Mexico State: A rigged election, it is now clear

Mexico State's electoral institute, Instituto Electoral del Estado de México (IEEM), responsible for arranging the upcoming elections in Mexico State, flat out refused to order the PRI-run state government to tear down more than 2,500 billboards favoring the PRI, which it is now illegal to display. The IEEM sought to wash its hands by saying it would only do so under a direct order by the federal electoral tribunal - despite the fact that it earlier apparently did order five billboards torn down for violating the law.

It is becoming clear that the criticisms launched against the IEEM by the PRD and PAN that the institute is biased toward the PRI are more than warranted.

Coahuila gubernatorial election: Good run-down of candidates

A good run-down of the candidates for the upcoming (July 3) state election in Coahuila from El Universal here.

Eruviel Ávila's campaign refuses to release its campaign spending

Challenged by the PRD, which claims that the PRI has massively overspent on its gubernatorial campaign, to release an account of its expenses, PRI refused, saying it will do so only to IEEM, the electoral institute of Mexico State, which PRD and PAN claims is heavily tilted toward the PRI.

So much for the "public" in "public money," which the PRI receives from the Mexican state.

PAN releases its membership numbers

Some newly released membership figures for the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN): Mexico's governing party says it has 1,759,534 members, of which 298,076 are "active members."

Why the raid against Jorge Hank Rhon?

Jorge Zepeda Patterson, a usually well-informed and reasoned columnist (and academic), proposes two hypotheses why the army launched the raid against Jorge Hank Rhon. Both assumes that the army acted on its own, yet one is considerably more sinister than the other.

1) The army was convinced of Hank's guilt, and launched the operation to catch a bad guy, with the intent also to shore up its increasinly tattered image (particularly compared to La Marina).
2) The army intentionally set out to bungle the operation, a la the Michoacanazo, in order to discredit the PGR, PAN, and President Calderón.

Definitely among the more interesting speculations around the botched operation - though exactly that, speculations.

Teachers cheating on their exams

What an example to the students: SNTE teachers are cheating on their own exams.

The Mexican teachers union SNTE has for years fought tooth and nail against a required exam where they actually had to demonstrate that they have the required skills for teaching. Some progress has been made recently, and teachers who willingly undertake the test will receive a financial bonus of up to 60 percent of the salary. 

Yet La Jornada reveals that the very exams used to test the teachers are now offered up for sale to the teachers - so why bother study or demonstrate your skills, when you can simply cheat on this exam? 

Apparently, SNTE teachers linked to Sección 36 of Mexico State - the absolute stronghold of national SNTE leader Elba Esther Gordillo - have been offering the exams for sale for at least a week. 

PRD to boot out ex-governor from party

It's hard to find a state in Mexico with more political opportunism than Baja California Sur, at least by the standards of party switching - with the latest gubernatorial election a clear case in point.

Now, former Governor Narciso Agúndez Montaño, cousin of former PRD president Leonel Cota Montaño (who I have utterly lost track of in terms of what party he has jumped on to), will be kicked out from the PRD.

Agúndez Montaño, though nominally of the PRD, was widely regarded to have backed the winning PAN candidate (and PRD defector!) Marcos Covarrubias, yet the straw that broke the camel's back was his recent flirtations with the most cynical, opportunist, most devoid of any principles, party in Mexico, the Green Party (PVEM), which apparently is seeking to recruit Agúndez for some office in 2012. Good riddance.

ILO rejects SME complaint: A victory for Calderón

The Geneva-based International Labor Federation (ILO) notably rejected a 2009 complaint by the Mexican electricians union, Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas (SME), over the decision by President Felipe Calderón  to liquidate the state-owned Luz y Fuerza electric company, regarding this to have been the legal prerogative of the Mexican state.

This is a big setback for SME leader  Martín Esparza Flores, and a victory for Calderón and Labor Secretary Javier Lozano.