I admit I know little about Ana Gabriela Guevara Espinoza, a retired Mexican athlete who was made a candidate for senator for the PT. She may have had some political experience, but a recent faux pax certainly suggests that she knows little of the functioning of politics - and that maybe making famous athlete into national politicians overnight may not always be such a bright idea in general:
When the senator-elect was to appear in the Senate for her swearing in, she was nowhere to be found: Instead, Guevara wandered around confused in San Lázaro, seat of the Chamber of Deputies. When someone alerted her to her mistaken location, she made a run for the exit and in the end apparently made it to the Senate.
Is an athlete who doesn't seem to know which of Mexico's two legislative chambers she belongs to really suited to be one of Mexico's 128 Senators? Could not even one of her staffers, advisers, friends, party comrades, anyone, find out about the procedure beforehand?
Truly embarrassing.
Source:
Focos rojos con Washington. El Universal, Aug. 31, 2012
Friday, August 31, 2012
Where in the world is Tomás Yarrington?
He is wanted not just in Mexico, but in 190 countries across the globe: The Mexican government has asked Interpol to arrest former PRI governor of Tamaulipas (1999-2005), Tomás Yarrington Ruvalcaba, for his alleged involvement with the Gulf Cartel in the state.
No one has seen the fugitive governor since a Mexican judge yesterday issued the arrest warrant. Don't expect him to appear in person voluntarily to answer the charges. What I find even more interesting is if - or when - another likely next arrest warrant for another ex-PRI governor will be issued: Yarrington's successor, Eugenio Hernández Flores.
Source:
“Firme, indagatoria contra Yarrington”. El Universal, Aug. 30, 2012
Mexico judge orders arrest of ex-Governor Yarrington. BBC News, Aug. 29, 2012
No one has seen the fugitive governor since a Mexican judge yesterday issued the arrest warrant. Don't expect him to appear in person voluntarily to answer the charges. What I find even more interesting is if - or when - another likely next arrest warrant for another ex-PRI governor will be issued: Yarrington's successor, Eugenio Hernández Flores.
Source:
“Firme, indagatoria contra Yarrington”. El Universal, Aug. 30, 2012
Mexico judge orders arrest of ex-Governor Yarrington. BBC News, Aug. 29, 2012
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Electoral court rejects annulling Mexico 2012 election
A commission of Mexico's TEPJF electoral court tasked with qualifying the 2012 presidential election announced that it proposes to reject as unfounded the complaints of Movimiento Progresista, the electoral coalition behind Andrés Manuel López Obrador's candidacy, where it demanded the annulment of the election, alleging overspending, undue media coverage, custom-made fake polling, and other irregularities
Next, the TEPJF will actually vote on the recommendation tomorrow, and next the court will actually vote to ratify (and theoretically, to not) the PRI's victory, but in essence this all but ensures that Enrique Peña Nieto will sometime in the next few days be declared president-elect of Mexico.
Source:
Rechazan magistrados todas las quejas de la izquierda. La Jornada, Aug. 29, 2012
Desecha Trife impugnación. El Universal, Aug. 29, 2012
Next, the TEPJF will actually vote on the recommendation tomorrow, and next the court will actually vote to ratify (and theoretically, to not) the PRI's victory, but in essence this all but ensures that Enrique Peña Nieto will sometime in the next few days be declared president-elect of Mexico.
Source:
Rechazan magistrados todas las quejas de la izquierda. La Jornada, Aug. 29, 2012
Desecha Trife impugnación. El Universal, Aug. 29, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
World attention for christian cult psychopaths in Michoacán
The psychopathic and criminal thugs of Nueva Jerusalén, in Turicato municpality in Michoacán, are finally getting international attention:
A video from CNN here.
From the BBC, here.
The gutless PRI governor of the state, Fausto Vallejo Figueroa, calls for dialogue with the violent cultists, who destroy schools and pelt children with rocks, and have in the past been involved in rape and abuse scandals of their own brainwashed flock. There seems to be little point in dialogue at this point, yet one likely reason why Vallejo is not moving to arrest the leaders, as he should, is that the town has faithfully, with irony intended, voted PRI since it gained control in the 1970s.
Source:
Mexico cult eyes 'evil' secular schools. CNN, Aug. 23, 2012
Mexico row as religious sect blocks schooling access. BBC World News, Aug. 23, 2012
A video from CNN here.
