Elba Esther Gordillo confirms 2006 horsetrading

Elba Esther Gordillo, "leader for life" of the SNTE teachers union and de facto head of the PANAL party, was unusually frank about her political dealings in a press conference yesterday, where she confirmed that she made a pact with then-candidate Felipe Calderón for the PANAL party to vote for the PAN candidate, in exchange for getting to pick the head of the ISSSTE social security institute for state workers, the National lottery, and the executive of the National system of public security (SNSP).

Her son-in-law Fernando González Sánchez was also made subsecretary of education, though she didn't mention him.

And why Calderón? Here as well Gordillo was honest: He was the only one responding to her. To recall, she had been kicked out of the PRI, so no negotiation was possible there, and AMLO refused to even sit down with her to make a deal.

Now, the question is: Who is she negotiating with now? Has she settled for Enrique Peña Nieto, as earlier events strongly indicated, or is she still open for bids?

Infamous Presunto Culpable judge Héctor Palomares confirmed for six more years

This is absolutely terrible: Héctor Palomares Medina, the infamous judge of the documentary Presunto Culpable/Presumed Guilty, has not only escaped any sanction at all for his behavior, but was reaffirmed for six more year by the Judicial Council of the Federal District - by unanimity!
One hardly needs a legal background to be able to opine on these matters - for many it was a shock to see how judges in Mexico behave, as demonstrated so well n Presunto Culpable. Yet to see Palomares being ratified for another full period, when he will sit until June 2017, is truly a slap in the face.

Judge Héctor Palomares is also facing another criminal complaint unrelated to the Presunto Culpable case of José Antonio Zúñiga,

Say whatever you want of the Federal district judges - they certainly look after each other.

This is a truly repugnant decision that deserves wide condemnation.

Gay unions in Jalisco: Conservative panista's 180 degree turn

Its a most welcome conversion (and not the kind that many ultra-conservative panistas have in mind):

Fernando Guzmán Pérez Peláez, regarded as one of the most ultra-conservative members of the Jalisco government, where he is government secretary, declared that he is in favor of legalizing gay marriage unions.

The same man, less than a year ago, was an active supporter of the ridiculous "gay conversion" movement.
What happened? Welcome news, regardless.

Next in line, the state governor, a drunken falangist who have stated that gays disgust him?

Who would the Virgin vote for?

And we're talking about the Virgen de Guadalupe, no less. See for yourself:

An organization calling itself Voto Católico claim to know who the Virgin would vote for in the upcoming Mexico State gubernatorial election: It sure is not PRD, nor is it PRI. Go to its Web site, www.votocatolico.com, and you will be offered a "voting guide" on the, according to Voto, absolute most important subjects in this election, such as abortion, gay rights, and euthanasia.

The electoral propaganda is, of course, illegal, as following the most recent electoral reform in Mexico, no outside groups can contract political advertisements. Yet tell that to Voto - after all, who can argue against anyone knowing the electoral preferences of the good Virgin?

Michoacán: Senator Silvano Aureoles PRD's candidate for governor

Senator Silvano Aureoles appears to have triumphed in the internal PRD election in Michoacán to be that party's candidate for governor, and with a surprisingly big margin: Around more than double the votes than the runner-up, local deputy Enrique Bautista Villegas, and the PRD's national election commission says the lead is irreversible. According to La Jornada Michoacán, Bautista will, however, impugn the result.

One thing should be celebrated: There was absolutely no violence during the electoral process, where more than half a million participated.

With 67 percent of votes counted Aureoles has 108,000 vs. Bautista's 54,000. What is notable is that AMLO's preferred candidate - Fabiola Alanís Sámano - has so far only pulled around 13,000 or so. One fear within the PRDs now that rather than accepting the loss, Alanis will jump on a separate PT-Convergencia ticket in the state's general election in November.

The election was also a loss, of sorts, for the Cárdenas family - Bautista was their preferred candidate, as he was in 2007.

On Calderón's government secretaries / ministers of the interior

El Universal has a useful article on Calderón's secretarias de gobernación, equivalent of interior ministers, of which there have been four so far. The article highlights a worrisome point: Not only does this represent lack of continuity on the top - 13 months tenure on average - but also a constant reappointment of personnel below (the article suggests a number of 40 "key functionaries")

This can´t possibly be good for continuation of policy, and institutional learning.

Guanajuato: Defeat for El Yunque and Governor Juan Manuel Oliva

PAN in Guanajuato elected local deputy Gerardo Trujillo Flores to the important post of state party leader, ahead of the 2012 gubernatorial contest.

This is notable as he beat out Alejandra Reynoso Sánchez, the candidate of Governor Juan Manuel Oliva, who is identified with the far-right Catholic secret society El Yunque, as is outgoing state leader Fernando Torres Graciano.

This is a win for federal health secretary José Ángel Córdova Villalobos, a relatively progressive panista, who wants to be governor, yet is opposed by the governor and El Yunque.

PAN president Gustavo Madero accuses PRI of drugtrafficking collusion

National president of the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), Gustavo Madero, accused the PRI of having colluded-turned the blind eye, to drug trafficking for decades:

"The eggs of the snake were nesting for years. They made pacts with the narco traffickers, and now we are paying for these omissions."

Yet this is perhaps what many would want the PRI back for: A new "national pact" with the drug gangs.

