Monday, May 16, 2011

Mexico State gubernatorial campaign begins today

Mexico State's electoral instute, IEEM, approved the registry of all three candidates - PRI, PAN, and PRD - and the campaign to be the state's governor officially started today - or, that is, at midnight yesterday.

Despite a last-minute request from PAN that IIEM again investigate the residency of Encinas in Mexico State, the institute accepted the legality of the documents offered by Encinas, which demonstrated that he still maintained the required residency in the state. While PRI candidate Eruviel Ávila (see Gancho's right-on take on his campaign opening here) has promised he will not question the legality of Encinas' candidacy, should Encinas gain traction in the race, it is nonetheless a very likely action to take.

For now, that threat comes from PAN, which yet again swore it would continue its quest to have Encinas out of the contest, by taking the case to the electoral tribunal.

Hard to believe at times that just weeks ago, the PRD and PAN were contemplating a common candidate.

Will Javier Lozano's calls for prison terms in Sabinas mine disaster extend to himself?

Following the recent mine disaster in Sabinas, Coahuila, where 14 workers died, Javier Lozano Alarcón, Mexico's secretary of labor, recently huffed and puffed and demanded prison terms for whomever found responsible.

Given the persistent lack of thorough labor safety inspections, and the issuing of a record number of concessions with minimum oversight during his tenure as secretary of labor, will the call for arrests eventually also extend to Lozano himself?

A good background article on the Coahuila mining industry here.

Calderón as Churchill? Or "an act of megalomania"?

Calderón's recent comparison of himself with Winston Churchill, and Mexico's fight with the drug cartels with Churchill's fight against the Nazis, predictably drew a lot of fire from the opposition, and rightly so: The comparison was bizarre, to put it mildly. 


Armando Ríos Piter, PRD's group leader in the Chamber of Deputies, put it best: "an act of megalomania"