From the BBC, here.
The gutless PRI governor of the state, Fausto Vallejo Figueroa, calls for dialogue with the violent cultists, who destroy schools and pelt children with rocks, and have in the past been involved in rape and abuse scandals of their own brainwashed flock. There seems to be little point in dialogue at this point, yet one likely reason why Vallejo is not moving to arrest the leaders, as he should, is that the town has faithfully, with irony intended, voted PRI since it gained control in the 1970s.
Source:
Mexico cult eyes 'evil' secular schools. CNN, Aug. 23, 2012
Mexico row as religious sect blocks schooling access. BBC World News, Aug. 23, 2012
AMLO's increasingly bizarre denunciations
I admit I am predisposed to more than a small dose of skepticim to many of the claims of Movimiento Progresista over fraud or other irregularities in the 2012 elections, given that a lot of strong words and denunciations have been hurled the past weeks but very little substantive evidence has appeared.
The behavior of AMLO's campaign coordinator Ricardo Monreal leaves much to be desired in this regard, and I am putting this mildly. He has been shooting off very serious allegations that for sure could be true, but for which he has presented not an iota of concrete evidence.
His recent antics is his most spectacular so far - a law of diminishing returns also applies to fraud accusations, to be sure:
That Agustín Carstens, head of Mexico's central bank, has falsified a document in order to cover up illegal transfer of money to a bank account Monreal claims was used by the PRI campaign. He also has charged him with money laundering and other financial crimes, and said he would go to SIEDO, or the organized crime unit of the attorney general, in order to denounce all this, tomorrow.
I would be very surprised if he has anything at all substantive. Despite supposedly being a lawyer by training, Monreal has at times demonstrated a lack of knowledge of even basic legal and political concepts, in the process discrediting the left's cause even further.
AMLO, however, seems fully convinced of the charges, claiming in his Twitter account that "The Bank of Mexico altered the electronic receipt of a transfer of money to protect Videgaray," a reference to Peña Nieto's campaign manager Luis Videgaray.
Monreal, whom AMLO recruited from the PRI to become PRD governor (he since switched to PT and then MC), is a man who has AMLO's full confidence. Monreal better have something substantive this time, as both he and his boss face complete ridicule if their charge will also be left unsubstantiated.
Source:
Monreal va contra Banxico. El Universal, Aug. 26, 2012
The behavior of AMLO's campaign coordinator Ricardo Monreal leaves much to be desired in this regard, and I am putting this mildly. He has been shooting off very serious allegations that for sure could be true, but for which he has presented not an iota of concrete evidence.
His recent antics is his most spectacular so far - a law of diminishing returns also applies to fraud accusations, to be sure:
That Agustín Carstens, head of Mexico's central bank, has falsified a document in order to cover up illegal transfer of money to a bank account Monreal claims was used by the PRI campaign. He also has charged him with money laundering and other financial crimes, and said he would go to SIEDO, or the organized crime unit of the attorney general, in order to denounce all this, tomorrow.
I would be very surprised if he has anything at all substantive. Despite supposedly being a lawyer by training, Monreal has at times demonstrated a lack of knowledge of even basic legal and political concepts, in the process discrediting the left's cause even further.
AMLO, however, seems fully convinced of the charges, claiming in his Twitter account that "The Bank of Mexico altered the electronic receipt of a transfer of money to protect Videgaray," a reference to Peña Nieto's campaign manager Luis Videgaray.
Monreal, whom AMLO recruited from the PRI to become PRD governor (he since switched to PT and then MC), is a man who has AMLO's full confidence. Monreal better have something substantive this time, as both he and his boss face complete ridicule if their charge will also be left unsubstantiated.
Source:
Monreal va contra Banxico. El Universal, Aug. 26, 2012
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Disturbing violence against political actors in Oaxaca
In Juchitán de Zaragoza municipality in Oaxaca, a disturbing episode of violence against legitimate political actors: The party headquarters of the Partido del Trabajo or Workers Party (PT) wee attacked by two masked gunmen just as the party leadership held a meeting with the campesino/peasant organization Unión Campesina de Oaxaca. One attendee was murdered and another injured in the hail of bullets
None have been apprehended for this atrocity, which is moreover an attack on democracy.
Source:
Deja ataque al PT en Oaxaca un muerto. El Universal, Aug. 26, 2012
None have been apprehended for this atrocity, which is moreover an attack on democracy.
