AMLO's red herring

AMLO proclaims that in 2012, his electoral movement will have more people covering ballot boxes than ever before, in order to avoid a fraud and an outcome as in 2006, "when they falsified the things."

I find this quite a red herring, for several reasons., Most obvious, five and a half years later, there is NO EVIDENCE AT ALL of a widespread and systematic fraud at the ballot boxes in 2006. But there's more:

1) It assumes that as long as AMLO's coalition doesn't have any representative at the ballot box, this will automatically lead to a fraud, meaning, not only would all the other party representatives be in on the fraud, but also the local electoral representatives responsible for the ballot station and the citizen representatives chosen by double-blind ballot to oversee the election. This is an enormous leap of (lack of) faith, especially as there is no evidence that this really has happened on anything close to a wide and systematic scale.

2) In 2006, AMLO insisted on using his "Citizen Networks" as ballot box observers, in many places even displacing the PRD, yet on election day many didn't show up. If there truly was fraud due to a lack of AMLO representatives, he is to blame himself for this. When will we hear any self criticism for this?

3) If there truly was fraud in 2006 at the ballot boxes - that e.g. the local representatives colluded with the other parties to remove ballots from the boxes, etc - how could this ever be proven? That is, if this is how the supposed fraud of 2006 was carried out, no recount would ever make the slightest difference.

For sure: It is very important that AMLO's coalition does manage to have representatives, as they are allowed to by law, at every station. But in order to avoid the errors of 2006 in 2012, more than a bit of self criticism is here in order.

Last-minute entrant for Dick-of-the-Year award: Extorting the poor

Yet another contestant: Juan Ignacio Yáñez Yaber, a promoter for the anti-poverty program Oportunidades in Mexico City. In the Ixtapalapa delegation, Yáñez was just caught on tape, in a sting operation, demanding 5,000 pesos as a bribe to sign up eligible participants for the program.

Trafficking in poverty to abuse and extort people of few resources in order to have them added to a program they are entitled to? It's a strong last-minute contestant for Dick-of-the-Year award.

(National Coordinator Salvador Escobedo of Oportunidades promises zero tolerance for such criminal acts, and  there is, in a sense, a positive spin to it - it should not surprise that functionaries try to seek bribes; what is notable is that in this case, they actually got caught for it).

Tiger in the street. Yes, a tiger.

This short news piece from Saltillo, Coahuila is just worthy of being translated in its entirety:

Deborah, a Bengal tiger was found roaming the streets at night of the Colonia República Oriente, which caused a mobilization of police and civil protection. According to reports from the authorities, around midnight yesterday, a wild animal was said to roam the streets of the city, and police found Deborah in the intersection of Oaxaca and La Madrid, crouched in the bushes.The owner of Deborah, Richards Rodolfo de la Garza, said the animal took off after thieves opened the ​​250 square meters area where she was staying as they were committing a a robbery of his office located at 441 Calle Chiapas.

Peña Nieto's shot at speaking Nahuatl. A bad idea

Kudos for the attempt at showing the indigenous community in Huejutla, Hidalgo, some respect by attempting a line in Nahuatl, the "language of the Aztecs." But beyond the good intentions, it was a bad idea:

He ventured to give thanks in Nahuatl. However, he failed to say "thank you very much" (tlazkamati miaka), and instead said tlaxkali miaka ("many tortillas.")

Michoacán: Morelia elections annulled, possibly entire state elections

Mexico's electoral tribunal TEPJF's (specifically its regional branch in Toluca) annulled PRI's victory in the mayoral race held past month in the state capital Morelia.

The argument: The illegal live television coverage of campaign closing of gubernatorial candidate Fausto Vallejo, and a boxing match where one of the fighters wore shorts with PRI's logo - forbidden according to electoral rules.

Officially, difference between PRI's Wilfrido Lázaro Medina and PAN's Marko Cortés Mendoza was only 2000 votes, or 119, 941 to 122, 258. Now a rematch will need to be held.

PRI, as one may imagine, is not happy about the verdict, and strongly suggests pressure from president Calderón , who it notably took a month to recognize the victory of Vallejo as governor.

Now, given TEPJF's reasoning, the PRD demands annulling the entire state elections, pointing to narco interference but also that of President Calderón himself. PAN also demands the governor election cancelled. I really doubt that, as it would be quite extraordinary, but then again, we live in extraordinary times.

There is already one problem: Morelia will for sure need to run new elections, but they are not cheap - and the state electoral institute does not have money for another extraordinary election.

