Party leaders meet with president Calderón in "Security Dialogue"

The decision by Felipe Calderón to convoke a "Security Dialogue" with the leaders of Mexico's party  demonstrates at the very least a modicum of willingness to take their perspectives into account. All parties - PRI, PAN, Convergencia, PVEM, and PANAL - attended, with the exception of the ultra-pejista Partido del Trabajo, PT  - which also shows a certain level of maturity on their part. One cannot blame the president for refusing to listen and then reject an invitation to offer one's criticism in public. (That is, unless on is PT, which called for a national dialogue following the assassination of PRI's gubernatorial candidate in Taumalipas in June, yet now left the chair assigned to the party empty, recalling AMLO's empty chair in the first TV debate of 2006).

PRI and PRD were the most critical, and PRD offered harsh yet legitimate criticism of the government's handling of the "war on drugs." 


PRD party leader Ortega duly criticized the politicization of the Attorney General's office - that is, using its prosecuting power as a political instrument, and repeats its very reasonable demand that this institution, responsible for investigating and prosecuting federal crimes, should rather be autonomous. 


Ortega also gets the quote of the day:
"Eliot Ness didn't defeat the liquor mafias in the United States; the legalization of alcohol did."


The national PRD is also now on the record, to my knowledge for the first time, as supporting legalization of drugs. While many of its cadres have expressed this view, I can't recall having heard this expressed in the name of the PRD proper. 


Update: As was to be expected, Dolores Padierna again called for Ortega's resignation for the umpteenth time (I've completely lost track of the number), this time for meeting with Calderón. 
She represents the worst sectarian and stalinist elements of the PRD.

PRD reacts to Cardinal Rivera's "excess."

Not unexpectedly, the PRD reacted to Cardinal Rivera's tirade against the Supreme Court decision to accept the constitutionality of the gay marriages in Mexico, in the form of national president Ortega and Senator Pablo Gómez. 

PRD President Jesús Ortega: "One should be careful with words because deeming a constitutional right as deviant is serious." 
This point was also very well made by MexFiles yesterday.


This is hardly the first time the cardinal or other members of the high clergy has expressed what is, when taken to its logical conclusion, a contingent acceptance of Mexican law, indirectly a consequence of democracy.
It also goes beyond the issue of law: It is worth recalling that in December 2009, the Mexico City Assembly voted 39-20 to allow gay marriages - a factor of nearly two to one. The church is therefore not only undermining respect for the law, but also the actions of the democratically elected local assembly of Mexico City.

These are dangerous waters for the church to tread.