Source:
Deja ataque al PT en Oaxaca un muerto. El Universal, Aug. 26, 2012
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Religious whacks again attack education
Again the religious whacks in Nueva Jerusalén, Michoacán, are attacking the constitutionally guaranteed rights of Mexican children for an education, and again the PRI government of Fausto Vallejo Figueroa is doing nothing to stop them:
For two consecutive days, the pederast-rapist cult led by the "bishop" Martin de Tours has blcoked children in the indigenous community from going to school. Why? Because they don't believe in education, that's why. And as it usually goes with strongly religious individuals or cults, they are not merely content with following their own commandments , but will do everything they can to impose them on others - like it or not. Hence, with the start of the school year, they are now depriving children who are not member of the cult and whose parents want nothing to do with it, from learning.
Governor Fausto Vallejo Figueroa has done nothing so far to arrest these psychopaths, and any action does not look very forthcoming, at least judging from the very cowardly and highly erroneous recent statement from the Secretary of Government Jesús Reyna García,(second in command after the governor): It is a "religious disagreement" that has "nothing to do with education. Of course it has everything to do with education. From 1973 to 2007 there was no school or even health clinic in the village, and the right to education - an an alternative viewpoint to the cultists - is central here.
What political cowardice - kowtowing to a community that also just happens to be ultra-priísta.
Source:
Se recrudece el conficto en la comunidad Nueva Jerusalén; impiden regreso a clases. La Jornada, Aug. 21
Nueva Jerusalén: otra vez impiden inicio de clases. El Universal, Aug. 22, 2012
For two consecutive days, the pederast-rapist cult led by the "bishop" Martin de Tours has blcoked children in the indigenous community from going to school. Why? Because they don't believe in education, that's why. And as it usually goes with strongly religious individuals or cults, they are not merely content with following their own commandments , but will do everything they can to impose them on others - like it or not. Hence, with the start of the school year, they are now depriving children who are not member of the cult and whose parents want nothing to do with it, from learning.
Governor Fausto Vallejo Figueroa has done nothing so far to arrest these psychopaths, and any action does not look very forthcoming, at least judging from the very cowardly and highly erroneous recent statement from the Secretary of Government Jesús Reyna García,(second in command after the governor): It is a "religious disagreement" that has "nothing to do with education. Of course it has everything to do with education. From 1973 to 2007 there was no school or even health clinic in the village, and the right to education - an an alternative viewpoint to the cultists - is central here.
What political cowardice - kowtowing to a community that also just happens to be ultra-priísta.
Source:
Se recrudece el conficto en la comunidad Nueva Jerusalén; impiden regreso a clases. La Jornada, Aug. 21
Nueva Jerusalén: otra vez impiden inicio de clases. El Universal, Aug. 22, 2012
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Range of IFE verdicts against the left
* IFE rejected the left's request to push forward an audit the presidential campaign. Instead it will be held at a much later point, and certainly after the inauguration.
* Against the protests of IFE councilor Alfredo Figueroa, IFE voted 8-1 to exonerate Peña Nieto and Televisa from any accusations of illegal or covert campaign in favor of the PRI candidate, despite the exposes of the newspaper The Guardian of a pact between the newscaster and PRI to actively promote his candidacy. No Televisa employee was asked to testify. Figueroa noted, "It is obvious that no investigation was done in order to get closer to the elements of this case."
*IFE fined the left's Movimiento Progresista 1.5 million pesos over an ad called "Thousands of proofs" deeming it injurious to PRI and Peña Nieto. Days earlier it had rejected any fine and allowed it in the name of free speech. Alfredo Figueroa, Lorenzo Córdova and Benito Nacif voted against; council president Leonardo Valdés and the remaining councilors voted in favor. Valdés has particularly the past year increasingly appeared unfriendly to the PRD, to put it mildly, which likely regrets its original backing of him to become IFE president.
Together, the incidents have led PRD leader Zambrano to suggest outright that IFE favors the PRI.
