Thursday, March 10, 2011

"For those who are afraid - of you"

PRD-PAN alliance in Coahuila official

Official it is: PAN and PRD officially confirmed the electoral alliance in the state of Coahuila, which is also holding gubernatorial elections the coming July 3.

Likely candidate: Senator Guillermo Anaya, the compadre, as it were, of President Felipe Calderón.

Possibly a section of the PRD, opposed to the alliance, will split off from the party as a result; what is almost certain is that AMLO will  promote his own candidate, Jesús González Schmall, former national deputy for Convergencia.

PRI and abortion: Apparent turnaround in the party is highly significant

A significant development: The PRI, in the form of the new national leadership of President Humberto Moreira and Secretary General Cristinas Díaz, on International Women's day declared that women should have a right to choose, and called moreover for a debate within the party.

After the PRD in Mexico City legalized abortions up until the 12th week, the ripple effect was of the revers kind, in that a range of states responded by drastically limiting women's right to have abortion, in many cases tightening the laws so as to make them more restrictive than even under 1857 Constitution of the great Benito Juárez in the 19th century. While this might be expected from the generally socially conservative PAN, what was particularly notable about the anti-abortion wave was that many statehouses were dominated by PRI.

At least 17 states made part of the state constitution the idiotic preposition that "life starts after conception."

Now, there appears to have been a major rethink of this line. Note that recently departed leader Beatriz Paredes, though arguing the PRI was an open, tolerant, and "center-left" party, refused to make any comments on abortion, in the process allowing the state branches to join forces withe most arch-conservative elements of the Mexican society, such as the catholic church.

Now, however, Humberto Moreira himself said he favored free choice for women. I'd say that this is a step  forward for the  notoriously machista party.