Noroña, a cliche waiting to happen

Gerardo Fernández Noroña is for many the face of the most radical, intransigent sectors of the Mexican left, improbably elected federal deputy in 2009 for the North Korea-praising Workers Party (PT), but before that a long-time radical as head of a social movement-based group within the PRD.

His antics both in the PRD, which he left in 2008, and as a deputy are many (he once threw himself around he feet of president Ernesto Zedillo and refused to let go), but he is perhaps most known as an ardent defender of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and a proponent of the "fraud" claim of 2006.

Now the cliché is served on a silver platter: más papista que el Papa, more catholic than the pope:

In response to AMLO's recent declaration that he has "forgiven" Felipe Calderón,  for 2006, Noroña (as he is most commonly known), now threatening to break with AMLO unless he explains what he means by that - is it a recognition of Calderón's legitimacy as president? - and demanding that he show congruence and firmness. Yes, AMLO is not radical enough for his political children.

 AMLO being accused of going soft on Calderón, by one of his own - it is hard to know what historical analogy to pick given the range of options.

Let's for now stick with the French one: Noroña, the Jacobin. I am not even the slightest surprised.

The charlatans of scientology, now at it in Mexico

Those who have gone to Mexico City and its Alameda square can't help but have noticed the eager members of the church of scientology recruiting new adherents to their dangerous cult, and the enormous "Scientology Mexico" building at the corner of the square.

A highly recommended read on this extremely dangerous and destructive organization is a recent Proceso article, "Dianética: la “religión” que aniquila," now available free of charge, which expounds on its practices in Mexico, where it is accused of slave labor and human trafficking. Please read it. 

AMLO: I've forgiven Felipe Calderón

In an interview with the Spanish El Pais, AMLO said he had forgiven Calderón for the 2006 election, and that he would not seek to reopen any investigation into that election, because there is already a "verdict." Which one is that, one might ask?

He also notes, "I've evolved, I have more knowledge of the reality because I have traveled the country," though he doesn't really tell us what new lessons he has learned, or any self criticism made. I would really like to have seen some.

In any case, the interview is well worth a read.

Worst.Excuse.Ever. for pirate taxis

From a PRI local deputy in the Mexico City legislature: When a car that belongs to him was impounded due to being used as a pirate taxi (!), Leobardo Urbina angrily denounced that it was not a pirate taxi at all. When authorities pointed out that the car had been stopped complete with taximeter,  Urbina instead took the high moral ground:

He (driver) works with me in the Assembly, and brought with him a taximeter so that we not forget where we came from, that's a moral thing I told my friends, let's go to the city assembly, but let's not forget who we are."

Yes, it had a taximeter just so the good legislator should not forget his roots. And presumably also why the taxi was confiscated as he was letting off a passenger from a 45-peso ride.

10 arguments for legislative reelection

In the Mexican state of Puebla, 10 local legislators, or 25 percent of the entire state legislature, is leaving their current office to seek a seat in the national congress as federal legislators.

There is nothing illegal or even unnatural of politicians seeking to "move up the ladder" politically - indeed, it lies at the very heart of representative politics.

Yes this case shows the very perversions of what is very likely a product of Mexico's no-reelection practice:
The legislators took office just one year ago! They have barely found the time to learn the workings of the legislature, get informed of local matters, deepen ties to constituents, and so forth, and then barely a third into their term, they bail ship. It may partly be a reflection of excessive personal ambition, but certainly the practice is awarded incentives by 1) only having three-year terms, and 2) not having reelection.

An illustrative and rather funny story on the matter from a couple of weeks back:

PRI's Ivonne Álvarez García, mayor of Guadalupe, was elected mayor two years ago in Guadalupe, Nuevo León, had promised and sworn and pledged she would sit out her full term. Yet as Mexico's parties are now choosing candidates for national office, she forgot about her election promise, changed her mind, asked for a leave of absence, and left town

Yet now so fast! One of her constituents complained  that she had broken a promise, and managed to secure a writ of amparo, forcing the senator hopeful to return to the pueblo. Kudos to Dinorah Cantú Pedraza for keeping her to her promise!