Source:
Inconforma a la izquierda decisión del IFE. La Jornada, Aug. 15, 2012
Zambrano: IFE favorece al PRI. El Universal, Aug. 18, 2012
Exculpa el IFE a Peña Nieto y Televisa por campaña encubierta. La Jornada, Aug. 17, 2012
El instituto multa con casi millón y medio al Movimiento Progresista. La Jornada, Aug. 17, 2012
* Against the protests of IFE councilor Alfredo Figueroa, IFE voted 8-1 to exonerate Peña Nieto and Televisa from any accusations of illegal or covert campaign in favor of the PRI candidate, despite the exposes of the newspaper The Guardian of a pact between the newscaster and PRI to actively promote his candidacy. No Televisa employee was asked to testify. Figueroa noted, "It is obvious that no investigation was done in order to get closer to the elements of this case."
*IFE fined the left's Movimiento Progresista 1.5 million pesos over an ad called "Thousands of proofs" deeming it injurious to PRI and Peña Nieto. Days earlier it had rejected any fine and allowed it in the name of free speech. Alfredo Figueroa, Lorenzo Córdova and Benito Nacif voted against; council president Leonardo Valdés and the remaining councilors voted in favor. Valdés has particularly the past year increasingly appeared unfriendly to the PRD, to put it mildly, which likely regrets its original backing of him to become IFE president.
Together, the incidents have led PRD leader Zambrano to suggest outright that IFE favors the PRI.
Source:
Inconforma a la izquierda decisión del IFE. La Jornada, Aug. 15, 2012
Zambrano: IFE favorece al PRI. El Universal, Aug. 18, 2012
Exculpa el IFE a Peña Nieto y Televisa por campaña encubierta. La Jornada, Aug. 17, 2012
El instituto multa con casi millón y medio al Movimiento Progresista. La Jornada, Aug. 17, 2012
Friday, August 17, 2012
Left summit says it will respect election tribunal ruling
A summit of leftwing forces in Mexico - legislators of the PRD, MC, PT, and notably sitting and newly elected governors of Oaxaca, Guerrero, Tabasco, Morelos, and Mexico - proclaimed at its summit Cumbre de la izquierda mexicana in Guerrero that it will seek unity to promote leftwing causes in Congress as well as through its 4 governors and Chief of the Federal District/Mexico City mayor in a broad coalition.
It also notably stated it will respect the upcoming verdict from the TEPJF, Mexico's electoral tribunal, on the 2012 presidential elections. More notably still, the left's 2012 candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) did not appear at the event.
It also vowed to promote a left agenda that will reject abrogation of worker rights, privatize the PEMEX oil company, or raise VAT on foods and medicines. Little was mentioned, it seems of a more constructive or propositive program: Its manifesto, however welcome for the left as a broad statement of purpose, still reads nonetheless primarily as a reactive agenda.
Ebrard: izquierda impulsará consensos. El Universal, Aug. 16, 2012
El TEPJF debe hacer valer la ley y acataremos su fallo. La Jornada, Aug. 16, 2012
Seguirá la lucha tras el fallo del Tribunal: PRD. El Universal, Aug. 17, 2012
Luchar para devolver la banda de 2.5 a MVS, acuerda la izquierda. La Jornada, Aug. 17, 2012
It also notably stated it will respect the upcoming verdict from the TEPJF, Mexico's electoral tribunal, on the 2012 presidential elections. More notably still, the left's 2012 candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) did not appear at the event.
It also vowed to promote a left agenda that will reject abrogation of worker rights, privatize the PEMEX oil company, or raise VAT on foods and medicines. Little was mentioned, it seems of a more constructive or propositive program: Its manifesto, however welcome for the left as a broad statement of purpose, still reads nonetheless primarily as a reactive agenda.
Ebrard: izquierda impulsará consensos. El Universal, Aug. 16, 2012
El TEPJF debe hacer valer la ley y acataremos su fallo. La Jornada, Aug. 16, 2012
Seguirá la lucha tras el fallo del Tribunal: PRD. El Universal, Aug. 17, 2012
Luchar para devolver la banda de 2.5 a MVS, acuerda la izquierda. La Jornada, Aug. 17, 2012
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Dramatic turn in Mexico media scandal: MVSgate
This is truly preposterous: The director of the MVS Comunicaciones media group, whose TV concession provides a rare alternative to Mexico's electronic media duopoly dominated by the infamous Televisa and TV Azteca, has confirmed what many has suspected: The PAN government of Felipe Calderón has launched a political attack on the station.
The government's decision to put up MVS's concession claiming that it is under-utilizing its 2.5 GHz bandwidth appears only to have been an excuse, as MVS head Joaquín Vargas Guajardo confirmed that the government told him its license would only be renewed if he fired the renowned investigative journalist Carmen Aristegui, as well as to desist from an earlier MVS complaint against a proposed Televisa purchase of Iusacell, a cell phone provider.
