz
From La Jornada. Emilio González Márquez, governor of Jalisco, a gift that keeps giving
Emilio González Márquez, governor of Jalisco, is on the offensive, and wants to ride the coattails of the Mexican Revolution like everyone else, despite his tenure as one of the absolute most right-wing governors of the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN): "I am a revolutionary, and a juarista," he declared yesterday in conference of newly elected PAN mayors. He is most decidedly not. As governor of Jalisco, he has preceded over, among many things, extremely reactionary education policies that includes an attack on sex education policies, and a very, very cozy relationship with the Mexican Church's most extremist, falangist elements, above his close friend (and, many have argued, his real boss), Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez. Among a rash of scandals, González Márquez was caught red handed a couple of years ago trying to pass off millions of pesos of tax payers money to pay for a sanctuary for cristero fighters, fanatical catholics who rebelled against the Mexican state in the 1920s - an attempt at counter revolution.
No, there is absolutely nothing linking Emilio González Márquez to the Revolution; he is as counter-revolutionary as they come, and appears more far right than even El Chacal himself, the counterrevolutionary Victoriano Huerta who had Madero murdered.
If nothing else, the latest utterances of Emilio González Márquez, shows that the Mexican Revolution still is powerful enough to lead even the most counter-revolutionary of Mexico's governors to seek to link himself to it. In this case, it just won't work.
If nothing else, the latest utterances of Emilio González Márquez, shows that the Mexican Revolution still is powerful enough to lead even the most counter-revolutionary of Mexico's governors to seek to link himself to it. In this case, it just won't work.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez is no brave man
Marcelo Ebrard, in response to numerous provocations from Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez of Guadalajara, recently took a jab at the highly reactionary cleric by referring to him as a cavernal, or caveman. To this can be added another epithet: Coward. In response to Ebrard's current lawsuit against Sandoval and other high clergy, who have hurled around, with no evidence, accusations that Ebrard has bribed the Supreme Court, that Ebrard's party is "fascist," and so forth, Sandoval pathetically declared that it was not him, but the media, that are guilty of the "moral damage" Ebrard is suing Sandoval for. Why the media? Well, because they actually reported Sandoval's serious accusations. That's right, take no responsibility for your own statements, but shoot the messenger that reports them to the public as a whole...
It is clear that the Guadalajara cardinal is not even man enough to stand up for his own words: Not only a cultural caveman, he is also a coward.
It is clear that the Guadalajara cardinal is not even man enough to stand up for his own words: Not only a cultural caveman, he is also a coward.
A present for Emilio "Etilio" González Márquez: Dramamine and alcohol ed manual
Couldn't help but noting this one: Nearly 2,000 students from Universidad de Guadalajara's Centre of Health Sciences, as part of a larger protest against sitting Governor Emilio González Márquez and his refusal to hand over federal funds owed to the country's second most important university, left for the governor a present of a box of Dramamine, against nausea, and a leaflet on how to drink responsibly, the former present a response to the governor's statement that gay marriages disgust him/make him nauseous ("Me dan asquito"), the latter a reference to González Márquez' very serious problems with... well, engaging in irate speeches and acts while drunk out of his mind.
Poor Jalisco: Stuck with Etilio for three more years, until 2013. Does any clearer example exist in Mexico that the country would be well served with reducing the terms for state governors to a maximum of four years?
Poor Jalisco: Stuck with Etilio for three more years, until 2013. Does any clearer example exist in Mexico that the country would be well served with reducing the terms for state governors to a maximum of four years?
Cárdenas 2012. Which one?
I've noted before how I am convinced Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas has never given up his dream that another Cárdenas will become president of Mexico, like his father Lázaro. While I was leaning toward the idea that he is above all promoting his son Lázaro Cárdenas Batel, it seems the old caudillo and PRD founder has not given up his own ambitions at reaching Los Pinos, even at age 76: He recently noted to La Jornada that he is not promoting nor dismissing another run: "I'm neither blind or lame; I am healthy." The run-up to 2012 just got even more interesting.
Friday, October 15, 2010
The Economist leader gets it all right
From this week's The Economist:
And to top it all:
"Mexico would be even better served if the United States renewed a ban on the sale of assault weapons that lapsed in 2004. Sadly, this looks unlikely to happen. Yet since 2006 alone, Mexican authorities have seized 55,000 of these weapons of war. That is enough to equip many NATO armies—and most were bought legally in American gunshops...
"So permissive when it comes to lethal weapons, the United States remains steadfast in its commitment to the prohibition of drugs, in the face of all the evidence that this policy fails to curb their consumption while creating vast profits for organised crime. It is welcome that California is now debating before a referendum on November 2nd, whether to legalise marijuana. This newspaper would vote for the proposition.."
And to top it all:
"If California votes in favour of legalisation, Mexico would be wise to follow suit..."Read it here, while it is still freely available.
Is it Godoy or not on the tape?