The saga continued for a few nervous days, as this might have enormous consequences for candidates elsewhere, who might be refused similar pedidos de licencia or requests for "leaves of absence." Álvarez huffed and puffed and was "very angry" at this pesky citizen, and found an amparo for herself and her candidacy, and finally a federal judge rejected the earlier decision, clearing the way for her candidacy.

Oh, and merely days after, she was again in trouble as she promoted her candidacy on Youtube via a raffle, breaking at least 3-4 electoral laws, where she from her municpal office called on voters to "like" her Facebook account, in return for the chance to win - an Ipad!

Perhaps the citizens of Guadalupe, NL, are better off with their mayor far off in Mexico City.

Pope visit to Mexico: Must-read AP article on an inconvenient book

A highly recommend read is AP's "Pope's Mexico trip clouded by Legion victim's book," by Eduardo Castillo, as it address a very inconvenient book just published ahead of the pope's visit to Mexico tomorrow: La voluntad de no saber" ("The will to not know"). It uses documents obtained through friendly Vatican sources who began years ago making copies of documents that were slowly disappearing, as members of the extremist order Legionaries of Christ had begun silently stealing them from the Vatican archives.

What do the documents, on which the book is based, prove? What we long knew, but now documented by the Vatican's own sources:

Successive popes knew, including Benny the 16th, about the child raping by priests such as Marcial Maciel ever since the 1940s, but did nothing to stop it.

For eight years, Benedict 16 knew, but didn't lift a finger as the Legionaries unleashed a campaign of defamation against the victims.

A very inconvenient book.

Pope in Mexico: Will not meet with victims or apologize

Christophe Pierre, the Vatican's nuncio or diplomatic representative in Mexico, made it clear that Pope Benny XVI will not meet with any of the victims, ranging at least in the tens of thousands, from priest abuse when he visits Mexico this weekend.

Why on earth not? This is not simply a case of apologizing on behalf of the far too many priests who turned into child rapists and molesters, which has happened so many places, but which in Mexico is given the added touch that the Vatican knew for more than forty years about the abuses of one affiliated organization, the Legionaries of Christ, where desperate stories of child abuse by particularly its founder Marcial Maciel surfaced shortly after its founding - abuses that the Vatican, we now know, was aware of for decades, but didn't do anything with until the public pressure became to large in the 2000s.

Yet don't expect any apology when the pope visits Mexico. After all, he did force Marcial to retire, lest we forget, to life of "repentance and self reflection."

Perhaps an apology isn't in order - I would trade a papal apology for an arrest warrant of multiple members of the Vatican leadership any day.

Better for US that left wins in Mexico

PRD president Jesús Zambrano is on a brief visit to the United States, and in a speech at the Wilson Center declared that "It's better for the United States that the left governs in Mexico"

The more we generate conditions, we will have more social stability and less migration, fewer drug problems and more opportunities for young people... Mexico City is the safest region of the country, and the PRD knows how to govern and is demonstrating it with its actions."

Amen.

Lie detectors, seriously?

Josefina Vázquez Mota yesterday handed over, unsolicited and to surprised officials at the federal electoral institute, the results of lie detector and drug tests, and suggested other presidential candidates do the same.

What is she running for, the presidency of a high school council or that of Mexico?

This is simply petty and childish.

Calderón apologies to Bracero workers

Better late than never, though a paltry compensation: On behalf of the Mexican state, Felipe Calderón apologized to braceros, or Mexican foreign workers in the United States between 1942 until they were kicked out in 1964, for having appropriated some of the compensatory funds designated for them.

A touch of pettiness, to boot: He made sure to note it was not his fault, but that of previous governments.

He proceeded to hand out checks in the amount of 38 thousand pesos.

The braceros were a vital part of not only the post-WW 2 boom, but also made a very significant contribution to the U.S. war effort, replacing as they did agricultural and industrial workers who were sent to the battlefields (where also Mexicans died, lest we forget).

The bracero program, which saw some very serious workers abuses given that they were tied directly to an employer and could not change jobs despite frequent abuse, holds a lesson today how not to implement a guest worker program.

Teacher March Madness

The past days, teachers have been causing complete mayhem in Mexico City, shutting down main thoroughfares and causing economic losses in the tens of millions - the thousands of police having to safeguard the process, the lost hours of productive for people not getting to work, the loss to business forced to shut along the protest routes, etc. In Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca, and other states, hundreds of thousands of school children were not able to go to class.

