Five minutes before scheduled meeting, Interior ministry cancels on PRD

The silence and cowardice from the Mexican interior ministry with regards to the blatant breaches by the catholic church of Mexican law and of the constitution itself continues. Five minutes before the Interior Ministry's director of religious affairs Juan Pablo Tort was to meet with PRD representatives, the meeting was abruptly cancelled, leaving PRD federal legislators literally standing at the gate of the interior ministry. 

PRD declared it would file another criminal complaint against the church directly with the interior ministry, for its hate speech against gays and for contravening the laws regulating religious associations, and for constitutional transgressions such as openly calling for its congregation not to vote for the PRD. 

Ulises Ruiz still has 100 days left of plundering and covering his tracks

More than seven weeks(!) after winning the election, governor-elect Gabino Cué was finally able to convince outgoing governor Ulises Ruiz of sitting down for a meeting. Ruiz' failure to meet his successor, as well as a rash of legislative initiative to secure his impunity, is another testimony to the absurdity of having to wait six months from election day until assumption of power. A little over a week ago, the local PRI-dominated congress om its "own initiative" decided to exonerate Ruiz for the massive human rights violations - the gunning down of protesters - on his watch; just recently, the same state congress approved Ruiz' cuenta pública, or public expenditure, despite reports of a budget deficit of a billion pesos. 


What remains to be seen is exactly to what lengths Cué will go to in order to end Ruiz impunity and launch his own investigations of Ruiz' many institutional transgressions and what is likely to be uncovered as massive corruption. In the meantime, Ruiz' will have 100 days more in office to cover his tracks: This, unfortunately, is what the "transition period" entails. 

Recommended source in English on the rule of law in Mexico: Justice in Mexico project

The Justice in Mexico project, part of the The Transborder Institute of San Diego, CA, and headed by academic and Mexico specialist David Shirk, offers plenty of useful reports on the rule of law and justice in Mexico. One fairly straightforward source that is quite readable and accurate and offered in English is their monthly news report, which offers a run-down of the most significant rule of law developments in Mexico at both national and state levels. The project also offers a blog. Both are worth checking out.