(On another note, the Archdiocese of Morelia comes out pretty strongly against the recent governments of the state, particularly that of Lázaro Cárdenas Batel (2001-07), essentially accusing him of not having been prepared at all for the job and exercised it poorly).

Death in apartment B19 ruled "suicide": Galina Chankova Chaneva and Niño Verde

25-year old Galina Chankova Chaneva was a young Bulgarian female who came to Mexico from Amsterdam on April 1, 2011. 24 hours Twelve hours later, she apparently decided to commit suicide from the 19th floor of a luxury apartment connected to the Mexican Green party and above all the "Niño Verde," Jorge Emilio González Martínez.

This, according to the state prosecutor of Quintana Roo, who just ruled that González had nothing to do with her death.

While plenty of reports suggested the apartment belonged to "Niño Verde," Elizabeth Regina Díaz appared as the presumed owner. She just happens to be the wife of his private secretary. As Reforma dryly summarizes,

"The Attorney stated that it was investigated whether  Díaz  was the "Niño Verde's prestanombres [strawman] strawmen, because this aspect was not part of the investigations."

Here is her picture, via Animal Político. A report from Terra.com strongly hints at human trafficking.

PAN "social worker" probably gets Dick-of-the-Year award

A last-minute dark-horse candidate in Mexico's Dick of the Year award: Carlos Talavera Leal, head of the important social program Oportunidades in Uruapan, Michoacán, who in public Facebook posts referred to poor indigenous women as "smelly" and that "hygiene is not for them."

Talavera is a member of PAN and was a supporter of the bid of president Calderón's sister to be governor of Michoacán a few weeks ago.

His contract with Oportunidades will not be renewed in January. That's something.

Update: He was also just fired for what remains of the year. And here, a screen shot of part of the Facebook page - it speaks for itself:

Guess which Mexican party laments the death of Kim Jong Il?

From the obituary:

The Workers' Party of Mexico regrets the death of our comrade Kim Jong Il, leader of the North Korean people, who with great wisdom who led the North Koreans on the path of peace and economic, political, social and cultural development.

A comrade of wisdom, indeed. This is truly preposterous.

Who murdered PRI's federal deputy?

Imagine the scenario: A U.S. congressman is abducted along with an assistant. They are found dead by farmers two weeks later, their bodies decomposing.

Two men are arrested and confess to the murder; they are are also in possession of a huge amount of cash that they declare was the payment for the hit job, and also provide them with cars. Their contractor, they say, was a mayor from the dead congressman's party.

How hard should it be to prove or disprove their story? How likely is it that the mayor would simply continue in office and that the investigation would pretty much come to a standstill?

This appears sadly to be the case in Guerrero, where PRI mayor Willy Reyes Ramos is signaled as the man behind the murder of PRI federal deputy Moisés Villanueva de la Luz. As El Universal reports, the murder remains unresolved, almost four months later.

AMLO documentary: "0.56% ¿Qué le pasó a México?"

The documentary "0.56% ¿Que le paso a México?" deals specifically with the 2006 elections, and was recently showed on Milenio TV. You can now see the the entire movie here on Youtube.

It's definitely more on the pro-AMLO side, but far less so than the ultra-propagandistic "Fraude," and therefore worth a watch. Quality is not superb, but more than decent.

PRD to choose 2012 Mexico City mayor candidate by poll - of sorts

The PRD will decide its 2012 candidate for Mexico City mayor by a poll, like it decided its 2012 presidential candidate. The poll will have efectos vinculantes or loosely "binding effects" on the PRD state council, which still holds the final word - which sounds a bit of a catch.

"External candidacies" will also be allowed - so as not to leave out Miguel Ángel Mancera, the attorney general and  increasingly rumored to be the favorite to succeed Ebrard, as well as the rather unlikely candidacy of Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, who left/was kicked out of the PRD more than a decade ago.

The candidate will be officially ratified Feb. 11 or 12, when the council is scheduled to meet to digest the result of the poll.


Now, off to filet migñon and copious amounts of tequila - happy christmas!

Unemployment in Mexico, 4.97 percent

President Calderón boasts on Twitter that unemployment in Mexico is 4.79 percent, "the lowest of the OECD countries." Well, as El Universal points out, and represented by this graph, that's still quite a bit more than when he came into power.

Enrique Krauze, by The Nation

Be sure to check out The Nation's take on Enrique Krauze and his new book in English, "Of Saints and Caudillos."

Love or hate him, or maybe somewhere just right in between, Krauze is one intellectual force to be reckoned with. The article, by Jorge Volpi, does an excellent job in explaining why.