PRD reminds PT, Convergenicia of pledge - which will most likely be broken

PRD president  Jesús Zambrano felt compelled to remind its notoriously unreliable alliance partners PT and Convergencia of their agreement that all three will rally behind whomever is deemed ahead in a poll - AMLO or Marcelo Ebrard, given that both PT and Convergencia quite openly express that they have already decided.

I wonder if even Zambrano believes what he is saying.

Legionaries of Christ banned from using internet, mail

Luis Petersen Farah informs us that members of Legionaries of Christ recently received a decree banning them from using internet, email, social media, etc, unless supervised by, well, their superiors.

Petersen's argument is that despite the Marcial Maciel scandals, nothing has changed in this paranoid and authoritarian. It makes perfect sense though - how can organizational unity be achieved if the members would find out, through reading online, that their founder was a pedophile psychopath who raped and abused small children and was defended the entire time while doing so by the high clergy of the Mexican Catholic Church, and  even protected by Pope John Paul II himself?

No, better to pull the plug.

Initiative by Benito Nacif of IFE to safeguard voters's party membership

Benito Nacif, a councilor of Mexico's Instituto Federal Electoral (IFE), proposed an initiative to further safeguard the privacy of those who are members of political parties.

Currently, apparently anyone can technically access a party's padrón or membership lists, with the names of the members, thus depriving them of their right to privacy and keeping their party affiliation secret.

I interviewed Benito Nacif for a paper I am working on, and he struck me as one of the absolute most reasonable of IFE's current councilors - as is the current proposal.

Baja California Sur: Anti-abortion initiative blocked in state congress, of sorts

The state congress in Baja California Sur failed to pass an extremely prohibitive anti-choice legislation of the "life from conception" type, though hardly thanks to any brave stands from progressive forces: While 11 deputies from PAN, the local PRN party, and Convergencia (the nominally left-wing party allied to AMLO) voted in favor, nine deputies - five from PRI, four from PRD - simply abstained, rather than having the guts to vote against the legislation

Stopped, for now.

Academic analyses of the 2011 Guerrero election

Issue 167 of El Cotidiano, a social science-politics journal published by the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, has a special issue on the 2011 governor and state election of Guerrero.

Email registration is required, but the site is entirely free - learning of the perspectives of Mexican political scientists and analysts is a a refreshing alternative to the U.S.-centered political science literature.

Mexico State electoral institute finally acts, of sorts

The electoral institute of Mexico State, Instituto Electoral del Estado de México (IEEM), responsible for organizing the upcoming elections in the state, finally reacted to complaints from the opposition that the ruling PRI is maintaining hundreds of billboards and other propaganda in favor of the party, when they should have been torn down before the election in the name of equity.

Yet mind you, no rush - the Mexico State government of Enrique Peña Nieto has three days to do so - even though the election is barely a week away.

Luis Walton defends Convergencia changes

Luis Walton, president of Convergencia, said that proposed changes to "restructure" the party doesn't mean "that one is handing the party over to Andrés Manuel López Obrador," nor that is a desperate means in order to not lose its registry. 


These are the strongest indications yet that
1) the party is being handed over to Andrés Manuel López Obrador
2) the changes are a desperate means to conserve the party registry.

Nayarit: No excuses for AMLO, yet betrayal of party

In Nayarit, the PRD is not running in alliance with the PAN. Its candidate, Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo, has been a man of the left his entire life, never a priísta, and rejected the suggestion he would decline in favor of PAN's candidate, Martha Elena García.

Yet AMLO, rather than backing the PRD candidate, travels to Nayarit to back Nayar Marroquín, candidate of PT and Convergencia. Not only is it a completely useless undertaking - his vote intention is minimal - but he will also take votes from the PRD candidate. So why is AMLO, a former party president and the PRD's 2006 candidate, doing this? This time there is absolutely no excuse, as in the past, where he opposed PAN-PRD alliance candidates.

This is the true face of AMLO showing: A man who have absolutely no compunction about betraying his old party, as long as it benefits his own, highly personalistic project.

Calderón didn't know of the operation against Jorge Hank Rhon?

Felipe Calderón told Javier Sicilia he didn't know of the operation against Jorge Hank Rhon, where the army apprehended the former Tijuana mayor on weapons charges.

Calderón rails against narco-criminal-backing bishops, "brood of vipers"

In Calderón's meeting with Javier Sicilia - which I cannot see was anything but a very positive event - the Mexican president, from the centre-right quite christian-democrat PAN party, notably railed against unnamed Mexican bishops of the catholic high clergy who expressed their support for the criminal thug Jorge Hank Rhon, rightly referring to them as "vipers."

He didn't mention any names, but it was an obvious allusion to e.g. the bishop of Mexicali, José Isidro Guerrero Macías, and Mexico State's bishop Onésimo Cepeda, who both expressed support for the briefly incarcerated Hank, whose values should go against anything the church claim to stand for - e.g. 19 children, multiple divorces, likely ties to drug trafficking, etc, yet whom several bishops have said they are praying for - literally.

Calderón, a quite fervent catholic, said there are "certain characters who serve as models of holiness" yet are a "brood of vipers."

I am with Felipe on this one.

On a related note: I wonder what columnist-journalist Carlos Marín, who has ridiculed critics of Onésimo Cepeda, thinks of his embrace of Hank, who lost his US visa and is accused of involvement in the drug trade. Not problematic in the slightest?