The tape recording allegedly of PRD Federal Deputy Julio César Godoy Toscano and Servando Gómez "La Tuta" of the criminal drug gang La Familia Michoacana is very well worth listening to, which can be done here. If it is accurate, it is certainly damning, as it portrays a very cozy relationship between the Michoacano and the criminal capo. Is it real?
Godoy responded in a press communique, which include the following statements:
(it can be found in PRD's homepage)
- The recording was leaked by the PGR (attorney general's office) to the press, an illegal act.
- The recording was rejected as evidence by Michoacán and Tamaulipas and by Zacatecas magistrates
- PGR wants to win in public opinion what it has not been able to win in tribunal.
-The Federal government is trying to achieve a lynching of Godoy in public opinion.
All of the above seems true to me: It is a media lynching, as PGR has not achieved arresting Godoy yet by legal means, and the federal government is certainly trying to have public opinion judge him, likely in part also as a revenge or expression of frustration as their incompetent investigation has so far rendered little fruit.
Yet at the same time: Why didn't Godoy simply write, "the person in the recording is not me"?
Is it because it is really him?
Godoy responded in a press communique, which include the following statements:
(it can be found in PRD's homepage)
- The recording was leaked by the PGR (attorney general's office) to the press, an illegal act.
- The recording was rejected as evidence by Michoacán and Tamaulipas and by Zacatecas magistrates
- PGR wants to win in public opinion what it has not been able to win in tribunal.
-The Federal government is trying to achieve a lynching of Godoy in public opinion.
All of the above seems true to me: It is a media lynching, as PGR has not achieved arresting Godoy yet by legal means, and the federal government is certainly trying to have public opinion judge him, likely in part also as a revenge or expression of frustration as their incompetent investigation has so far rendered little fruit.
Yet at the same time: Why didn't Godoy simply write, "the person in the recording is not me"?
Is it because it is really him?
AMLO backers create Bloque de Izquierda Unitaria in the Senate
PRD and the PT announced the formation of new cross-party group in the Mexican Senate whose main mission is to promote the presidential candidacy of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The group include 12 out of PRD's 25 senators, though most of the names are hardly a surprise, but are rather those senators that AMLO managed to install as his candidates in 2006:
*Julio César Aguirre Méndez, Josefina Cota, José Luis Máximo García Zalvidea, Jesús Garibay García, Arturo Herviz Reyes, Salomón Jara, Rosalinda López, Arturo Núñez, Yeidckol Polevnsky Gurwitz, María Roj, and lfonso Sánchez Anaya and Tomás Torres.
Two additional senators, Carlos Sotelo and Pablo Gómez, however, have never been close to AMLO; indeed, the latter did all he could to employ dirty tricks to prevent AMLO for running for the Mexico City government back in 2000, claiming he didn't fulfill the residency requirement. Gómez gained further noteriority in 2003 when the clumsy, stubborn, and utterly idiotic manner in which he negotiated with other parties in Congress basically led to the PRD having no impact on choosing the IFE councilors elected that year. I suspect his joining the AMLO camp has to do with a promise that he will be a new Senate coordinator for the PRD's group. Carlos Sotelo was a big name in Nueva Izquierda, the majority faction to which national party president Jesús Ortega won, and his break with NI a while back was undoubtedly a blow to Ortega. Should he join with the pejistas to remove current coordinator Carlos Navarrete, of Nueva Izquierda, Gómez is likely to lead the group (though Tomás Torres has sought to do so as well).
It would be a major strike for AMLO if this were to happen.
The group include 12 out of PRD's 25 senators, though most of the names are hardly a surprise, but are rather those senators that AMLO managed to install as his candidates in 2006:
*Julio César Aguirre Méndez, Josefina Cota, José Luis Máximo García Zalvidea, Jesús Garibay García, Arturo Herviz Reyes, Salomón Jara, Rosalinda López, Arturo Núñez, Yeidckol Polevnsky Gurwitz, María Roj, and lfonso Sánchez Anaya and Tomás Torres.
Two additional senators, Carlos Sotelo and Pablo Gómez, however, have never been close to AMLO; indeed, the latter did all he could to employ dirty tricks to prevent AMLO for running for the Mexico City government back in 2000, claiming he didn't fulfill the residency requirement. Gómez gained further noteriority in 2003 when the clumsy, stubborn, and utterly idiotic manner in which he negotiated with other parties in Congress basically led to the PRD having no impact on choosing the IFE councilors elected that year. I suspect his joining the AMLO camp has to do with a promise that he will be a new Senate coordinator for the PRD's group. Carlos Sotelo was a big name in Nueva Izquierda, the majority faction to which national party president Jesús Ortega won, and his break with NI a while back was undoubtedly a blow to Ortega. Should he join with the pejistas to remove current coordinator Carlos Navarrete, of Nueva Izquierda, Gómez is likely to lead the group (though Tomás Torres has sought to do so as well).
It would be a major strike for AMLO if this were to happen.
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