Very recommended Economist 2011 Democracy Index report

A strongly recommended read is The Economist Intelligence Unit's report "Democracy Index 2011: Democracy under stress," which as its title indicates indexes the world's regime according to various factors (Electoral process and pluralism; Functioning of government; Political participation; Political culture; and Civil liberties) to determine, simply put, how democratic is each country in the world.

Download here.

Mexico's position is 50 - exactly the same as last year. It is immediately above such countries as Argentina, Bulgaria, and Croatia, and scores somewhat high in functioning of government, yet low in political culture. Mexico is also noted for deterioration in media freedom.

The report notes, for the region as a whole,

Flawed democracies are concentrated in Latin America and eastern Europe, and to a lesser extentin Asia. Despite progress in Latin American democratisation in recent decades, many countries in theregion remain fragile democracies. Levels of political participation are generally low and democraticcultures are weak. There has also been significant backsliding in recent years in some areas such asmedia freedoms.

The lowest score (167th place) of any country?
Hint: It is where Kim Jong went from ill to dead.

The highest score: Norway. Yes, I am proud.

PAN leaves the Clouthiers out in the cold

Manuel Clouthier, commonly known as "Maquío," was the PAN's 1988 presidential candidate, and a very decent man - he actively joined the possible yet defrauded winner Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas in denouncing the fraud, until his own party quieted him down and made deals with president-elect Carlos Salinas.

His family, from their stronghold in Sinaloa, has continued in politics (Maquio died in a mysterious car crash in 1989): Both his son Manuel and his daughter Tatiana have been active in the PAN.

Yet they have been highly critical of Calderón's armed onslaught against the drug cartels and the manner in which is being fought. That is likely the main cause why Manuel was recently rejected as a senate candidate for PAN for 2012, despite his very significant political weight in Sinaloa.

The fight has been long brewing with the PAN, and a break with this emblematic neopanista family with its party seems very imminent: Don't be surprised if in a few weeks we'll see Manuel Clouthier Carrillo as a candidate for AMLO's 2012 coalition. 

1.7 million houses left with dirt floors

As a recent editorial in El Universal points out, the Mexican government's program of piso firme, or hard floor, is of extreme importance: Where the program has implemented - that is, where the federal government has helped construct cement floors in poor houses - parasites have been reduced with 78 percent, diarrhea with 49, and anemia with 81 percent.

This as very real, and extremely important gains, as they particularly affect children.

There are 1.7 million houses left, and El Universal rightly calls for completing this project before the end of 2012. With Calderón increasingly eager to leave a "legacy" that goes beyond the utterly failed "drug war," here's at least one chance to leave a lasting mark.

Morelos: PAN governor's christmas present for himself

Marco Antonio Adame Castillo (PAN), despite making a hefty sum as Morelos governor, awarded himself an aguinaldo, essentially an extra month's pay as christmas bonus, of cool 300,000 pesos.

That's about 22 times more than that of a worker in his government.

Adame explained he would use the bonus for "family development."

I am sure he will.

Jorge Emilio "Niño Verde" González and the dead Bulgarian in Cancún

Jorge Emilio González Martínez, until recently president of the Mexican "Green" party PVEM (after succeeding his father in this sultanistic enterprise which is not a Green party as we know them elsewhere), is an utterly failed "politician" who have absolutely no interest in politics, ideology, or programs, as has been amply demonstrated by his, to put it mildly, undistinguished trajectory in public service.

His world is the world of holidays to Disneyland and New York City, sports clubs, extreme consumption, and partying. He is most recently in deep trouble for exactly the latter, after a party that was held in his huge luxury department in Cancún, where a young Bulgarian woman, Galina Chankova Chaneva, "fell from a window" this past April. As investigative reporter Lydia Cacho has confirmed, González tried to kill the story and denied it was even his apartment, yet Cacho states that he was indeed present, and called the governor of Quintana Roo to try to quiet the whole affair down.

Regardless: Now PRI, in "partial alliance" with the PVEM (which means that in some of the 300 single-member districts of Mexico, they will field common candidates, as well as for some Senate seats), has the guts to put forth Jorge Emilio González as its candidate for Senate for Quintana Roo, paired with ex governor Félix González Canto, reportedly under investigation for corruption.

Even Jesús Martínez, who was the first governor of the state in 1975 (it only became a state in 1974), has come out against the alliance, which he calls "shameful." Other members of PRI have also criticized the proposed candidacy, pointing out that González, once nicknamed the "Green Kid," a term now used ironically, is more famous for scandals and corruption than his legislative achievements.