Queretaro: PAN Deputy Salvador Martínez Ortiz, a cold wind from the dark ages

Salvador Martínez Ortiz, a PAN deputy in the Queretaro state congress and head of its Family Commission, declared, basking in his moral superiority, that gays cannot be legislators - from any party, mind you - or hold any public office because they undermine family values and the "natural law of cohabitation."

To boot, Martínez Ortiz was interviewed during the international day of sexual diversity.

I don't think someone who believe a gay person is unfit for office is... well, fit for office. May his political career be a short lived one.

Ebrard suggests PEMEX-PETROBRAS partnership

Lula da Silva is in Mexico, and he met with both Marcelo Ebrard, where Ebrard notably proposed a strategic partnership between the Mexican oil company PEMEX and the Mexican Petrobras:

"I would find it very interesting to make a strategic alliance with them, for  they have developed technology for deepwater exploration. I do not see why we can not make a strategic alliance with them; this would suit Mexico and other countries a lot."

Indeed!

Lula also met with Alejandro Encinas in a separate meeting, expressing support for his run for the Mexico State governorship.

Pablo Salazar Mendiguchí, a political prisoner?

Miguel Ángel Granados Chapa, writing in Proceso, offers an impassioned defense of former Chiapas governor Pablo Salazar Mendiguchí, now under arrest on embezzlement and other charges, arguing essentially that Sabines and the old PRI machinery of Chiapas is exacting its revenge on someone who dared to defy them.

He also deems Salazar a political prisoner.

The June 22 Encinas-Bravo Mena-Ávila Mexico State debate

Yesterday's debate can be found here in its entirety. There is from my point of view no doubt who commands the debate: Alejandro Encinas.

Devastating analysis of presidential hopeful Alonso Lujambio, by Denise Dresser

Denise Dresser, writing in Proceso (which appears to have opened up access to its articles), has a devastating analysis of education secretary Alonso Lujambio that is well worth a read.

Essentially, she argues Lujambio has not achieved much at all, and does not have the required "fire in the belly" to become president, and simply does not have a full understanding of Mexico's current difficult situation or indeed, political reality.

How subsidies benefit the rich in Mexico: United Nations report

The new United Nations Report Informe sobre Desarrollo Humano México 2011: equidad del gasto público: derechos sociales universales con subsidios focalizados, highlights how so many of the Mexican government's programs "in redistributive terms are probably very questionable": They do not serve to lessen income differences, but rather benefit the rich more than the poor. I haven't gotten to read the report yet, but El Universal highlights a few examples:

- Farm subsidies going to richer farmers
- Health spending benefits not going to the poorest
- Education spending, ditto

(One excellent earlier study that demonstrate what programs in fact to improve equality, and which lead to more inequality, is A Decade of Falling. Inequality in Mexico: Market Forces or State Action? by Gerardo Esquivel, Nora Lustig and John Scott. One earlier version available for free here)

Another case in point: Ending the tenencia, or roughly the sales tax for new cars, has been a populist mantra for particularly PRI candidates for governor, who foolishly (from a financial, not electoral point of view) have championed taking away a tax that not only has provided much-needed income to cash-strapped state governments, but whose elimination will be a blatant hand-out to the more wealthy of Mexicans.

Who wants to pay car sales taxes voluntarily? Of course few, but fact remains that the ones most likely to pay the highest tenencia are from the upper economic layers of Mexican society.

Credit then, of sorts, to Veracruz Governor César Duarte,  who despite irresponsibly calling for the elimination of the tenencia in his election campaign, is now backtracking and want to keep it, realizing that its elimination would break the state's finances.

What a belated "discovery" - after the election has been one, of course.

Guess who else is proposing its elimination, and ranking high in polls? PRI candidate Eruviel Ávila in Mexico State. When the time comes to pick up the bill... well, that's another story.

A devastating analysis of "analyst" Sylvia Longmire

I've earlier bumped into some writing by Sylvia Longmire, which I had a gut-level reaction of dislike to, given the alarmist hyperbole from someone who shows no indication of actually having set her foot in Mexico or the U.S. border, two areas she writes about.

Now Tom Barry of Center for International Policy has an absolutely devastating review of Longmire, which I strongly recommend as a warning against the so-called "intelligence experts" popping up to inform or rather misinform the public (in contrast to Barry's excellent blog, http://borderlinesblog.blogspot.com/, which is among the most informative on the subject).

Read the column here.

AMLO on new Morena tour. What will IFE do?

And AMLO will launch a new tour for Morena, where he said will promote his presidential proyect.

Given that this clearly breaks Mexican electoral law, what will the Mexican electoral institute (IFE) do? 

Or perhaps the question should rather be: When IFE deems AMLO to engage in campaigning outside of the allowed time frame for elections, how will AMLO respond? "They are all against us!"? This has the potential to blow up pretty soon. 

The end of the Convergencia party? Good riddance

The Convergencia party appears set to dissolve to become AMLO's own party, including changing its name to Morena, the name of AMLO's movement. Some party members oppose this plan.