This time the protest is not organized by the national SNTE, but by a dissident teacher union, CNTE, founded in 1979. But sad to say, they resort to exactly the same practices so many are fed up with from SNTE.

What is it that they want?

1) They want a "plaza" or a teaching position, for life - for life. That is, they want to be appointed, and not ever have to bother about looking for another job. This is especially perturbing, as they also
2)  Oppose any evaluation of their skills or lack thereof. They don't want any exam, review, skills test at all, to determine whether they are fit for teaching.

But they still want a job for life. They are also protesting that the national SNTE has negotiated, finally, with the federal government what appears to be at least the beginning of a very rudimentary evaluation of their fit for the teaching profession. SNTE has in general opposed this since its foundation in the 1940s.

Meanwhile, and related, Michoacán, bus companies halted all services, following the "commandeering" of dozens of buses - that is, teachers and teacher students simply stole several buses for their own use. After days of conflict, and following an ultimatum from Governor Fausto Vallejo Figueroa, teacher students finally released "22 passenger buses, four trucks of perishable goods and eight drivers who remained detained for six days," which led finally to the reopening of the Morelia main bus station.

In a related development, former secretary of health José Ángel Córdova Villalobos, just appointed, and surprisingly, secretary of education, insisted that the national tests, negotiated with SNTE, will proceed. Córdova for his part referred to embattled SNTE head Elba Esther Gordillo as "a great leader." Really?


His predecessor, Alonso Lujambio, presently fighting for his life in a battle with cancer, was, it must be said, completely subservient to SNTE, barely admonishing it for outrageous illegal acts such as distributing taxpayer-funded teaching materials that also called for a vote for its PANAL party and for children to hand over personal information as well as that of their parents. I hope Córdova will show some more backbone.

"There are no pretty women who don’t become prostitutes"

Words of not too much wisdom, from PRI-aspirant for the Senate (!) Francisco Moreno Merino, which even made international headlines. From the Washingon Post:

“There is no horse that doesn’t have a bit of mule in him, there are no pretty women who don’t become prostitutes, there is no good man who doesn’t have a bit of uselessness in him."

Very far from a champion of women's rights (witness its legislative alliances with PAN on the state level a couple of years ago trying to ban abortion even in cases of rape, incest, and danger to the mother's life), at least this time it immediately removed Moreno from its candidate list.

Vázquez Mota, fit to govern?

I have been thoroughly disappointed with virtually every aspect of Vázquez Mota's campaign so far. Granted she has not much of a record to show to - her highest positions were relatively brief posts as secretary of social development and secretary of education, and despite having some credibility from having fought very publicly with SNTE teacher union despot Elba Esther Gordillo, has really very little to show for in her career. Can anyone point, for instance, to any relevant legislation pushed and passed when she was head of PAN's parliamentary group?


But I was at least expecting to see some future potential on the campaign trail, through her speeches, encounters, responses to criticism, and so forth.


Instead, she has managed to draw the ire of students and the university world, and revelations from here thesis work suggest an extreme anti-popular but also anti-intellectual bias, appearing closer to a Santorum and Palin than anyone else.
- It all began when she, in front of audience at the college ITAM giggled that she was "not perfect, because I studied at La Ibero," or the Universidad Iberoamericana.


Not likely to endear her to Ibero alumni. But then, her Ibero thesis has surfaced, where she in a classist rant refers to UNAM, Mexico's premier public university, as a "monster" - "it slowly converted into a political institution, a monster that harbor half a million students who unfortunately have no interest in their professional preparation."


And the kicker? Beyond the blatant generalization and depreciation of what is the best university in Mexico and its student mass, many who indeed come from lower class families and are first-generation students, the thesis in which she rants against UNAM was begun in 1983 and finished in 1998(!). Yes, unlike all those pesky students at UNAM who don't even study, Vázquez Mota only took fifteen years to finish her thesis masterpiece. 


Now, given the way education is structured in Mexico, it often happens that students finish their coursework but at a later point finish their thesis, though 15 years is quite a stretch - and particularly for someone who depreciate students at other universities for not being dedicated to studying.