One thing bears pointing out: If elected to the senate, both the Gonzálezes would have six years of immunity for prosecution.

AMLO's future cabinet: Ebrard as Interior Secretary, de la Fuente, Education

AMLO is taken the time and liberty to declare the names of desired members of his future cabinet:

Marcelo Ebrard, Interior secretary
Juan Ramón de la Fuente, Education secretary
Rogelio Ramírez de la O, Finance secretary.

Very, very solid names. Quite bold to declare them in this manner and not without risks, but might very well pull in some votes.

Cherán votes to ditch elections in favor of "usos y costumbre"

The village of Cherán in Michoacán, where its mainly Purépecha indigenous inhabitants have since March taken up arms against illegal loggers and organized crime, and in the process kicked out its PRI mayor, voted  two days ago to  ditch elections, in favor of the system of "usos y costumbres" used chiefly in indigenous areas in Oaxaca, and in a few areas in Sonora.

Usos y costumbres are a traditional and pre-hispanic - and mightily complicated - means of selecting leadership and solving conflicts. Yet they are not without their critics. There is often no semblance of a secret vote, and often women are left out of the equation, as office holders as well as voters.

Cherán is the only municipality to introduce them in Michoacán, after a roughly 4841-500 vote that was recognized by the state electoral institute. Yet as much as Cherán's anger with political parties unable to solve their problems is understandable, I don't really see the usos y costumbres as a panacea for anything.

I will be off to Paracho the coming days, the "world capital of guitars," to by me a nice Vihuela, and hope to stop by Cherán, unless the situation is too tense.

In this Cristiada-mass time... Grabman's Gorostieta and the Cristiada

Many of us are awaiting with dread the new movie "Cristiada," about the 1926-9 conflict, an armed uprising of catholics against a strongly anti-clerical Mexican state.

Dread, because it appears the this will be a very distorted and pro-cristero portrayal of reality - in other words, a very political movie, yet of the reactionary kind. The trailer for the movie strongly suggests so: To dramatic images of churchgoers being massacred, we are told that "When the government outlawed faith... the faithful became outlaws." Oh, dear. "Based on a true story," the trailer boldly claims. One might add, "Only the facts have been changed to protect the innocent."

For a quick, entertaining, enlightening, and, most importantly, even-handed read on the Cristiada and particularly Enrique Gorostieta Velarde, a general hired to be the leader of the rebellion, I recommend Richard Grabman's Gorostieta and the Cristiada: Mexico's Catholic Insurgency 1926-1929. It proves a quick and accessible overview and background to the event, and seeks to hone in on Gorostieta himself  - a highly ambitions army officer that, irony of ironies, had long been considered an anti-clerical and possibly atheist. Keep that thought in mind as you watch the trailer. Yet what motivated him to join the rebellion, then? For one good and highly readable attempt at answering this question, which appears to have been the author's motivation, you can check out Grabman's book.

It is a very useful antidote to what appears to be a very, very flawed film, whenever it will be released.

(available now as an e-book here, or here, it costs less than a beer)

Art. 24 reform: Everyone's going overboard, especially La Jornada journalists

Where to begin: Two days ago, the Chamber of Deputies approved the reform to Article 24 of the constitution that will now allow religious organizations to carry out acts of worship in public, rather than being restricted only to religious houses of worship, according to existing legislation.

The change has elicited many strong reactions, and understandably so. Given the historic role of the church in Mexico, as well as its often pernicious influence on current politics (many of them noted in this blog), one should be wary of anything resembling an attack on the secular state in Mexico.

Already, strongly secular PRI senators such as  Francisco Labastida and María de los Ángeles Moreno said they will vote against the legislation when it comes to the senate.

Yet as far as I can see, the main reasons why the PRI, PAN, and most of PRD voted in favor for the legislation was simply for Mexico to abide by its international obligations stemming from having signed the San José Agreement on Human Rights. Pro-secular NGOs, however, are worried that the legislation means far more than this.

Let that debate continue.

Yet here the nuttiness starts. La Jornada on its front page declares that the Chuchos, or the social democratic wing of the PRD (long known for its pro-secular attitude, pro grays, pro women, pro abortion, etc), agreed to vote for the legislation in return for Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo, a federal deputy and member of the chuchos or (more formally Nueva Izquirda) presiding the Chamber of Deputies for the coming legislative session. The claim is repeated ad nauseam in a rash of articles in the newspaper by the same two journalists, Roberto Garduño and Enrique Méndez, such as here and here. .

