Quintana Roo passes anti-trafficking law: 45 years for culprits

The state congress in Quintana Roo unanimously passed an anti-human trafficking law that stipulates up to 45 years in prison for the crime, which the state, given its location heavily developed tourism industry,  is particularly vulnerable to. The law began as an initiative by PRD state legislator Luz María Beristáin Navarrete: Credit where credit's due.

"He wanted to fuck him over" confirmed by Fox

Back in 2007, Proceso in an excerpt from the Jorge Castañeda-Rubén Aguilar book La Diferencia revealed that, according to his former functionaries, "He wanted to fuck him over": Fox wanted to do everything possible to destroy AMLO's presidential ambitions. With the failed desafuro, Fox certainly battered his own democratic credentials.

The battering continues, and yet again it is self inflicted: In an interview with Mario Campos, she asks the former president: "Did you load the dice against AMLO?" And Fox responds:

"Yes certainly, to whatever extent I could, and it is democratic, and for that I say, as I've said before, it was a second win for me."

Call it what you want, but don't call it democratic. It is simply remarkable how Fox himself continues to tear down what remains of his image as the harbinger of democracy in Mexico.

Finally, the AMLO-Ebrard break: "The mafia" wants Ebrard to win

It will not be easy to pinpoint exactly the "day" or "moment" of the AMLO-Ebrard break - Ebrard's campaigning on behalf of the PRD-PAN alliances in the summer of 2010, AMLO's highly public rejection of an alliance with PAN in Mexico state, or a range of other smaller events that each could be interpreted as the break.

Yet to me, yesterday's event certainly counts as definitive : In Soledad de Graciano Sánchez, in the state of Luis Potosí, ahead of a meeting with his supporters, AMLO gave an interview where he expressed certainty that he would win the PRD presidential nomination, and then came the shocker: With regards to a possible Ebrard victory in the struggle for the nomination, this is what the mafia wants. 


So the bad guys - Salinas et al - wants Ebrard to win the nomination, and not AMLO. Forget about sharing a projects; it really is about personalities. And when the day comes that Ebrard wins... expect AMLO to denounce his victory as a fraud and orchestrated by the mafia.

With apologies for the theatrics: Consider the AMLO-Ebrard break as finalized.

Institutional innovation: Cué proposes recall referendum

In his inaugural speech yesterday day, Gabino Cué announced he would send a proposal to congress for "revocation of mandate," or simply put the mechanism of a recall referendum.


This is excellent news. I am a strong critic of the excessive length of the term of governors in Mexico, which in most cases is six years, and a recall referendum seems like an excellent tool if the desired goal is indeed to introduce more accountability in the political system. While the details of Cué's proposal are not known as yet, these typically involve a petition by a certain percentage of the electorate, which would turn it over to the government, who would then, if the petition is valid, call for a referendum where people are asked whether they want the sitting government out or not.


The very idea of a recall referendum, if used responsibly, is quite an institutional innovation. Credit must go here to Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, who, as far as I know, was the first country on earth to implement this mechanism, and actually allowed one to be held. So far, from what I gather, only Bolivia and Ecuador, have followed suit in their new constitutions.


One final line from Cué:
"Woe to those  who under my term will but their personal well being ahead of the Oaxacan people!"


Ojalá que sí.

Damning Indictment of Calderón: Even before 2008, poverty way up

It's been known that the 2008 economic crisis hit Mexico far worse than other countries in the Western hemisphere. Now, however, the UN's Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) / Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL)'s recent publication, "Social panorama of Latin America," published this November, reveals that poverty went up from 31.7 percent of the population in 2006, to 34.8 percent in 2008 - and extreme poverty, from 8.7 to 11.2 - this, all before the crisis hit Mexico.


(La Jornada has in this regard an interview with the Mexican Alicia Bárcena, who is the Chile-based executive secretary of ECLAC/CEPAL, where she expands on recent social developments in Mexico).


I can think of no other way to read these figures than as a highly negative judgment of Calderón's socio-economic policies.