But again the worst is yet to come in the fall out: She answered then in the most pathetic way possible: She is the victim - yes, a victim - of a "dirty war," where here commentaries are taken "out of context" with the purpose to "defame" her. Since when is holding someone accountable to earlier statements a "dirty war"?


Vázquez Mota then went to ITAM, the best private college in Mexico, and as it draws primarily from the upper layers of Mexican society one might have expected a friendly audience. To their credit, the students questioned seriously her record. The best comment yet from one of the students:

Many of the things you are saying are not true, because as Secretary of Public Education, of Social Development, twice a member of parliament, you did not pursue any of the reforms you are now talking about, why should we now believe that you are going to do so?

Why indeed should we?

Migrants money fund used for embellishment of cathedral

This is truly preposterous: Funds from Mexico's ministry of social development, destined to improve local communities through the "3-for-one" program where the government is supposed to match every peso of remittances sent from migrants in the US with three pesos, have been used to fix up a church instead, making it nice and pretty before the pope comes.

While the sum may not be huge - around 600 thousand pesos - this is not only blatantly illegal, but immoral: Migrants living in the United States sent a third of this hard-earned money, which was then matched by d by Federal and state money, expecting the amount to be used to improve their local communities through e.g. the paving of roads, electricity, and the building of schools. Instead the money was stolen to embellish a church.

I truly wish - in the figurative sense - that some heads will roll after this.

Hate crimes in Puebla

AMLO came out clearly against the horrid hate crimes in Puebla, where since 2005 at least 20 people have been murdered for their sexual orientation, most recently activist Agnes Torres Hernández, found dead this Saturday:

"Is very regrettable that this happens in Puebla and in the country. There should be no hate crimes, one must respect human rights, and act with tolerance."

Kudos to the only of Mexico's three presidential candidates manifesting his concern for these victims.

Boost for AMLO: de la Fuente would join cabinet

AMLO has earlier invited Juan Ramón de la Fuente to be his Education secretary in a future presidential cabinet; now, the popular former UNAM rector and former minister of health has accepted the offer.

I can only see this as a welcome boost to AMLO's campaign.

Gabriel Quadri, zero credibility

Gabriel Quadri, the presidential candidate for Elba Esther Gordillo's teacher party PANAL, is man who have completely exhausted whatever credibility he once held as a political journalist/environmentalist/activist etc:

While he earlier heaped praise upon the notorious Gordillo as an "admirable woman" and referred to her authoritarian union, led with iron hand by its "president-for-life" Gordillo since 1989, he now managed to claim that Gordillo has nothing to do with PANAL.

As anyone with a modicum of political knowledge would know - and Quadri certainly fits here - PANAL is a party created by and at the complete disposal of Gordillo, for sale for the highest bidder during both state and federal elections since its 2005 creation. It claims a "liberal" ideology, but is utterly devoid of any ideology or programmatic orientation.

(most recently a PANAL deputy, Héctor Alonso Granado, spewed anti-gay slurs in the state of Puebla, for which he was denounced to the state's human rights commission - so much for social liberalism)

Yet by openly proclaiming his adherence to these open "untruths," Quadri's credibility is not just undermined; it is really already, before the official election process has even started, gone out the door.

What will the "radicals" say? AMLO disowns own manifest

A rather surreal event on the campaign trail: AMLO's big manifest for his campaign is his Alternative Project for the Nation, which essentially functions as his campaign program though it is very broad and vague and essentially express desired goals rather than means how to achieve it. In any case, it is a much-touted program - it was launched in 2004, then updated and presented again just last year in a huge gathering at the National Auditorium. This was his personal manifest - it has nothing to do with the PRD and the left's own campaign platform, which is a considerably more detailed and concrete document.

Then this happens: AMLO was meeting with representatives from COPARMEX, or the powerful Mexican employers organization, in order to smooth things out (he's been meeting with business leaders at least since 2010, finally following the advice of the PRD, which asked him to do so in 2005). One of the businessmen complained against some of the criticism directed at them in the manifest.

AMLO's response: He said he didn't really write it, only the introduction (!). That is, he disowns the project he has been touting for the last seven years, saying someone else wrote it.