This hit the front pages of El Universal today. With Vargas' claim, the MVS scandal - let's just call it MVSgate - drastically deepens. According to Vargas, Javier Lozano, then federal secretary of work, told him, "we've found that you're 2.5 GHz project has merit, but if you rehire that journalist, your project is fucked and you can forget about this government until its last day."
What a way to go out for Calderón: Political persecution of the media.
Source:
Se agrava crisis por la banda ancha. El Universal, Aug. 16, 2012
The government's decision to put up MVS's concession claiming that it is under-utilizing its 2.5 GHz bandwidth appears only to have been an excuse, as MVS head Joaquín Vargas Guajardo confirmed that the government told him its license would only be renewed if he fired the renowned investigative journalist Carmen Aristegui, as well as to desist from an earlier MVS complaint against a proposed Televisa purchase of Iusacell, a cell phone provider.
This hit the front pages of El Universal today. With Vargas' claim, the MVS scandal - let's just call it MVSgate - drastically deepens. According to Vargas, Javier Lozano, then federal secretary of work, told him, "we've found that you're 2.5 GHz project has merit, but if you rehire that journalist, your project is fucked and you can forget about this government until its last day."
What a way to go out for Calderón: Political persecution of the media.
Source:
Se agrava crisis por la banda ancha. El Universal, Aug. 16, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Mexico's new congressional leaders
With the election today of PRD's new coordinators, all three major parties in Mexico have now chosen their congressional leaders for the foreseeable future (up to three years for the Chamber of Deputies, and six for the Senate).
PAN: For the Senate, Calderón managed to install the inept Ernesto Cordero as coordinator of the PAN's legislative group. Yet for Chamber leader, PAN chose Luis Alberto Villarreal, ex-mayor of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, who is loyal to PAN leader Gustavo Madero, in conflict with Calderón over control of the party. One for each one.
For PRI, its former Senate coordinator Manlio Fabio Beltrones will now take on that role in the Chamber, while Emilio Gamboa Patrón will lead the PRI's Senate group - he was coordinator for its Chamber group 2006-9, and after that became head of CNOP, PRI's "popular sector."
Say what you will about Beltrones and Gamboa, but the "New PRI" they ain't.
For PRD, the Nueva Izquierda social-democratic faction critical of AMLO won control of the Senate group, with Miguel Barbosa Huerta. They notably also won control of the Chamber coordinator, with ex-senator and ex-candidate of Michoacán governor Silvano Aureoles Conejo, who although he is a member of another party current (Foro Nuevo Sol) is regarded as very close to NI.
Don't expect PRD's new coordinators to follow any renewed calls for "legislative strikes," which AMLO so often proclaimed in 2007-9.
Source:
Elige PRI a coordinadores en el Congreso. El Universal, Aug. 9, 2012
PAN: Cordero y Villarreal, coordinadores en Congreso. El Universal, Aug. 14, 2012
Lanzan a “matador” al ruedo de San Lázaro. El Universal, Aug. 14, 2012
Define PRD jefes de bancadas. El Universal, Aug. 15, 2012
PAN: For the Senate, Calderón managed to install the inept Ernesto Cordero as coordinator of the PAN's legislative group. Yet for Chamber leader, PAN chose Luis Alberto Villarreal, ex-mayor of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, who is loyal to PAN leader Gustavo Madero, in conflict with Calderón over control of the party. One for each one.
For PRI, its former Senate coordinator Manlio Fabio Beltrones will now take on that role in the Chamber, while Emilio Gamboa Patrón will lead the PRI's Senate group - he was coordinator for its Chamber group 2006-9, and after that became head of CNOP, PRI's "popular sector."
Say what you will about Beltrones and Gamboa, but the "New PRI" they ain't.
For PRD, the Nueva Izquierda social-democratic faction critical of AMLO won control of the Senate group, with Miguel Barbosa Huerta. They notably also won control of the Chamber coordinator, with ex-senator and ex-candidate of Michoacán governor Silvano Aureoles Conejo, who although he is a member of another party current (Foro Nuevo Sol) is regarded as very close to NI.
Don't expect PRD's new coordinators to follow any renewed calls for "legislative strikes," which AMLO so often proclaimed in 2007-9.