Why good riddance? Because this is a party that, while now appearing as a radical pro-AMLO party, started out, and very much remains, the personal outfit of Senator Dante Delgado Rannauro, once an interim PRI governor from Vera Cruz, who ditched PRI to create Convergencia in 1998. The party ever since sold itself to the highest bidder, and it took major concessions from the left (PRD) for Convergencia to accept being its partner in 2006. After this election, when it was in danger, with the Partido del Trabajo, of losing its registry because of its low turnout, it jumped on AMLO's bandwagon, becoming one of the most "radical" parties in Mexico - a complete turnaround.  Before and after, it has on state elections at times joined with the left, other times with its electoral opponents - wherever it could reap some direct benefits. Most recent example: Now Víctor Hugo Círigo, a national Convergencia deputy, has joined the PRI campaign of Eruviel Ávila in Mexico State.

New, serious political parties, with a clear agenda and mission, are always welcome, but Convergencia never belonged to that category, rather merely contributing to fragmentation of the vote in Mexico.

So good riddance, Convergencia.

Guns in Mexico: 70 percent recovered from United States

Here's the direct link to the Sen. Dianne Feinstein et al report on U.S. gun flows to Mexico that details that at least 70 percent of weapons recovered from drug gangs in Mexico stem from north of the border.

Recommendations to the Obama administration, from the report's conclusion:

Enactment of legislation to close the gun show loophole;

Better enforcement of the existing ban on imports of military-style weapons;

Reinstatement of the expired Assault Weapons Ban;

Reporting by Federal Firearms Licensees on all multiple firearms sales; and

Senate ratification of the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking of Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials (CIFTA).

How very, very sensible.

Jorge Hank Rhon, gobernador?

It's hard to imagine a worse nightmare scenario for his opponents, of which there are many: But Jorge Hank Rhon suggested he may run for governor of Baja California State "if the party obliges me."

The PRI avoided any substantial comment; given its president Humberto Moreira's decision to keep a very low profile these days, it was left to his secretary general to note that it was "not an opportune moment" for the party to discuss any Hank Rhon candidacy now. Alternatively, PRI could have answered: 'There is no way in hell we will let an obvious criminal linked by the United States to drugtrafficking, to become our gubernatorial candidate.' But no.

Mexico's position worsen on "failed state" index: Fund for Peace

Mexico's position on The Fund for Peace's Failed State Index worsened, chiefly due to increased violence and human rights abuses, and uneven economic development.

It's 2011 ranking is 75.1 and 93rd place (of 177), vs. 76.1 and 96 place in 2010, meaning a worsening on both indicators. (Worst country? You guessed it)

For more, see the Fund's Interactive Grid here.
(El Universal erroneously refers to the organization as "Foundation for Peace")

Mexico State: A rigged election, it is now clear

Mexico State's electoral institute, Instituto Electoral del Estado de México (IEEM), responsible for arranging the upcoming elections in Mexico State, flat out refused to order the PRI-run state government to tear down more than 2,500 billboards favoring the PRI, which it is now illegal to display. The IEEM sought to wash its hands by saying it would only do so under a direct order by the federal electoral tribunal - despite the fact that it earlier apparently did order five billboards torn down for violating the law.

It is becoming clear that the criticisms launched against the IEEM by the PRD and PAN that the institute is biased toward the PRI are more than warranted.

Coahuila gubernatorial election: Good run-down of candidates

A good run-down of the candidates for the upcoming (July 3) state election in Coahuila from El Universal here.

Eruviel Ávila's campaign refuses to release its campaign spending

Challenged by the PRD, which claims that the PRI has massively overspent on its gubernatorial campaign, to release an account of its expenses, PRI refused, saying it will do so only to IEEM, the electoral institute of Mexico State, which PRD and PAN claims is heavily tilted toward the PRI.

So much for the "public" in "public money," which the PRI receives from the Mexican state.

PAN releases its membership numbers

Some newly released membership figures for the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN): Mexico's governing party says it has 1,759,534 members, of which 298,076 are "active members."

Why the raid against Jorge Hank Rhon?

Jorge Zepeda Patterson, a usually well-informed and reasoned columnist (and academic), proposes two hypotheses why the army launched the raid against Jorge Hank Rhon. Both assumes that the army acted on its own, yet one is considerably more sinister than the other.

1) The army was convinced of Hank's guilt, and launched the operation to catch a bad guy, with the intent also to shore up its increasinly tattered image (particularly compared to La Marina).
2) The army intentionally set out to bungle the operation, a la the Michoacanazo, in order to discredit the PGR, PAN, and President Calderón.

Definitely among the more interesting speculations around the botched operation - though exactly that, speculations.

Teachers cheating on their exams

What an example to the students: SNTE teachers are cheating on their own exams.

The Mexican teachers union SNTE has for years fought tooth and nail against a required exam where they actually had to demonstrate that they have the required skills for teaching. Some progress has been made recently, and teachers who willingly undertake the test will receive a financial bonus of up to 60 percent of the salary. 

Yet La Jornada reveals that the very exams used to test the teachers are now offered up for sale to the teachers - so why bother study or demonstrate your skills, when you can simply cheat on this exam? 

Apparently, SNTE teachers linked to Sección 36 of Mexico State - the absolute stronghold of national SNTE leader Elba Esther Gordillo - have been offering the exams for sale for at least a week. 

PRD to boot out ex-governor from party

It's hard to find a state in Mexico with more political opportunism than Baja California Sur, at least by the standards of party switching - with the latest gubernatorial election a clear case in point.

