Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The disastrous misrule of Emilio González Márquez, governor of Jalisco

Admittedly we are talking about an impartial source here; the study is made by the PRD of Jalisco, an ardent opponent of the ultra-reactionary government of Emilio González .

Yet the report, put together by federal PRD deputies from Jalisco, is primarily based on reputable sources, including quantifiable indicators of e.g. health, education, crime, the environment, economic competitiveness, and unemployment and offers a very damning picture of González Márquez' government.

With a play on words, it is entitled, El desgobierno en Jalisco: Las verdaderas cifras, or the Misrule of Jalisco: The real figures. It is well worth your time.

Direct link for pdf download here.
Direct link for annoying flash presentation here.

It's official: Josefina Vázquez Mota wants to be presidenta

After a steady stream of hints and "I might, probably, likely, possible," etc declarations, it's official:

Josefina Vázquez Mota will seek the PAN's nomination for the 2012 presidential campaign.

That is the very simple yet tangible reason why she has repeatedly dismissed a 2011 candidacy in Mexico State.

Who's next?

Mexico's minium wage: Completely stagnant the last 10 years

According to figures from the Mexican Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare (Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social, STPS), the rise in the Mexican minimum wage from 2000-2010 was....0.09 percent!

That means that while the salary rose, when inflation and purchasing power are taken into the consideration, the best way to describe the evolution of Mexico's minimum wage after 10 years of PAN governments remains "stagnation."

Graphic from Milenio

The wording of the March 27 vote over on PRD-PAN alliance in Mexico State

The vote will be open to all voters, not just registered PAN and PRD members, and will take place March 26. Here is the actual wording of the single question that will be asked:
"For the next gubernatorial election in Mexico State, would you agree to an alliance between the PAN and the PRD that would propose a candidate with a common program for government?"
As simple as that.

Rosario Green and Carlos Pascual

Senator Rosario Green's attitude baffles me. The Senator is no lightweight, in the regard that she was foreign minister for Ernesto Zedillo 1998-2000, and now presides the Mexican Senate's foreign relations committee. Yet her comments recently make little logical sense:

She declared she wanted Carlos Pascual, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, designated a persona non grata. 

Yet why? She is clearly offended by Pascual's evaluations of Mexico's security efforts, known through Wikileaks, but these were exactly that: unwelcome leaks, in the sense that Pascual was not speaking off the record in order to plant the story in the Mexican press, and as such was making an assessment not meant for the Mexicans.

Moreover: She is upset, and quite rightly so, by the newly discovered deliberate leak of U.S. weapons to Mexico; she also opposes the arming of U.S. agents in Mexico, clearly a very real issue of sovereignty.
Yet none of these objections have anything to do with Pascual himself. As such, I can't think of any better way of describing this as mere posturing.