Source:
Elige PRI a coordinadores en el Congreso. El Universal, Aug. 9, 2012
PAN: Cordero y Villarreal, coordinadores en Congreso. El Universal, Aug. 14, 2012
Lanzan a “matador” al ruedo de San Lázaro. El Universal, Aug. 14, 2012
Define PRD jefes de bancadas. El Universal, Aug. 15, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012
Calderón faces PAN after the defeat
Calderón faced the PAN's national council this weekend, where a low-key but nonetheless intensive fight is playing out over the future of the party. In essence, Calderón wants to hold some kind of "refoundational congress" or a party congress (PAN calls "Asamblea Nacional) while he is still in power, obviously given that his clout will be drastically on the wane when he leaves office. Most deputies and leaders of state branches opposes this, preferring instead one in the spring of 2013, when his presidency is over. So does Gustavo Madero, PAN's president, and an antagonist of Calderón
Instead, some kind of compromise appears to have been knitted behind the scenes where a commission will be set up to decide when the next party congress will be held. But even if Calderón has a majority of loyalists on this commission, it seems very unlikely that he'll manage to block its postponement. As such, he faced a clear defeat this weekend.
During his speech, in an extremely rare moment of self-criticism, he said he and PAN had "shared responsibility" for the July 1 results, but also emphasizes that the PAN did a poor job of promoting the "achievements" of his administration. Earlier he made the statement that PAN had presented to many "pygmy candidates" in a meeting with PAN elites in late July.
Others might instead point out that Calderón's PAN has been corrupted and run into the ground much thanks to his very control of it, including the PRI-style dedazos he used to pick two terrible party presidents. It was a sign of his waning control that Gustavo Madero was not his favorite. Nor was Josefina Vázquez Mota.
Calderón is estimated to maintain the loyalty of only around 120 of 380 councilors, or 1/3.
Madero's group is estimated at around 100. With around 60 councilors, those who can tip the balance are regarded the most conservative of its groups, represented by its secretary general Cecilia Romero Castillo (who was an absolute disaster as head of the INM migrants institute) and Juan Manuel Oliva Ramírez (who was an absolute disaster as governor of Guanajuato).
The PAN is need of a refoundation for sure, but while Calderón obviously thinks it needs more calderonismo, perhaps through his wife's 2018 candidacy, many others in the party regard this not as the cure, but as the very cancer the party has suffered from.
Source:
Calderón llega con desventaja al Consejo Nacional del PAN. El Universal, Aug. 11, 2012
Requiere el PAN cambio con rapidez, dice FCH. El Universal, Aug. 10, 2012.
FCH: tuvo el PAN candidatos pigmeos. El Universal, July 27, 2012
Panistas ponen fecha para iniciar la "refundación". El Universal, Aug. 12, 2012.
Madero, contra reflexión rápida. El Universal, Aug. 12, 2012.
Derrotan a Calderón en el consejo del PAN; la reforma, hasta 2013. La Jornada, Aug. 12, 2012
Clientelismo y ruptura moral de AN, causa de la derrota: Calderón.La Jornada, Aug. 12, 2012
Instead, some kind of compromise appears to have been knitted behind the scenes where a commission will be set up to decide when the next party congress will be held. But even if Calderón has a majority of loyalists on this commission, it seems very unlikely that he'll manage to block its postponement. As such, he faced a clear defeat this weekend.
During his speech, in an extremely rare moment of self-criticism, he said he and PAN had "shared responsibility" for the July 1 results, but also emphasizes that the PAN did a poor job of promoting the "achievements" of his administration. Earlier he made the statement that PAN had presented to many "pygmy candidates" in a meeting with PAN elites in late July.
Others might instead point out that Calderón's PAN has been corrupted and run into the ground much thanks to his very control of it, including the PRI-style dedazos he used to pick two terrible party presidents. It was a sign of his waning control that Gustavo Madero was not his favorite. Nor was Josefina Vázquez Mota.
Calderón is estimated to maintain the loyalty of only around 120 of 380 councilors, or 1/3.
Madero's group is estimated at around 100. With around 60 councilors, those who can tip the balance are regarded the most conservative of its groups, represented by its secretary general Cecilia Romero Castillo (who was an absolute disaster as head of the INM migrants institute) and Juan Manuel Oliva Ramírez (who was an absolute disaster as governor of Guanajuato).
