PRD internal battle update, in mercifully brief,bullet-point form

* After Alejandro Encinas made it clear he would follow AMLO on his "leave of absence," from the PRD, AMLO made it clear that "these are times of definitions, and the same applies to Encinas."

* AMLO said if Encinas will not join his "movement" lead a PT-Convergencia candidacy, another candidate will replace him.

* Encinas has declared that it would be up to the party organs to decide who the candidate will be. Will that also include respecting the outcome of the upcoming citizen poll on the alliances?

* Twenty-eight out 32 state branches of the PRD rallied around national party president Jesús Ortega, demanding respect for the decisions of its national council.

* Many state branches openly criticized AMLO's complete lack of respect for the decisions of said organs; the Oaxacan PRD went as far as to call AMLO a "traitor and a defamer" for his recent actions.

* The IDN faction, led by the infamous Bejarano-Padierna couple, said it would take the PRD to the TEPJF electoral tribunal for breaking the party statutes - quite ironic given that if there is any corriente within the PRD which does exactly as it pleases and ignores votes it loses, its the IDN.

* IDN, which like AMLO always seem to know what "the people" want, said it would not participate in the planned vote over the possible PAN-PRD alliance. Why bother actually asking the people?

* Jesús Ortega, PRD leader, asked, "Do you remember the famous Juanito of Iztapalapa? You can't treat Alejandro Encinas this way. Or anyone.... this is symptomatic of authoritarian behavior. You cannot say that, 'I am the State,' 'I am the party,' 'I am the truth' - it is not like that in politics. He should calm down."

* And finally, perhaps the most newsworthy item: Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas declared, during the presentation-promotion of his recent book (more on that later), that AMLO should "take charge of the party, of the designation of a candidate for the governorship of Mexico State, and of designating a presidential candidate for 2012," in order to avoid a party rupture. The proposal is so unrealistic it that for now I'll leave it without comments.

* Asked about 2012, Cárdenas responded, "I don't know what I will do in 2012."

PRI to move HQ to Michoacán: Push for wresting the state from the PRD

The president-elect of PRI, Humberto Moreira, announced that starting on July 4 (the day after the crucial election in Mexico State, and to a lesser degree Nayarit and Coahuila), the PRI's will move and take up camp in Morelia, Michoacán, ahead of that state's gubernatorial election the coming Nov. 13.

This represents quite a shift from that of outgoing PRI leader Beatriz Paredes, who was accused of neglecting the Michoacán PRI in favor of other states and regions. Clearly, Moreira now thinks the PRI has a chance of taking the state, whose elections will be the last in 2011, and the last before the presidential election in 2012. It's significance is obvious: Michoacán is not only the home state of President Felipe Calderón; it is also very much the "cradle" of the PRD, certainly of cardenismo and neocardenismo, and winning Michoacán would be a hugely significant boost for the PRI and a blow to the left.

Yet in spite of Moreira's hopes, I don't see that happening.