But where is the evidence that this is the case, other than the claims of a few of their PRD and PT fellow legislators who merely say that is so?

I've said it before: La Jornada, once a highly venerable, respected, extremely important newspaper, is becoming a caricature of itself due to its ridiculous biases and distortions of reality: You can't repeat as "fact" a highly incendiary claim just because you are opposed politically to the group stating it. 
Seriously. At no point do they even mention the San José agreements, but merely throw in the PRD group in what they call "attack on the secular state." There's more than a bit of irony here: Where was La Jornada, when gay groups, human rights group, pro choice groups, women rights group, etc, were pleading with AMLO in 2006 to take up their cause, as he had promised, in his presidential campaign? When AMLO personally blocked the vote on gay unions as Mexico City mayor? Not a word from La Jornada, which from the early 2000s on appeared more an AMLO mouthpiece (or EZLN, depending on the conjuncture), than the  serious newspaper it once was.

Speaking of nutty journalists: Some "catholic reporters" - unclear from what newspaper - brought with them a priest to "bless" the press room. Yes, to bless the Chamber of Deputies press room.

And of course, the criminal thugs of the Mexico Archdiocese - criminal in their numerous cover-ups of child-raping priests and pedophiles on all levels  - could not resist the temptation to use their favorite word, the F-word.

F for Fascist. Hugo Valdemar Romero, the spokesperson of sorts for the church, said in response to critics of the legislation that "it is incomprehensible that some parties of a fascist style continue to view this as a violation of the Constitution, as a violation of the secular state."

Leave it to Valdemar, who have always gleefully enjoyed pouring gasoline on fire,  to tack the label "fascist" to democratic political parties. Self-projection, much?

14 months late, Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) complete

It's about damn time. At last, the Chamber of deputies came to an agreement to appoint, with the required 2/3 majority, the last three IFE councilors ahead of 2012. None voted against; a handful of PT legislators abstained.

They are:
* Sergio García Ramírez, former attorney general, and judge at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

* María Marván Laborde, Ph.D from New School, now with the federal IFAI (institute for access to information and data protection)

* Lorenzo Córdova Vianello, Ph.D, law expert and researcher at UNAM.

This is excellent new, met with near unison approval from the various legislative leaders, as well as IFE president Leonardo Valdés. It's embarrassing, though, that it took the Chamber so long to get to this, and only under intense pressure from the federal electoral tribunal (TEPJF).

IFE squashes a horrid proposal from two of its councilors

Marco Antonio Baños and Alfredo Figueroa Mantuvo, IFE councilors both, proposed to IFE's general council that IFE should extend its authority to monitor opinion programs in the media to make sure the treatment of political candidates of the shows are "equitable."

Thankfully, IFE squashed the initiative, which strikes me as truly insane, and far beyond the mere practical details of deciding what is "equitable" treatment of candidtes: What on earth makes them think that IFE is entitled to decide what is "fair" treatment in the media? It is hard to think of a similar extreme and truly frightening attempt at overreach with authoritarian overtones.

While Marco Antonio Baños is known for his erratic behavior, I expected differently from Alfredo Figueroa, who I found to be a very reasonable man when I interviewed him for an hour a little while back.

Both are considered very close to the PRI, despite the nonsense of IFE councilors supposedly having no party sympathies. Yet for them to try to turn IFE into an organ exercising editorial control of political programs on television - I actually did hold that to be beneath them.

Peña Nieto is not the lady of the house, we now know.

There is something truly pathetic about playing the victim when you screw up like Enrique Peña Nieto has done very publicly the past days. It is also a sign things aren't going your way. Why not at least try to laugh it off, and show that he is not just the scripted puppet incapable of independent thinking and improvisation that his opponents accuse him of being?

Yet Peña Nieto instead plays the victim, and even suggesting there might be more "inaccuracies" in the future.

Word.

He then preceded to not know the minimum wage in Mexico nor the price of a kilo of tortillas nor the price of a kilo of meat, responding that "I am not the lady of the house."

Yes, because only women buy tortillas and meat.

Quote of the day: Carlos Fuentes on Enrique Peña Nieto,

Fuentes dixit:

"This señor has the right not to read me. What he has not the right to be is president of Mexico due to his ignorance, this is what is serious. Not that he has not read a book of mine, but that he shows his ignorance. He is a very ignorant man."

