While the national PAN at times is appearing to be disintegrating, witnessed both in the mess that is Josefina Vázquez Mota's presidential campaign, and the extremely dirty selection process for its legislative candidates, it also bears noting that since February, two PAN mayors have been arrested for their ties to the narcos and organized crime:
- Mauricio Herrera Fernández, mayor of Las Minas in Verarcruz, was arrested in an army checkpoint in Puebla with guns and drugs on Feb. 27.
On April 18, Martín Padua Zúñiga, also a Veracruz mayor in Chinameca was arrested with members of the Zetas, after a shoot out with the army.
PAN, of course, fully distanced itself from the mayor, claiming he was not even a member of the party, which appears to be a false claim.
It's been a long time since PAN's "clean hands" image was debased, and while this could of course happen in any party, it is notable that both mayors were panistas, especially given Calderón's full frontal assault on the narcos.
More and more, day by day your postings are pro PRI. That´s fine since it is your blog BUT why not just put a PRI logo on the letterhead?.
ReplyDeleteThe drug trafficing problem was established by PRI, not by PAN. That is fact and history...since you " teach political science and Latin American politics at a top liberal arts college in the United States...." What is with the FOX NEWS type writing?
Gotten any free 2 week stays in Cancun lately? Maybe so and if so be sure to tell your students about the nice weather.
I find your comment more than a bit amusing on several levels, though I am not entirely sure what good it will do to respond to them given both your tone and lack of logic. I'll limit myself to this, though: Why on earth is any criticism of PAN equated with being pro PRI? Because the problem of drug trafficking indeed did come into being during PRI's national and state governments, does that mean any criticism of PAN is off limits? Speaking of Fox news, you really exhibit traits of a totalitarian mindset, and as far as I can tell, could really use a college course or two on elementary logic.
ReplyDeleteI find both preceding comments and the commenters to be beating around the bush. The point should be obvious to everyone, the PRI is the only totalitarian party running, its influence over Televisa, influence within UNAM (though I will grant they generally left-of-center many also have deep political ties with the PRI going back decades), the newspapers and polls, etc.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree that criticizing the PAN makes anyone pro-PRI automatically or someone FOX-NEWS-like. However, it is a blog that seems clearly susceptible to influence by left-wing but even pro-PRI factions in UNAM and other sources of Mexican academia. Some influences would mask themselves as left-wing while at the same time seeking political favor from the PRI. Others truly have ideology in mind in their willingness to see the PRI's revival at the expense of democracy. The PRI will divide the more democratic parties to the degree that they're allowed. I suspect this blog is more independent, but no less susceptible to direct and indirect influence than anyone else. Good luck.