Now, former Governor Narciso Agúndez Montaño, cousin of former PRD president Leonel Cota Montaño (who I have utterly lost track of in terms of what party he has jumped on to), will be kicked out from the PRD.

Agúndez Montaño, though nominally of the PRD, was widely regarded to have backed the winning PAN candidate (and PRD defector!) Marcos Covarrubias, yet the straw that broke the camel's back was his recent flirtations with the most cynical, opportunist, most devoid of any principles, party in Mexico, the Green Party (PVEM), which apparently is seeking to recruit Agúndez for some office in 2012. Good riddance.

ILO rejects SME complaint: A victory for Calderón

The Geneva-based International Labor Federation (ILO) notably rejected a 2009 complaint by the Mexican electricians union, Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas (SME), over the decision by President Felipe Calderón  to liquidate the state-owned Luz y Fuerza electric company, regarding this to have been the legal prerogative of the Mexican state.

This is a big setback for SME leader  Martín Esparza Flores, and a victory for Calderón and Labor Secretary Javier Lozano.

Calderón wanted to "repress" 2006 sit-in protests in Mexico City

Alejandro Encinas, the PRD candidate for governor  in Mexico State, who in 2006 was interim mayor of Mexico City, said that president-elect Felipe Calderón wanted then-interior minister, now-deceased Carlos Abascal, to "repress" the 2006 plantón in Mexico City, where hundreds of thousands of PRD and AMLO supporters protested what they argued was a fraudulent election, through a massive sit-in in the main avenue Reforma, demanding a recount.

Yet the interior minister replied, "Felipe, you are still not president."

Los Pinos vehemently denied this revelation. It is truly remarkable if the claim is true.

Mexico´s internal debt grew 4.5-fold under PAN´s two governments

According to the Banco the México, Mexico´s internal debt - through the issuance of local bonds -  the government´s grew 4.5 times since 2000, reaching a fourth of the GDP. or from around 715 billion pesos to today's 3258 billion pesos - almost 29 thousand pesos per inhabitant. This does not include external debt.

Bishop Onésimo Cepeda, with his 130+ million loan, off the hook for now

Onésimo Cepeda, one of the absolute most dubious members of the Mexican clergy and bishop of Ecatepec, got an amparo or injunction that puts an end to a long investigation where Cepade was accused of defrauding an old woman for a collection of highly valuable paintings. The investigation is now officially closed, following a 2-1 decision by the 8th Appellate Court.

To recall, Cepeda was accused of snatching the collection of paintings by faking a 130 million dollars(!) loan to Olga Azcárraga Madero, now deceased. Cepeda claimed he lent the money; his opponents, that it was all a simulation. Nor does Cepeda have to prove where the hell he got the 130 million dollars that he claimed to have lent Azcárraga, the aunt of Televisa president Emilio Azcárraga Jean.

Xavier Olea Peláez, lawyer of the company accusing Cepeda of fraud, claimed trafficking of influences, as two of the judges of the 8th Appellate Court as well as Supreme Court Minister Sergio Valls recently attended Cepeda's birthday party. Cepeda, to be sure, is a very powerful man, and very close to the PRI.

Yet even if no fraud took place, what is there to say of a bishop that is apparently capable of producing 130 million dollars in cash, and refuses to state where the money come from?

(in on of his most truly pathetic columns to date, Carlos Marìn ridicules the charges, yet does not find it worthwhile to even take note of the bishop´s immense wealth)

I am convinced that it is indeed easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than it is for Bishop Cepeda to enter the paradise he claims to believe in.

A bullet in the head in Oaxaca

What a terribly sad story: In Oaxaca, the head of the state's secondary education institute Efrén Montes López, died by his own hand, using his .38 special to commit suicide, in a desperate protest over the corruption in Oaxaca's public education sector.

In Oaxaca, following a 1992 deal, the powerful yet very destructive and strike-happy teacher union SNTE Sección 22, has gained for itself the power to name the heads of all levels of the Oaxaca state educational system.

Montes López, a member of Sección 22, was named head only this April, after his predecessor Sigifredo García Martínez, also of 22, was kicked out, accused of corruption.

Within Oaxaca's public education sector, corruption charges abound - hiring teachers without credentials, fraud with hours of work clocked, and much, much more.

One can only speculate what Montes López might have found, and desperately sought to change.

Oaxaca: The first arrest in Cué's corruption probe. Who's next?

The first arrest: Gonzalo Ruiz Cerón, coordinator of transportation under Ulises Ruiz' brutal and corrupt rule of Oaxaca (2005-2011), was arrested by Oaxaca police, following an arrest warrant where he is accused of trafficking in licensing and permits for public transportation.

Governor  Gabino Cué, to recall, is following up on his campaign promises by performing a thorough audit of the previous PRI government, and said there are pending processes against a dozen other ex-functionaries of Ruiz' government.

All good and well, to be sure, but will Cué have the guts - and strength - to in the end finally go after Ulises Ruiz himself?

On Calderón´s barrage against the PRI, and PRI's reply

President Felipe Calderón's commencement speech at Stanford was quite notable in its direct attack on the PRI's rule (1929-2000), referring directly to its repression and massacres - an historic reality hard to deny.

