Genovevo Figueroa seeks mayorship of Morelia. And La Tuta and Godoy?

Genovevo Figueroa Zamudio was governor of Michoacán for PRI, switched parties, and was until recently secretary of tourism in beautiful Morelia; he just announced he will seek the mayorship of the city in the upcoming November elections, for the PRD. Morelia is now run by the PRI; its mayor Fausto Vallejo Figueroa also stepped down a while ago to run on as PRI's candidate for governor. 


He is hardly an uncontroversial figure: As governor of Michoacán, 1988-1992, he was accused of repressing perredistas in the past.


National PRD leader Jesús Zambrano expressed worry for the upcoming election, given the level of violence in the state. Zambrano said that current Governor Leonel Gody was not informed of the recent massive surge of federal police sent to the state, ostensibly to catch the mafia leader Servando Gómez, "La Tuta." Zambrano earlier demanded the withdrawal of federal forces before the election. 

I suspected the real goal was to catch Godoy's half-brother Julio César Godoy Toscano, but according to SIEDO, the case is already closed. This appears quite unbelievable given that he went underground just half a year ago when he lost his immunity as federal legislator, after tapes surfaced of him chatting friendly with said La Tuta. 

It had to happen: AMLO backtracks on the poll to decide PRD candidacy

The news were buried in yet another AMLO story in La Jornada (which appears to cover every speech, every sneeze that me makes) but of no less significance:

Sure, he will respect a poll, as promised, to decide whether he or Ebrard will be the candidate of the left in 2012. BUT - yes, now there is a BUT,
"if the poll is carried out by the members of the mafia of power, and if they only ask their underlings or the employees of the medias of communication, I am going to lose by a landslide."

Step one: Start looking for a way to discredit the poll.
Step two: Have one of your own underlings, René Bejarano, planting the same seeds in public by using almost the very same words - "it's obvious if they only poll people from PAN or PRI, they don't want him"
(which lead Marcelo Ebrard to declare that AMLO doesn't need any spokespersons). He sure does not - just listen to words from the horse's mouth.

Gregorio "Greg" Sánchez released

While still under investigation for ties with drug gangs, money laundering, and human trafficking, Gregorio "Greg" Sánchez was released yesterday, though he is required to wear an electronic bracelet, monitored by satellite, and restricted to not leaving Mexico City - a measure strongly criticized by the PRD (The use of electronic bracelets appear to be a first).

If Sánchez is guilty, it is an amazing display of incompetence from the the prosecutors.

If he is innocent - well, all the worse.