The dead students in Guerrero

It seems prudent to withhold judgment on who is to blame for what happened in Guerrero two days ago. What is abundantly clear is that it should never have happened in the first place: Two students dead and more than a dozen wounded following a highway protest.

It was hardly the first time students from the Ayotzinapa teacher school in Guerrerohave been blocking the Autopista del Sol, the highway running from Mexico City to Acapulco, Guerrero. Yet it is the first time it turned deadly: "Someone" - state police, federal police, provocateurs - fired upon students and graduates of Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos who were demanding reuctions in tuition as well as guaranteed teaching jobs after graduation.

Dramatic videos have been released by the Guerrero state government, eager to put the blame on federal police, that also clearly seems to show the students torching a PEMEX gas station.

Yet the federal police have responded forcefully, claiming rather that the shots were fired by Guerrero state police in civilian clothing.

Governor Ángel Aguirre Rivero fired his attorney general, Alberto López Rosas, as it became clear that it contrary to his early claims, video recordings showed that the state police was fully armed. Aguirre also fired the secretary and sub secretary of public security, Ramón Almonte Borja and general Ramón Arreolaos respectively, to "facilitate the investigation."

Students who torch a gas station can hardly be expected to treated with kid gloves. I would never defend what appears to be, from the video images released, the beating and kicking of captured students, though it should also be pretty clear that if you block a highway and then torch a gas station with Molotov cocktails, the encounter with the police is not likely to be pretty.

But gunning down students - firing your guns at a civilian crowd that in no case appears to be a physical threat to the safety of the officers - is a criminal act for which the guilty parties, whoever they are, must be made to pay. This should never have had to come to this.

Leonel Cota, after a 360 turn, does another turn - back with AMLO

One of the more unprincipled and opportunist characters in Mexican politics, Leonel Cota Montaño, is now back in AMLO's fold, the former governor of Baja California Sur apparently seeking a seat at the federal Chamber of Deputies.

This is the same Cota who was once a member of a far left Trotskyist outfit, then joined PRI, then ditched it in 1999, then became pliant and handpicked  PRD president 2005-08 under AMLO, then left the party, seeking candidacies with 1) The Green Party, 2) PANAL, and 3) back to.... PRI!

They all rejected him.

Even AMLO reproached him for this.

And now, appearing at the Movimiento Ciudadano's candidate registry as a re-re-re invented AMLO loyalist, attacking PRD under the leadership of interim president Acosta Naranjo and then Ortega, 2008-11, for having abandoned AMLO, and even accused the PRD of having taken advantage of AMLO in 2006.

Such brazen rewriting and distortion of very recent history must really assume that people truly have no memory.

René Bejarano, he's like the wind

The powerful René Bejarano, head of various clienteles of pseudo-social movements and a long-time collaborator of AMLO, said he will keep a very low profile so as not "damage" the 2012 presidential candidate.

Rather, Bejarano says, he "will be like the wind, felt but not seen."


Many will remember Bejarano from the 2004 video scandals. He spent a time in jail while his wife Dolores Padierna became nominal head of his party faction within the PRD, the IDN.

The mafioso-like utterance aside, for the sake of AMLO's reputation, and to be sure, for that of the PRD, let's hope he sticks to his word.

AMLO registers, PRD left out in the cold

This Friday, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) registered, in three separate events, with the three parties that are carrying his candidacy as presidential candidate in 2012. He even color coordinated his ties: Yellow for PRD, orange for Movimiento Ciudadano, and red for the Workers Party (PT).

Yet the three events were markedly different. For the PRD event, the party to which AMLO technically still belongs - though the past years he has been busy campaigning for its opponents on the left - the ambiance was quite austere. Reportedly AMLO had asked for a low-key event, and in any case, there were significant absences - not Ebrard or Cárdenas, or Jesús Ortega or Héctor Bautista, heads of NI and ADN respectively, two major party factions long critical of AMLO's influence over and effects upon the PRD. Nor Armando Ríos Piter and Carlos Navarrete, heads of the PRD's legislative groups.

And no wonder - just days ago it became clear that NI and ADN were practically excluded from his campaign team, which includes very few people from PRD in general. It read essentially as a who-is-who from 2006, leaving the team from the last presidential contest virtually intact.

AMLO now called for unity - hardly a moment too soon, having been the biggest source of controversy, disunity, and internal fights for the past five years in the PRD. Party President Jesús Zambrano did his part, calling for "Viva López Obrador!" at the event, which was very much an act of protocol compared with the other two - MC and PT - with thousands of attendees, music, and general festivities. AMLO even showed up there with his entire family, four children and spouse Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller.