1) What does he really stand for, then?
2) What will his North Korea-praising "radical" allies of the Workers Party respond to this kowtowing to the business sectors?

Bartlett - he of the 1988 "fall of the system" - for Senate

PRD was founded on the back of the July 6, 1988 fraud. One man greatly responsible for the election outcome was Interior Secretary Manuel Bartlett, who then also doubled as head of the commission organizing the election (if there ever was a fitting fox-guarding-the-hen house analogy, that's the one). Now, however, in an irony of ironies - I really don't know how to express this - AMLO's Morena movement is putting forth Bartlett to head its senator formula from Puebla.

That's right. The man responsible for the 1988 fraud that soon gave birth to the PRD, will now run as its candidate.

Are there no limits to how opportunistic AMLO will be in order to draw in votes? One graphic from El Economista puts a humerous spin on it:

El Economista

It is not a wholly perfect joke, though: While Bartlett his here seen putting on a PRD banner, it is, as Senator Carlos Navarrete made it very clear, AMLO's Morena that is pushing Bartlett, not the PRD.

Navarrete also said he would not move a finger to help Bartlett. Nor would anyone with a modicum of dignity on the Mexican left.


More from El Universal.

AMLO like you ain't seen him yet

You may or may not know that AMLO is an avid baseball fan... and, as the picture from Milenio shows, he still plays the game when he can.

Milenio

Greg for Senate? Maybe not such a great idea

Gregorio "Greg" Sánchez,  has not been convicted of any crime. Yet given the opposition from his own party against his candidacy - he is on both the Senate PR list, as well as the Senate district candidate - PRD should look again at this candidacy.

- His successor as mayor of Benito Júarez, Julián Ricalde Magaña, recently warned against his candidacy, saying that he could be barred from running - like he was when he ran for governor in 2010 (and spent months in prison).

- Now the Quintana Roo PRD branch threatens a boycott should he be a candidate.

It seems that this time the national PRD should listen to its state party branch. Greg really seems to come with far too much baggage.

Mexico 2012, Poll of polls!

A big tip of the hat to The Economist, which has some very wise words on opinion polling in Mexico and constructive ideas on how to reward accurate pollsters here, and moreover offers a great link to readers: A poll of polls for Mexico, by ADN Político.

Check it out here.

AMLO rising in new poll numbers from Ipsos-Bimsa

From the polling company Ipsos-Bimsa:

"Calderón promises to respect the outcome of the U.S. election."

Imagine the headline, "Calderón to respect the outcome of the 2012 U.S. election," or perhaps better yet,  "Calderón  promises not to intervene in the 2012 U.S. election."

It reads quite strange - why on earth would anyone not recognize the election outcome in the United States? And why would Calderón feel obliged to say so?

But flip it around: "Biden offers not to intervene in the election," one actual headline referring to the recent meeting U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden had with Mexico's three presidential contenders.

Why does the latter headline read far less strange than the former?

UZI in Facebook picture: Bad idea

It would seem to generally be a bad idea and at the very least be of very poor taste to appear in your Facebook profile in Mexico carrying guns.

It is especially a bad idea if you are carrying weapons "exclusively for use by the armed forces," such as a seemingly fully functioning UZI submachine gun.

And it is a purely idiotic and reprehensible thing to appear with your UZI if you are a politician from the state of Michoacán and you have just achieved a spot on the list to be a federal deputy (!).

Yet here is Ethan Peña, a 22-year old idiot who until recently was a member of the PRD (it immediately kicked him out), brandishing his UZI, while at the same time running for congress.


And the text accompanying the picture speaks for itself: “ira pinche mapache pelos de estopa es una usi de 35 calibre 9mm ok para ke sepas con esa te saco toda la caca ke tienes en el culo…”

It would be immature for a 12-year-old.

I hope this guy soon will have the police asking some questions about his gun.

PRI getting desperate in Tabasco, may lose state

Tabasco has a special place for the PRD - it has long been a bastion of Andrés Manuel López Obrador  who twice ran for governor in extremely fraudulent elections (88 and 94) against the PRI. In 2006, the PRD also came very close to winning and was possibly cheated from its victory, though the election was also held at time )Oct 2006) when AMLO's popularity had been plummeting after his plantón sit-ins in Mexico City and ever more radicalized language, culminating in the absolutely ridiculous "Legitimate presidency."