The PAN is need of a refoundation for sure, but while Calderón obviously thinks it needs more calderonismo, perhaps through his wife's 2018 candidacy, many others in the party regard this not as the cure, but as the very cancer the party has suffered from.
Source:
Calderón llega con desventaja al Consejo Nacional del PAN. El Universal, Aug. 11, 2012
Requiere el PAN cambio con rapidez, dice FCH. El Universal, Aug. 10, 2012.
FCH: tuvo el PAN candidatos pigmeos. El Universal, July 27, 2012
Panistas ponen fecha para iniciar la "refundación". El Universal, Aug. 12, 2012.
Madero, contra reflexión rápida. El Universal, Aug. 12, 2012.
Derrotan a Calderón en el consejo del PAN; la reforma, hasta 2013. La Jornada, Aug. 12, 2012
Clientelismo y ruptura moral de AN, causa de la derrota: Calderón.La Jornada, Aug. 12, 2012
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Peña Nieto's narco photos
The PRI politician Rafael Humberto Celaya Valenzuela was arrested in Spain Friday with other presumed members of the Sinaloa cartel. Here are two photos of Celaya with, as he is referred to in media these days, "the candidate who received the most votes in the presidential election" (pending the tribunal verdict in September): Enrique Peña Nieto.
Mexican drug cartel members arrested in Spain. Al Jazeera, Aug. 10, 2012
Calderón signs thinned-out political reform
Calderón's political reform - it is referred to as the political reform, as it was originally a relatively broad-reaching and comprehensive proposal when it was launched in 2009, and is the only major such during his sexenio - was signed by the president last week. It includes 8 components:
* Citizen initiatives (to be introduced into Congress)
* Independent candidacies (but not for president)
* Popular consultations allowed (referenda)
* "Preferential initiative" from the president (a type of fast-track authority where president can send two initiatives per congressional period to be voted on within 30 days)
* Review of the public accounts prolonged one month
* Senate will ratify regulatory organs of telecommunications, energy, and economic competition
* Presidential succession established if something happens to the executive (the Interior Secretary would take over until Congress names an interim or substitute president)
* Alternative ways for presidential swearing-in (recall 2006 here)
Key original components that Congress removed from the reform, and which interior secretary Alejandro Poiré designated "pending," are: reelection of lawmakers and mayors, reducing number of lawmakers, a second round in the presidential election, allowing Supreme Court to present law initiatives, presidential veto over budget, and others.
Here's a graphic from El Universal on the changes:
Source:
Ocho cambios en materia política. El Universal, Aug. 9, 2012
Calderón firma decreto de la reforma política. El Universal, Aug. 9, 2012
Promulga Calderón la reforma política. La Jornada, Aug. 9, 2012
* Citizen initiatives (to be introduced into Congress)
* Independent candidacies (but not for president)
* Popular consultations allowed (referenda)
* "Preferential initiative" from the president (a type of fast-track authority where president can send two initiatives per congressional period to be voted on within 30 days)
* Review of the public accounts prolonged one month
* Senate will ratify regulatory organs of telecommunications, energy, and economic competition
* Presidential succession established if something happens to the executive (the Interior Secretary would take over until Congress names an interim or substitute president)
* Alternative ways for presidential swearing-in (recall 2006 here)
Key original components that Congress removed from the reform, and which interior secretary Alejandro Poiré designated "pending," are: reelection of lawmakers and mayors, reducing number of lawmakers, a second round in the presidential election, allowing Supreme Court to present law initiatives, presidential veto over budget, and others.
Here's a graphic from El Universal on the changes:
 |
| El Universal |
Ocho cambios en materia política. El Universal, Aug. 9, 2012
Calderón firma decreto de la reforma política. El Universal, Aug. 9, 2012
Promulga Calderón la reforma política. La Jornada, Aug. 9, 2012
Former mayor murdered for refusing drug gangs
Former mayor Margarito Genchi Casiano of Florencio Villarreal, Guerrero, was murdered in June ahead of the elections when he sought to become a local deputy in the legislature.
According to authorities, which have now arrested six presumed culprits from the fittingly entitled outfit Comando del Diablo, Genchi was murdered because he "did not want to align" with them.
A sad story that again belies the charade that only those guilty of "something" are the ones who die in Calderón's war.
Source:
Caen seis presuntos asesinos de ex edil. El Universal, Aug. 9, 2012
According to authorities, which have now arrested six presumed culprits from the fittingly entitled outfit Comando del Diablo, Genchi was murdered because he "did not want to align" with them.