AMLO's love and peace, in short, does not appear to be extended toward his critics in the PRD.

In that sense, nothing appears to have changed.

Calderón gets specific on narco interference in elections

Having warned several times in speeches and pronunciations this week of the infiltration of the narcos in Mexico's elections, it was about time for Calderón to get specific, and yesterday he did: According to the president, in the state of Michoacán, candidates in 50 municipalities were forced down by the narco. Notably, they were from all three parties - Enrique Peña Nieto had complained earlier that Calderón was targeting the PRI for electoral purposes.

Here is a graphic from Milenio:

Milenio

PAN's candidates get destructive

It's getting nasty. Ernesto Cordero, who is at least to me the most unlikable PAN precandidate in recent memory, launched a full-frontal attack on his party comrade  Josefina Vázquez Mota, dismissing her role as leader of the PAN's parliamentary group. He also said she didn't know anything about "public policies." Vázquez Mota in return launched an equally harsh attack, claiming Cordero didn't do a good job at the secretariat of Social Development, and blaming him for the rise in poverty in Mexico. Ouch! What a back-fire type of attack, as it most implicitly is an attack on the Calderón government's policies.

Cordero even accused her of "lying."

Less than 7 months left, and nasty infighting increasing among PAN's candidate, at a time when both PAN and PRI has a clearly defined candidate - it is hard to think of a worse starting position ahead of 2012.

The Guardian on U.S. guns in Mexico

While there is nothing particularly new in the report, the Guardian's backgrounder take on U.S. guns being smuggled to Mexico is absolutely worth the read, as it is an excellent, succinct summary and a good update for many.

Greg Sánchez now wants to be a senator

Gregorio "Greg" Sánchez, remember him? He was gubernatorial candidate in Quintana Roo in 2010, but was arrested by federal authorities on accusations of links to organized crime and for illicit enrichment.
Last August he was released from prison, though charges have apparently still not been dropped.

He notably spent the time writing 125 hymns to the lord - why of course, Greg is also a preacher and a born-again christian.

And now.. he wants to be a senator from Quintana Roo, running on the label of the Workers Party, the PT, which apparently backs his bid, as does AMLO.

Indeed the lord does move in mysterious ways.

Two out of three ain't bad: Ebrard's approval rating

The approval rating of Mexico City mayor is, according to an El Universal poll, 66 percent. In fact, the mayor has never been more popular. What a pity AMLO bested him for the 2012 candidacy - this is truly a politician with broad appeal.

Peña Nieto and the bible

Enrique Peña Nieto's failure to even name three books that have "shaped him" has gotten a lot of attention, and rightly so. Jesús Ortega, leader of the social democratic faction Nueva Izquierda within the PRD, has a notable take on the book Peña Nieto did mention as having inspired him, the christian bible:

Is it of any significance for the country that the bible is the primary book for Peña Nieto and the other candidates for President of the Republic? Of course it is, and in my opinion in a negative sense.

I understand that for someone who aspires to be a minister, any theological text is certainly indispensable for their vocational education and training and morale. or any rabbi, deep knowledge of the Torah is essential, for the ayatollahs the full knowledge and even memorization of the Qur'an is essential and, in the same way, to Catholic bishops or ministers Christians, the bible must be the essential text for preaching. 

Yet for the head of state of a secular, democratic republic of law, while the study of the Bible (or other dogmatic books) may be useful and even necessary, but not the primary and basic sustenance of one's knowledge and learning in order exercise one's political responsibilities. 

For Peña Nieto, for López Obrador or whoever is the PAN candidate, it is more recommended and required to know Rousseau's Social Contract, Machiavelli's The Prince, and The Declaration of the Rights of Man, and if they want to know something of caciques and and caudillos, it is pertinent to read Pedro Páramo, The Tyrant Banderas, or the Shadow of the Tyrant.

PRI sector seek to give Moreira immunity - a telling sign

The PRI's Confederación Nacional de Organizaciones Populares (CNOP), a corporatist leftover from its golden days and headed by party hack Emilio Gamboa Patrón, expressed support for an elected office for disgraced ex party leader Humberto Moreira, who may well be facing legal prosecution soon.

So to reiterate: Rather than letting Moreira face the accusations and prove himself innocent and clear his name, PRI wants to have Moreira elected federal deputy or senator, which offers legal immunity for persecution - admitting, ipso facto, that there is hardly no smoke without fire, and that Moreira truly has much to hide.

