Mexico State Governor Enrique Peña Nieto, in yet another demonstration of the fear he has of a PAN-PRD coalition, is sending the Green Party (Partido Verde Ecologista de México, PVEM), on a dirty errand The PVEM will introduce legislation in the Mexico State Congress to change the state's electoral code to make alliances illegal. This is the same Green Party, to recall, that jumped on board with Fox and the PAN in 2000, only to become PRI's ally ever since. One might think this new legislation would thus serve to block PVEM's possibility of running with the PRI, but no: The legislation would "block common candidacies of parties that are of distinct ideologies." That should take care of the PVEM: The party is utterly devoid of any programmatic or ideological backbone
While so hypocritical in nature that it nearly defies belief, it is simply an idiotic proposal: What authority would declare what parties are not compatible? A PRI-PVEM appointed commission? One could, alternatively, leave it to the voters. It's called democracy.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
AMLO will seek to retake control of the PRD this weekend
Despite having failed to have Alejandro Encinas elected as PRD president in 2008 - a cochinero that took 8 months to resolve, and nearly tore the PRD apart - AMLO is going again on the offensive to retake control of the PRD, through calling upon his followers, loyalists or opportunists alike, to kick out the national PRD leadership.
This weekend, the movement-advocates within the PRD - those who are often labeled as "radicals," yet who like AMLO are often socially conservative and want the PRD to remain intimately tied to AMLO - are launching a direct attack on the leadership of Jesús Ortega and his social democratic Nueva Izquierda faction, which currently controls the party.
Eight corrientes have signed on to a declaration that calls for Ortega to step down in December 2010, but that also attacks the recent alliances with PAN. Judging by the statements of some, the goal is also to simply have Ortega ousted as leader this weekend.
Ortega, to recall, only started his 3-year presidency in December 2008 and his three-year term would then end in 2012. More important still, party disunity and yet another harrowing internal fight - the 2008 internal election took eighth months to resolve, and nearly destroyed the party - is simply the last thing the PRD needs. Especially given the hugely important elections in Guerrero and above all Mexico State next year, it seems hard to fathom that Ortega's opponents are going on the war path. Yet this infighting can only be understood from the logic of movement-advococates: While Ortega and Nueva Izquierda, along with his principal ally Alianza Democrática Nacional (ADN), seek to build an institutionalized organization autonomous of its old strongman, AMLO and the movement-advocates want the PRD to remain a loose movement-like party that is chiefly a tool at the disposal of a "cause," which, it is now clear, remains AMLO's presidential bid. Amazingly, AMLO and the movement-advocates are willing to risk yet another brutal internal party war by launching their nth attack on Ortega.
This weekend, the movement-advocates within the PRD - those who are often labeled as "radicals," yet who like AMLO are often socially conservative and want the PRD to remain intimately tied to AMLO - are launching a direct attack on the leadership of Jesús Ortega and his social democratic Nueva Izquierda faction, which currently controls the party.
Eight corrientes have signed on to a declaration that calls for Ortega to step down in December 2010, but that also attacks the recent alliances with PAN. Judging by the statements of some, the goal is also to simply have Ortega ousted as leader this weekend.
Ortega, to recall, only started his 3-year presidency in December 2008 and his three-year term would then end in 2012. More important still, party disunity and yet another harrowing internal fight - the 2008 internal election took eighth months to resolve, and nearly destroyed the party - is simply the last thing the PRD needs. Especially given the hugely important elections in Guerrero and above all Mexico State next year, it seems hard to fathom that Ortega's opponents are going on the war path. Yet this infighting can only be understood from the logic of movement-advococates: While Ortega and Nueva Izquierda, along with his principal ally Alianza Democrática Nacional (ADN), seek to build an institutionalized organization autonomous of its old strongman, AMLO and the movement-advocates want the PRD to remain a loose movement-like party that is chiefly a tool at the disposal of a "cause," which, it is now clear, remains AMLO's presidential bid. Amazingly, AMLO and the movement-advocates are willing to risk yet another brutal internal party war by launching their nth attack on Ortega.
Yet while eight corrientes or internal party factions have signed on to the war document against its leadership, they do not appear to have the votes: Only IDN, led nominally by Dolores Padierna but de facto by her disgraced husband René Bejarano, has a significant number of councilors, but all the others, including Izquierda Social of Martí Batres, who holds the powerful portfolio of secretary of social development in Mexico City, and Red de Unidad Nacional de las Izquierdas (RUNI), which was recently launched by AMLO ultraloyalist Alejandro Encinas and also attracts some old cardenistas, have still very little presence on the PRD's National Council, and it seems doubtful they will get the 160 or so votes required to oust Ortega.
Miguel Borbosa, who took over as national coordinator of Nueva Izquierda after Jesús Zambrano, in turn, accused some of the Ortega opponents within PRD to be tied to Enrique Peña Nieto. To be sure, should Ortega be ousted, the PAN-PRD alliance in Mexico State will tumble, and Peña Nieto is almost certain to have a priísta succeed him as governor of Mexico State. As such, Peña Nieto can only hope that Andrés Manuel López Obrador's attack on Ortega will be successful. Regardless, expect quite a ruckus this weekend.
"I am free, because I am innocent": Seven imprisoned Guanajuato women finally free
María Araceli Camargo Juárez, Ofelia Segura Frías, Yolanda Martínez Montoya, Liliana Morales Moreno, Ana Rosa Padrón Alarcón, Susana Dueñas Rocha and Bonifacia Andrade Hurtado were finally set free yesterday, after spending between two and seven years in prison accused of infanticide. The real issue, of course, is abortion, which is illegal in Guanajuato, yet this is only half the story: While abortion only carried a penalty of maximum three years, the women were accused of infanticide, which carries a significantly stricter penalty (though after UN pressure, the government succumbed to reform the laws); some had received up to 27 years in prison for this.
But the kicker is this: Most of the women, all poor campesinas, appear to simply have had miscarriages, having suffered beatings - several of them had been raped - and were moreover coerced to confess to their "crime" by state prosecutors.
Yet rather than apologize for this travesty of justice, the state government, headed by Governor Juan Manuel Oliva, stubbornly and stupidly refuses to admit it did a mistake and that the women were innocent. Given the fighting spirit of these women and their clamor to have their name cleared, the matter will now most likely move to the courts, ensuring more bad publicity for Juan Manuel Oliva, who tried to please the women with promises of housing assistance, and offered state vehicles to transport them, which they rejected.
Yet rather than apologize for this travesty of justice, the state government, headed by Governor Juan Manuel Oliva, stubbornly and stupidly refuses to admit it did a mistake and that the women were innocent. Given the fighting spirit of these women and their clamor to have their name cleared, the matter will now most likely move to the courts, ensuring more bad publicity for Juan Manuel Oliva, who tried to please the women with promises of housing assistance, and offered state vehicles to transport them, which they rejected.
Yolanda Martínez Montoya, in prison for more than six years, gets the final word:
"I want nothing. I want to be me. I don't want to be tied to anyone who has something to do with the government, because they caused me so much harm. I want nothing from them"
Reporter: "Was the government's offer in exchange for keeping silent?"
"It could be. One may deduce using logic."
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