PRI, quite naturally, took much offense against the speech, held in English, e.g. the PRI's parliamentary group asking the president "not to get into the electoral boxing ring," and accusing him of planting "hatred and division."

One comment was particularly disingenuous: Emilio Gamboa, now head of PRI's CNOP, complained that Calderón was acting in a partisan manner and not as the president of all Mexicans.

Of course he is partisan - he was elected, in a minority vote, as a blatantly partisan choice. This is of course the very problem with a presidential regime - that a president is both a party option, with a more or less clear platform and ideology, as well as the "head of the nation." Gamboa's criticism as such is really just a critique of presidentialism per se.

Now, if PRI is serious in this critique, it should take the consequences of this line of reasoning and join what many in the PRD have long demanded: that Mexico become a parliamentary democracy, with a prime minister beholden to parliament, and with a ceremonial head of state, rather than a presidential regime.

Now, that'll be the day.

AMLO in Los Angeles: First campaign meeting outside Mexico

According to Milenio, at least a couple of thousands attended as Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) held his first mass meeting outside of Mexico, in front of the Los Angeles City Hall, where he called for the creation of new committees of his movement Morena, or  Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional.


It will be increasingly tougher to claim that this is not active campaigning, though - and PAN has noted it will likely lodge a complaint with the federal electoral institute, as Mexican electoral law prohibits political campaigning outside of the electoral cycle.

Is this for real? Cardinal's cousin arrested due to name confusion

After spending six days in prison after her arrest due to the discovery of a marijuana-loaded vehicle registered in her name, it appears that María Carrera Rivera, cousin of Cardinal Norberto Rivera, was confused with another person called María Cabrera Rivera.

If this is truly the case, it is yet another shocking reminder that in Mexico you may still remain guilty until proven innocent. It is hardly a comfort that this also applies to the cousin of the head of the Mexican Catholic church.

"I don't want a borough; I want an embassy"

Milenio's recent interview with Senator René Arce is well worth a read: It is hard to find a more complete expression of the extreme opportunism and cynicism pervading much of Mexico´s political elite. To recall, Arce was once a guerrilla fighter, then a PRD member, and has now, with his brother, thrown his lot with the PRI in Mexico State, and, as he outlines, possibly in Mexico City and for the presidency as well.

Asked if he want to return to power in his old fiefdom Iztapalapa, where he and his brother have taken turns on power much thanks to their use of clientelistic networks, he replies, in a call for offers, "I don't want a borough; I want an embassy."

A new low: Bishop of Mexicali backs his "friend" Jorge Hank Rhon

It almost defies belief (no pun intended):

The Bishop of Mexicali, José Isidro Guerrero Macías, in a letter to the highly unchrist-like character Jorge Hank Rhon (who has 19 children and refers to women as "animals,") expressed his support for what he calls his "friend," and the "lamentable situation that you and your family is living through."

And, to be sure, he let Hank knows he is praying for him.

What an extraordinary job the Mexican high clergy does to undermine what little remains of its credibility.

Largest PRD faction favors Marcelo Ebrard´s as 2012 choice

Not exactly a shocker: Nueva Izquierda, (NI), the largest faction in the PRD and the one currently holding the party presidency, in its national conference this weekend, expressed a "predefinition" toward making Marcelo Ebrard PRD´s presidential candidate for 2012. According to the founder of NI, Jesús Ortega, in a clear allusion to AMLO:

I do believe in a libertarian left, attached to legality, inclusive, not exclusive. I believe in a left that represents the entire country, not just a part of it, and in a tolerant left, not intolerance and authoritarianism... Marcelo´s politics of widening the the rights of the citizens of Mexico City are symptomatic of the vision of modern left"

NI still reiterated it will respect the party´s final decision with regards to the final choice of Ebrard or AMLO  as PRD´s candidate. One can only hope AMLO´s backers within the PRD as well as its on-off allies of the PT and Convergencia, should Ebrard win the party vote, will do the same.

I am strongly disinclined to believe they will.

Fausto Vallejo Figueroa PRI's candidate for Michoacán governor

Hardly a surprise: Fausto Vallejo Figueroa, three-time mayor of capital Morelia, on Friday became PRI's "unity candidate" for the governorship of Michoacàn, after the other pre-candidates declined in his favor.

Morelia has long been a PRI stronghold in the PRD-led state; Vallejo won the mayorship with almost 47% of the votes in 2007.

Forty years since halconazo, The Corpus Christi Massacre

June 10, 1971: Paramilitary thugs created and financed by the PRI and known as Los Halcones massacred more than 100 students of youth, demonstrating again the true face of the PRI dictatorship. Many young would even take up arms against a regime that, when pushed, would not hesitate to squash dissent.


La Jornada reminds us that of the accused murderers and masterminds, only former president Luis Echeverría Álvarez remains alive.

Some particularly recommended background reading: The National Security Archive´s electronic briefing book "The Corpus Christi Massacre," which include declassified documents on the U.S. role in the cover-up.

Is Elba Esther Gordillo actually serious about aviadores?

Seeming leader-for-life of the Mexican teachers union SNTE, Elba Esther Gordillo, spoke out against so-called aviadores, or those registered and covering pay as teachers yet never setting their foot in a classroom. She even called on state governments to act against them as it "discredits" the SNTE.

