Mexico State polls: Alejandro Encinas rising

Following the notable display of party unity Monday, where all of PRD's main leaders, including Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, Marcelo Ebrard, and Andrés Manuel López Obrado, came together to promote his candidacy, Encinas is rising in the polls. Yes, the difference is vast to the PRI candidate, but the mere campaign launch event led to a 1.5-point rise, and Encinas is now at 20.7 percent, while the PRI candidate is slowly dropping.

PRD's gubernatorial candidate in Nayarit threatened by organized crime

Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo, the candidate of  Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) to be the enxt governor of Nayarit, said he has received threats from organized crime, and had therefore accepted offers of a bulletproof car and bodyguards provided by the state government.

On gays: Church at it again, this time Aguascalientes bishop

My oh my. Why can't the Mexican catholic church stop obsessing about the sex life of others, particularly gays? The most recent clergy to offer less than sage input: José María de la Torre, bishop of Aguascalientes:

"the homosexual act is intrinsically contrary to natural law, and therefore is a grave moral disorder or sin..."

Yet as the bishop himself noted, the judgment for such behavior is in any case not up to humans, but to divine law: "Only God knows why they are delinquent or fall on those inclinations."

Only God knows, indeed. And only God presumably knows why Mexican catholic bishops just cannot obsessing about other people's sex life.

Yet let's end on a good note: At least the Archdiocese of Oaxaca offered an apology for the recent homophobic statements of Luis Chávez Botello, another sex-obsessed archbishop.

After worrisome downplaying, INM announces second purge

After the head of Mexico's migration institute INM, Salvador Beltrán del Río, appeared to greatly downplay the grave problems of corruption and abuse in INM as "minimal" and "exceptions," the tone has apparently changed following a meeting with representatives from various of Mexico's government secretariats:

Salvador Beltrán del Río announced a second "purification" of more than 350 agents and administrative personnel presumably engaged in corruption, in addition to the 200 announced earlier.

Eyes are on the INM, and with good reason.

Nayarit polls, gubernatorial election: PRI ahead 49%

The most recent Nayarit polls:

Roberto Sandoval Castañeda, PRI: 49%
Martha Elena García, PAN: 33%
Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo, PRD: 17%
Nayar Mayorquín, PT/Convergencia: 1 %

Direct link to detailed .pdf file on the poll here.

Mexican first lady Margarita Zavala speak out against human trafficking

From my point of view, any initiative that will raise awareness of the nefarious practice of human trafficking is welcome, and Margarita Zavala's recent comments on the subject are no exception.

"It is not only a matter for legislators, but also for the executive and judicial powers. All this violence is a form of slavery, and represents a challenge for the government."