New Cardinal of Guadalajara, Francisco Robles Ortega

Francisco Robles Ortega was appointed new cardinal of Guadalajara, following the retirement of Juan Sandoval Iñiguez, who has held the position since Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo was infamously murdered at the Guadalajara airport in 1994, under still murky circumstances.

Robles has been archbishop of Monterrey for the past 12 years. I might have to eat my own words, but he cannot possibly be a worse appointment than Sandoval - one of the meanest, darkest, most extreme fanatics the church has seen in recent times, who held the position since

Beatriz Paredes, PRI's candidate for Mexico City mayor in 2012

It's been long known that former PRI president Beatriz Paredes Rangel has had her eyes on her party's nomination to be the mayor of Mexico City, and yesterday she came out and officially declared her intentions.

Note that she ran as well in 2006 against Ebrard, when she came in third.

Ironically, given PAN's difficulties in finding a decent candidate, it seems that its 2012 candidate will be Demetrio Sodi, who also ran in 2006 and then came in second.

Ebrard, as the rumor mill has it, is going back and forth between Mario Delgado and Miguel Mancera - secretary of education and attorney general of Mexico City, respectively.

The priceless tweet

From the twittering classes: Pure genius.

"Carlos Fuentes' book The Eagle's Throne 235 pesos. A bottle of gel, 45 pesos. Your daughter ruining your campaign in 140 characters.... PRICELESS."


("Libro de Carlos Fuentes “La Silla del Águila” $235, bote de gel $45, que tu hija arruine tu campaña en 140 caracteres… NO TIENE PRECIO.")

Picture of the day: Enrique Peña Nieto

H/T: Tim Johnson

Peña Nieto's "Foxazo"

Sure, it can happen to everyone: Confuse one's two favorite authors.

During his participation as a speaker at the International Book Fair in Guadalajara, Enrique Peña Nieto, the PRI candidate for president of Mexico, confused the authors and forgot the titles of the books that have "left a mark" on his life...

For several minutes the priista tried to remember more titles, but could not and  even sought help from his handlers.

The moreirazo: New president of PRI is senator Coldwell

After a weary-looking Humberto Moreira stepped down as PRI leader yesterday, after only nine stormy months on the job,  the PRI's big shots simply "decided" that the new party president will be Pedro Joaquín Coldwell. He is a senator from Quintana Roo, where he was governor before being secretary of tourism 90-93 for Carlos Salinas.

Secretary general Cristina Díaz was sworn in as interim president, but it will be just that - Coldwell will replace her soon.

Ernesto Cordero, on his quixotic quest for the PAN nomination, notably wanted his part of the credit - "I was the first to accuse him!"

PAN and PRD are not content with his mere renunciation, given the Coahuila debt and likely fraud scandal. PAN warned PRI to not give Moreira a senate or deputy seat, which would grant him immunity for persecution.

AMLO's 2012 campaign coordinator: Ricardo Monreal

AMLO has chosen Ricardo Monreal as his 2012 campaign coordinator.

Monreal is an AMLO unconditional. He was a lifelong PRI member who bailed the party in 1998 when he failed to get the PRI nomination to be governor of Zacatecas. AMLO recruited him and he won the state for the PRD.
In 2008, now as a senator, he left the PRD's legislative group to join the senate group of the Partido del Trabajo (PT), a party wholly subservient to AMLO.

Humberto Moreira renounces

Humberto Moreira renounced as president of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI).

As I noted yesterday, it was time for him to count his days after Peña Nieto spoke out against him.

Specifically, one day.

Time for PRI's president Moreira to count his days

Enrique Peña Nieto, PRI's presidential candidate, said that the debt and possible fraud scandals in Coahuila under the watch of national PRI president Humberto Moreira Valdés have "worn down" the party.

With Peña Nieto now dropping the ball on Moreira, it seems to me it is time for the PRI president to count his days on the job.

Misiones de Shaddai: Yet another charlatan sect comes apart in Chiapas

Southern Mexico and Chiapas in particular is notorious for the many religious sects preying on the poor. Misiones de Shaddai is one of them. Its leader Darinel López Toledo was arrested this weekend for exploitation, including minors, after having recruited them to work at the mission's banana plantation for a pittance:

The detainee is accused of "hooking" those poor and of low income with the promise of jobs, housing and food, and forced them to do exhausting days in exchange for a payments of 25 pesos a day. In his ministerial statements, one of the victims who escaped the building in the ejido Congregación Reforma de Tapachula said that López Toledo approached low-income families with the idea of ​​"reaching the word of God."

May this criminal charlatan spend a long time behind bars.