Fistfight! And fire extinguisher! PAN in Michocán comes to blows over Cocoa vs. Marko

I do not condone violence and even less to solve political conflicts. Yet the internal turmoil in PAN's state branch in Michoacán, where the party is divided over whether President Calderón's sister Luisa María "Cocoa" or Senator Marko Cortés should be its gubernatorial candidate for the November election, sounds like something out of a slapstick movie:

"[Marko's campaign coordinator] Eduardo Chavira Garcia came to the other end of the hall, where [Luisa María's coordinator] Mariano Torres stood,  and suddenly planted a coupled of blows to his face....Mariano Torres lost his balance and fell backward on a fire extinguisher, which got turned on and released powder over those cheering. Shoving ensued between supporters of two rival groups, but there were no more blows, although insults and threats.Members of the Presidential Guard, who constantly guard Luisa María Calderón, merely observed the scene and surrounded Cocoa."

(though El Universal reports the EMP guard intervened on behalf of Cocoa's supporters)

Refreshing to hear the PRD isn't the only party with unorthodox dispute mediation techniques.

Doña Ifigenia Martínez: More dangerous that PAN continues than PRI returns

Ifigenia Martínez is a grand dama in many ways. She was the first woman to hold a range of offices in Mexico - all the time while a priísta - such as ambassador to the United Nations, and graduated as an economist with a master's from Harvard - the first mexicana to do so. On a personal note: I also had the chance to interview her at lengths a couple of years back, and found her a most wonderful and endearing lady, who was very sharp, but from whom it was nearly impossible to extract a straight answer to any of my questions. I found it remarkable that someone of her age and position would be so guarded.

With the years, Doña Ifigenia notably returned to active politics, and is now a federal deputy for the PT, or Workers Party, often considered a more "radical" party than the PRD. In an interview she said she regards the PRI's return as much less of a threat than a continued rule of the PAN.

I find this baffling, and not only given the macroeconomic indicators, where most every study I've read suggests the christian-democratic PAN has been far more successful in alleviating poverty than the PRI:
As a founder of the Corriente Democrática, a progressive current within the PRI that included Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas and Porfirio Múnoz Ledo that eventually ditched the PRI to later form the PRD, her preference for the PRI over PAN is even more perplexing and, might one add, disappointing.