"The only difference I see between Diaz Ordaz and Enrique Peña is that Diaz Ordaz was ugly."

Jorge Insunza, a PAN local deputy in the Mexico State congress, made the quote of the day: "The only difference I see between Diaz Ordaz and Enrique Peña is that Diaz Ordaz was ugly."


Insunza Armas compared Mexico State governor Enrique Peña unfavorably to Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, the authoritarian PRI president with an inferiority and insecurity complex (1964-70) from Puebla who ordered the gunning down of hundreds of demonstrators in Tlatelolco in 1968. 


Beyond the exaggerated comparison, it appears that Peña Nieto will stop at nothing from reaching the presidency. In a day of infamy in the Mexico State legislature, what has now been baptized "Peña Nieto's Law,"  explicitly aimed at stopping a PAN-PRD common candidate, passed by a 52-21 margin -  PRI, PVEM, PANAL, PSD, and Convergencia against the votes of PRD, PAN and PT. 

PRD legislators Oscar Sánchez Juárez and Ricardo Moreno Bastida stood guard at a coffin that contained Mexico's electoral law, and the PRD had brought mariachis who entoned Las Golondrina, all symbolizing the death of democracy in Mexico State. Moreno dixit: 

"We are having a wake for the remains of democracy in a small coffin, because this democracy was very young, and still it was murdered by Governor Enrique Peña, for the fear it caused him"

That is also an exaggeration, but the blatant institutional engineering - changing the electoral code opportunistically exclusively to block a common opposition candidate, as well as to reduce the time allowed for campaigns, which blatantly favors Peña Nieto's media-promoted and -created candidacy - is an exercise in blatant institutional engineering, and an ominous omen for his possible presidency. 

Marcelo Ebrard, who has maintained a relatively cordial relationship with his peer in Mexico State, called the initiative a "typical PRI abuse":

"What matters is that they know they might lose the state of Mexico. There has never been an alternation [of power] in the state of Mexico and sure this year we will see, for the first time in history, a change of party"

The law will now need to be ratified by a majority of the municipalities, which will not be a problem due to the PRI's dominance of Mexico State politics. Last year, to recall, PRI and the Green Party (PVEM) in alliance won about 4/5 of the state's municipalities (97 out of 125, to be exact), due to the very mechanism of a common candidate. This is the first electoral "reform" in 15 years that is pushed through in a majoritarian manner, without any input from opposition parties.


PRD and PAN may, however, take the matters to the Mexican Supreme Court. Regardless, all gloves are now off, if they were ever on.

Cecilia Romero forced out of National Institute for Migration

While she has fought tooth and nail at several times the past years to retain her position as head of the National Institute for Migration (Instituto Nacional de Migración, INM), Cecilia Romero was finally fired from the INM. The PRD in particular had kept up pressure on Romero following the most recent massacre of immigrants in Tamaulipas, deeming here "politically responsible" for the massacre, and senators altered the past weeks between demanding that she appear to explain the INM's failure to adequately protect migrants, and outright calling for her resignation. Romero adamantly refused to make any appearance in the Senate, which as recently as yesterday again called for her to report on the INM's work, or to step down.

As an indidation of how vehemntly Romero had fought her dismissal, the INM for hours couldn't even make itself present an official story for exactly why Romero was leaving.  Her work has been criticized by the National Human Rights Commission (Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, CNDH) as well as internatioanl observers such as Amnesty International. As recently as May, she brushed off criticism by the CNDH on the massive increased in abuses and kidnappings as mere "suggestions, not recommendations."

I find it ironic that while she survived three interior ministers, the apparent docile Francisco Blake Mora would be her bane.