Given that the notorious practice of aviadores has been a long-running trait of the SNTE, it is a bit hard to take Gordillo fully at her word her. Indeed, aviadores have been actively been used by SNTE in marches and demonstrations, as organizational personnel, as part of the PANAL party created by SNTE, and other non-teaching tasks that have nonetheless benefited Gordillo and SNTE.

One can only hope that Gordillo has indeed realized herself how much the practice does discredit SNTE and teachers in general in the eyes of the Mexican population, beyond the practical - and monetary - benefits they may offer. But I wouldn´t hold my breath.

Pablo Salazar, a Mexican Mandela?

With virtually no one leaping to his defense, former governor (2000-2006) Pablo Salazar Mendiguchí declared he would launch a hunger strike, and leave prison either dead or freed of charges, in response to his arrest on corruption and embezzlement charges.

Not only that: His choice of reading material in prison, according to his attorney, was Nelson Mandela's autobiography.

Now that's a bit rich, señor gobernador.


Worth reading is also Carlos Loret de Mola´s column, which suggests that Los Pinos was well informed of the alleged "danger" of Salazar to current Governor Juan Sabines, in a letter attributed to Sabines himself, who, to recall, was Salazar´s one-time protégé.

Ex Governor Pablo Salazar of Chiapas arrested

Ex governors are not arrested everyday in Mexico - though quite a few are prime candidates for being thrown behind bars - so the arrest of former Chiapas governor Pablo Salazar Mendiguchí (2000-2006) is quite a big deal.

A comparison with the recent arrest of Jorge Hank Rhon is inevitable, though it must be noted that Salazar was arrested in the Cancún airport on orders of the Chiapas government, not the federal authorities. He is accused, among other things, of embezzlement and the  abuse of authority, and several civil lawsuits are apparently also pending.

His attorney general, Mariano Herrán, was arrested in January 2009, and Salazar has now joined him in the El Amate prison, where both are now held.

Just like in the case of Hank Rhon one may ask, why now? Clearly the arrest of Salazar marks the definitive break with the current governor, Juan Sabines. Like Sabines, Salazar was a PRI member until he ditched the party to become an alliance candidate for a very wide coalition of parties - every single one, in fact, except from the PRI - that managed to kick out the PRI in 2000 in Chiapas

(the very same thing happened with Sabines; after losing the PRI nomination he was recruited by the PRD, though quickly broke with the party).

What is certainly clear the timing was right, with attention focused on Hank; likely there is as well much more here the eye, as last Friday, Salazar denounced in an interview a break in in his office where armed men apparently stole 50,000 flyers he had planned to hand out to defend himself.

Much dirty laundry remains to be aired.

Setback for Marcelo Ebrard: Supreme Court overturns new electoral code

The Mexican Supreme Court overturned a recent change to the Mexico City electoral code that sought to impose new restrictions on the creation of political parties. The overturned law stipulated that a new party would require a membership of 2 percent of the official voting list in every delegation in order to be able to register as a new party; the Supreme Court found this to be too restrictive.

I understand the Supreme Court's reasoning: It particularly pointed out that the population of Mexico's delegaciones or boroughs varies greatly, so if it achieved say 5 percent in one borough of 2 million, why would it need 2 percent in a borough of only 150,000?

Yet the law - voted unanimously by all parties in the Mexico City legislature (who of course have their own incentive of avoiding new electoral threats) also in my opinion also addressed a very legitimate concern: it sought to prevent new small "strongman" parties of which there may now unfortunately be several - parties organized around say a former secretary of the government, a current senator, etc, who has used his or her position to build up a very personal power base in a typically very clientelistic manner.

Also, it may lead to new political fragmentation - with simply an unmanageable number of new small parties that will make it extremely hard to achieve a majority in the legislature and actually get anything done.

And a setback it is as well for Marcelo Ebrard, who will now likely face new "leftwing" parties that seek to chip off support from the PRD in favor of new and likely highly pragmatic electoral outfits that couldn't care less about any programmatic content.

Cardinal Norberto Rivera's cousin arrested with 39 kilos of weed

María Carrera Rivera, the cousin of Cardinal Norberto River, head of the Mexican Catholic church, was arrested in Durango after authorities found her Chrysler Voyager loaded with 39 kilos of marijuana.

The cardinal's sister said it was "probably a mistake."

Cardinal Rivera, a man who makes Pope Benedict XVI appear a liberal, called for the law to be applied, but also that every person is innocent until the opposite is proven.

Amen to that.

Bejarano's party faction IDN declares in favor of AMLO 2012, G-8 dissolved

The PRD faction Izquierda Democrática Nacional (IDN), headed in practice by the infamous René Bejarano, officially lined up behind the 2012 candidacy of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, following an IDN conference.

The IDN faction was badly hit following the 2004 videoscandals, yet has been recovering in the past few years. However, in a blow to IDN, the so-called "G-8," an alliance of the IDN and seven other factions, was dissolved, as a direct reaction to the return of Bejarano to the PRD, a lamentable development these and other factions opposed.

AMLO visiting United States: Los Angeles June 12

If you´re in the Los Angeles area on the coming Sunday, June 12 and feel like seeing AMLO, he'll be there - as far as I know his first trip to the United States.