Now, however, PRD has a big chance of winning the upcoming (July 1) election, which thanks to Mexico's electoral reform will coincide with the national election. A governor will be elected, 17 municipal presidents, and 35 local deputies. The left's candidate is Senator Arturo Núñez (ex PRI and AMLO ally), and a broad left coalition is here very natural. Yet the local election organs have now twice rejected the coalition of PRD-PT and the party formerly known as Convergencia, on what appears to be very spurious "technical" grounds, following PRI complaints to the PRI-controlled said electoral institute.

Núñez will appeal to the federal tribunal and will likely win here, but this appears just to be one sign of how much the PRI will fight this election, using any means possible, like they have in the past. The state has never been run by any party than the PRI - and much of it is thanks to its long tradition on extremely dirty tricks and rigging of the elections, a practice that has unfortunately survived and thrived on the state level in Mexico.

The governor election in Tabasco is not likely to be pretty.

Biden the diplomat

U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden is meeting tomorrow with Mexico's presidential president, first with Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), then Enrique Peña Nieto, then Josefina Vázquez Mota.

Why in that order, you may ask?  From the White House,

the Vice President will also sit down with each of Mexico's three major party presidential candidates -- in alphabetical order, I might add -- to reaffirm the United States' commitment to respecting Mexico's democratic process in a totally impartial manner

Alphabetical order! Biden, the diplomat - whowoulda thunk!

Calderón's approval ratings now below Obama's

I see so many contradicting polls on Calderón's approval ratings that I take anything with a pail of salt, but this one is nonetheless interesting, as it begins with his inauguration: At 49 percent, from what I've read recently, he has now been surpassed by Obama.

(I note this because a quote from George Grayson on how Obama could "only dream" of having Calderón's approval ratings stuck in mind. That was perhaps then, but this is now).

Milenio

Free speech or slander? Case of Anabel Hernández

An interesting case to be tried on free speech vs. unsubstantiated claims that may or may not be slander:
Journalist/writer Anabel Hernández, author of Señores del Narco, is facing a claim from former Attorney general and former head of the federal electoral institute of slanderous, false accusations.

Her book, among many other (and far more explosive claims), suggests Carpizo nabbed a big sum of money set aside for the hunt against El Chapo Guzmán. Yet the problem is only this: There seems to be very little concrete evidence for this rather incendiary claim, at least as offered in this book.

It is an interesting case as it raises some complicated yet crucial issues: To what an extent can a journalist really rely on what appears to be the lack of clear and concrete evidence, in order to make very strong accusations against public figures? I haven't read her book, so I have no idea of the merits of these claims, but reading an excerpt in Proceso this truly struck me as very sensationalist work, which, if it had the evidence to back up its many other claims, should really have made an impact on the political scene. And I don't think it has.

On principle I think the bar should be set very, very high for what a public official will have to endure. Yet should there be no limits at all on what s/he can be accused of, especially if, it appears, the evidence is very thin?

I am trying to put myself in the shoes of Carpizo, who I think is generally pretty well regarded. If he never took any of this money, he would naturally be interested in clearing his name - and, for good and for bad,  it seems the burden is on him to prove his innocence - and how would he do this except by suing Hernández?

Perhaps he was dirty, but it seems to me when you make a very concrete claim, you should have some matching concrete evidence. I would be very interested in opinions from others familiar with her work and the case, in particular as I may well be wrong here.

AMLO, now with movie stars!

A great picture from La Jornada today: AMLO with Demián Bichir, the Oscar-nominated actor from A Better Life. Bichir has stated his support for a left candidacy in 2012, which, from my point of view, makes absolutely sense.

La Jornada

Just what Jesus would have ordered

Ahead of Pope Benedict's visit to Guanajuato, Mexico:

Raúl Villegas, spokesperson for the Arcdiocese of León, said the municipality would be responsible for the rearrangement of  beggars, prostitutes and street vendors.

Yes, by all means - remove the beggars and prostitutes from the dear Pope's sight so as not to inconvenience him - just what Jesus would have done.