To his credit, AMLO will not back a separate Partido del Trabajo (PT) candidate for governor of Michoacán, as many feared: On the contrary, he even offered to put the structure of his MORENA movement at the disposal of PRD's candidate.
I assume he must have come to the conclusion that a loss for the left in Michoacán, thanks to a potential spoiler candidacy of the PT, would have torpedoed his already remote chances in 2012.
Monday, July 25, 2011
New trend in disturbing growth of Mexican poverty: Cities hit worse than countryside
Coneval, Mexico's national council for the evaluation of social policies, found that, not too surprising, poverty has grown a lot in Mexico the past years. While the El Universal article on the data clumsily does not provide any context for its measurements, the absolute figures speak for themselves:
Twenty-three million people, more 20 percent of Mexico's population, do not have sufficient economic resources to ensure basic daily food consumption.
And what is perhaps a surprise: Following the 2008-9 crisis, poverty has grown much more in the cities than in the countryside (see graphic below). That was certainly not the case before - the cities were almost always better off. I hope to get into the report the coming days for some summary findings.
Twenty-three million people, more 20 percent of Mexico's population, do not have sufficient economic resources to ensure basic daily food consumption.
And what is perhaps a surprise: Following the 2008-9 crisis, poverty has grown much more in the cities than in the countryside (see graphic below). That was certainly not the case before - the cities were almost always better off. I hope to get into the report the coming days for some summary findings.
 |
| From El Universal |
Wikileaks 06VATICAN61: Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez pleaded with U.S. ambassador
No shocker to those well familar with Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, one of the absolute most ultra-reactionary and anti-democratic elements within the Mexican catholic church, but a revelation nonetheless:
According to Wikileaks cable 06VATICAN61, Sandoval met with U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, Francis Rooney, in 2006, and asked the U.S. for help in stopping the presidential ambitions of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who narrowly lost that year's election.
Given Mexican law, this type of political proselytizing is not allowed by the church.
The archdiocese of Guadalajara admitted that a meeting took place, but denies that the cardinal even mentioned AMLO. Perhaps the U.S. embassy personnel are simply making the entire thing up?
(Here is a direct link to the cable, for your reading pleasure - "He asked whether President Bush could help")
Strangely, AMLO seems to think so - his response to the apparent revelation was very muted, saying only that it he doubted it. Is he still, like in 2006, holding out for good relations with the church? Given that Sandoval already in 2006 appeared to see him as a "danger," this seems a lost cause.
According to Wikileaks cable 06VATICAN61, Sandoval met with U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, Francis Rooney, in 2006, and asked the U.S. for help in stopping the presidential ambitions of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who narrowly lost that year's election.
Given Mexican law, this type of political proselytizing is not allowed by the church.
The archdiocese of Guadalajara admitted that a meeting took place, but denies that the cardinal even mentioned AMLO. Perhaps the U.S. embassy personnel are simply making the entire thing up?
As the Brits are fond of saying: Not bloody likely.
(Here is a direct link to the cable, for your reading pleasure - "He asked whether President Bush could help")
Strangely, AMLO seems to think so - his response to the apparent revelation was very muted, saying only that it he doubted it. Is he still, like in 2006, holding out for good relations with the church? Given that Sandoval already in 2006 appeared to see him as a "danger," this seems a lost cause.
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