Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Oaxaca to plant 30 million trees. Gabino Cué delivers.

Via The Mexico Institute, here's finally some English-language of Oaxaca's progressive governor Gabino Cué, published in the Miami Herald:
"There were no computers," he recalled. "We found that the staff payroll didn't match who actually was working. ... The bank statements were out of balance. The state automotive fleet was in terrible shape."On his way out the door, outgoing PRI Gov. Ulises Ruiz installed dozens of loyalists in state jobs with union protection even though they had no jobs to perform, Cue said. Ruiz also offered gifts to key allies, among them the head of the state electoral commission, for unexplained "services rendered."
On the topic of Cué, whose government so far has seem notably intent on delivering on his campaign promises, the governor launched the state's Comité Estatal de Prevención y Combate de Incendios Forestales, or committee to prevent and fight forest fires, and declared that Oaxaca would plant 10 million trees in 2011 - Cué attributed the low figure to unexpected adminsitrative difficulties (see above) - yet that a notable 30 million trees would be planted in 2012. Change to believe in? Hopefully these news will be picked up in English-language media; the state-level initiatives to combat deforestation remains an untold tale (and something I hope to work on the coming fall).

Don Samuel Ruíz, continued

Another excellent obituary of Don Samuel Ruíz Garcia, entitled, "The Inconvenient Bishop," by Salvador García Soto of El Universal:
"Inconvenient to the Mexican Catholic curia, with whom he disagreed in order to lead a life not full of luxury or excess, like most bishops, but by opting for the disadvantaged and not the rich and powerful, to which almost all the Catholic leader are so inclineds. Also uncomfortable to the Vatican and the Roman curia, who tried and was about to remove him from the diocese of San Cristobal in 1993, when Girolamo Prigione, in his crusade against the "rebel or social" bishops, " he poisoned the hierarchies of Roma, who opened a trial and accused him of "excessive politicization."
As the Vatican rushes to lavish praise on  Samuel Ruíz, let's not forget that the upper clergy, in particular in Mexico, absolutely loathed him. What a badge of honor

Guerrero elections: PAN candidate declines in favor of Ángel Aguirre Rivero,

Some notable news from Guerrero: PAN gubernatorial candidate Marcos Efrén Parra announced that he would decline in favor of the left coalition candidate Ángel Aguirre Rivero, who most polls have ahead PRI-candidate Manuel Añorve Baños. I am not sure that this is an automatic gain for Aguirre - polls had Aguirre at the exact same percentage, 51 percent to 43, even if Parra would decline. But clearly, for Aguirre and the PRD-PT-Convergencia coalition, this is welcome news.
And I don't think it was merely a "personal decision" of Parra - even though his action was ostensibly due to Aguirre's incorporation of several of his proposals - a migrants institute, and a bank for women - into his platform.