Best comment yet on arrest of Jorge Hank Rhon

There have been a few biting commentaries on the recent arrest of Jorge Hank Rhon (e.g. Alejandro Encinas' changing "político pobre, pobre político" to "político armado, pobre político"), though my favorite so far is that of PRI deputy Jorge Rojo, in its sheer involuntary confessional beauty of Hank´s ties:

"It is unacceptable that a month before the elections in Mexico State the campaign of  Eruviel Ávil is being hit and the political career of the current Mexican governor discredited."[italics added]

Amen!

Wikileaks on Jorge Hank Rhon, cable 09TIJUANA709

From La Jornada, which is keeping an excellent tab on Wikileaks revelations big and small related to Mexico:

"It is widely believed that Hank was a corrupt mayor and is still involved with drug trafficking."
- U.S. diplomatic cable on Jorge Hank Rhon

88 guns of Jorge Hank Rhon: Like arresting Al Capone for tax evasion

Forty long-barrel rifles, 48 guns, 70 ammo clips, 9,298 bullets, and a tear gas grenade, all stored in his house. That is the official reason former Tijuana mayor Jorge Hank Rhon, and ten others,  was apprehended by the Mexican army.

Even Shakira was a casualty, it appears; she was slated to give a private concert to the "businessman" Jorge Hank Rhon, whose corruption and shady dealings are likely only surpassed by that of his father, Carlos Hank González, former Mexico State governor and a key member of the Grupo Atlacomulco that for decades have dominated politics in Mexico State.

The arrest of Hank Rhon certainly made an impact on the current campaign to become the next governor of Mexico State; campaign staff of Eruviel Ávila Villegas, the PRI's candidate, was quick to distance himself from Hank. The most vacuous comment I've seen so far came from current Edomex governor Enrique Peña Nieto: "I have no more facts to give any different view than the invariable position of the party."

So was it politically motivated, or simply triggered by what appears to be a criminal offense? Clearly these are not mutually exclusive. As an El Universal editorial notes, "It is difficult to find anyone with a darker past." The obvious parallel to his arrest, ostensibly for illegal weapons, is nailing Al Capone for tax evasion. Regardless: As a strike against the perennial impunit plaguing Mexico, the arrest of Jorge Hank Rhon is truly wonderful news.

Oaxaca: Students will finally have their teachers back

After almost two weeks of demonstrations, the "dissident" Sección 22 of the SNTE teachers union (dissident in the sense that it opposes the national leadership of SNTE leader Elba Esther Gordillo), returned to the class rooms today, Monday. In one of Mexico's absolute poorest states, with educational attainment at rock bottom, the teachers left the 1.4 million or so students without a teacher for almost two weeks - all the time collecting their salary.

Yet the protests - which included the occupation of government buildings, public squares, TV and radio stations, and highway toll booths - are not yet officially over, only in "recess."

It's quite ironic that the perennial bad wolf of SNTE, appears to have accepted an obligatory evaluation program of Mexico's teachers, to be held every three years, something the Sección 22 adamantly opposes.

Oaxaca's business sectors reported losses of about 12 billion pesos so far due to Sección 22's teachers (and far from all are; many merely collect their pay yet dedicate themselves to "organizational work" such as the recent strikes) since 2006.

Also of note: Not once in the last 28 years have the teachers actually fulfilled their professional duties to teach the full 200 days per academic year.

PRD offers to have all its candidates certified as free of narco-connections

Jesús Zambrano and Dolores Padierna, the PRD's (Partido de la Revolución Democrática) president and secretary general respectively, handed over a list to the Mexican Federal attorney general's office  of all their candidates for the upcoming state elections, in Coahuila, Nayarit, Mexico State and Hidalgo, asking that the PGR certify then as having no connections to any drug trafficking gangs.

The PGR responded it is beyond its powers and rejected the petition - but quite likely a useful publicity stunt, nonetheless.

Drama in Nayarit: Bullets fly in PRI's and PRD's campaign headquarters

It is hard to imagine the Nayarit gubernatorial campaign in Nayarit heating up further: Armed men entered the hotel in Tepeic where both PRI and PRD have their campaign headquarters, where after a 5-minute shootout they kidnapped a so far unidentified person. Jesús Ortega, former PRD president and now head of the PRD campaign in Nayarit, was at the hotel and tweeted about the shootout as it happened. 

PRD's gubernatorial candidate Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo also suspended campaigning in the Ruiz municipality upon recommendation from his staff. 

Mexican church rallies behind Enrique Peña Nieto

The Mexican Episcopal Conference (Conferencia del Episcopado Mexicano) which is not a conference at all but the official leadership organization of the Mexican Catholic church, deemed the government of Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico State to have been "successful" and one of the best state administrations of Mexico, according to "statistics."

What statistics? Mexico State is an absolute an utter disaster, and the few gains made under Peña Nieto's administration pale compared to to brutal rises in vital statistics such as crime, murders, and unemployment, as detailed recently by e.g. IMCO and COPARMEX.

Yet since when has the top hierarchy of the Mexican catholic church ever been interested in facts?

Roberto Borge, new Quintana Roo, already caught lying

Roberto Borge, the new PRI governor of Quintana Roo, has already been caught lying: He claimed that he was off last weekend to the national conference of governors, Conago (Conferencia Nacional de Gobernadores), but it appears he rather went to Europe for the Champions League Final.

As Joaquín López-Dóriga puts it, "A bad start."