A sad story that again belies the charade that only those guilty of "something" are the ones who die in Calderón's war.
Source:
Caen seis presuntos asesinos de ex edil. El Universal, Aug. 9, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Aguachile relaunch
Summer's almost gone, at least in Norway where I have stayed the past months working on my book on the PRD and the Mexican left, which I hope will be out on this side of 2012. The blog has very much suffered as a result, but with a book off to the publisher as of Friday night - duly celebrated with copious amounts of oak-aged tequila - it is a fitting occasion to take stock of this blog, which I've maintained and updated several times weekly for two years now, even if much neglected the past few months.
I've been very happy to see the blog's view hits rise steadily the past years, and I've interpreted this, perhaps a tad pretentiously, to mean that it has helped fill a niche on blogging in English on domestic Mexican topics and particularly party politics. This, and the great conversations and new contacts and friends that have come out of it already, encourages me to keep on blogging, or essentially to share some thoughts on what I think are important topics in Mexico that deserves more attention, and that perhaps are overshadowed particularly by the ill-fated "war" on Mexico's drug gangs, more correctly the mafia.
I made a big decision some months ago to resign from the college where I have been teaching for three years, and which hired me right after finishing my U.S. Ph.D. There were many reasons involved, but in essence my wife and I found that it was time to make a move after many years in the United States. I also wanted to pursue other interests beyond teaching at a liberal arts college, which in many ways was more exciting than I imagined, but in other ways also somewhat disillusioning from what I had expected. My two bases will now be Norway and Mexico.
I've used the blog as a companion to my own academic writing on Mexico, and I've created it solely because of a passion for Mexican politics, which became my field of study. It has been a fantastic medium to reach and interact with others who share my love for the country and a deep interest in its politics.
I've been very happy to see the blog's view hits rise steadily the past years, and I've interpreted this, perhaps a tad pretentiously, to mean that it has helped fill a niche on blogging in English on domestic Mexican topics and particularly party politics. This, and the great conversations and new contacts and friends that have come out of it already, encourages me to keep on blogging, or essentially to share some thoughts on what I think are important topics in Mexico that deserves more attention, and that perhaps are overshadowed particularly by the ill-fated "war" on Mexico's drug gangs, more correctly the mafia.
I am a trained political scientist but no security specialist, and in any regard a range of excellent sources already exist on this topic - and I am not referring to Stratfor. Given a change of jobs, and the coming to an end of my book, I will also have more time available: What disillusioned me perhaps more than anything about working in a U.S. academic environment, wonderfully rigorous and professional as it is, was the extreme workload and lack of sufficient own time. I therefore plan to continue the blog in one way or another, though I have yet to settle on the coming format. In the meantime I only want to say thanks to those who have stopped by here already and who I hope to interact with even more in the future.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Church stabs Alejandro Solalinde, migrant defender, in the back
Alejandro Solalinde, tireless defender of Latin American migrants in Mexico, has been threatened and harassed by organized crime countless times, but nothing has prevented him from maintaining and running a migrants shelter in Ixepec, Oaxaca, the Hermanos en el Camino, and speaking their cause. Now he may be forced to leave the shelter after being stabbed in the back, figuratively speaking, by his own bishop, Óscar Armando Campos Contreras of Tehuantepec.
Solalinde said the bishop had asked him to leave the shelter by November:
Let's hope it is.
Whoever is right here, I'll let Solalinde have the final word:
Source:
Dejará Solalinde albergue; seguirá en el activismo. El Universal, Aug. 8, 2012.
Solalinde sigue en albergue: obispo. El Universal, Aug. 9, 2012.
Solalinde said the bishop had asked him to leave the shelter by November:
"This how he put it, that I was a protagonist. He is a conservative for sure and that's no problem, the problem is that with his power he does to me what no criminal group had been capable of... I don't know if there is a hidden motive... I can fight against cartels but not against the Church," he said in an interview with El Universal.It seems the bishop of Tehuantepec got cold feet: In today's El Universal he said that he had never told Solalinde such a thing, and that it was a strange misunderstanding.
Let's hope it is.
Whoever is right here, I'll let Solalinde have the final word:
I do not think this is very evangelical. I was told to devote myself to the poor in my free time only, but the poor should get more than 'leftovers.' So I will not take a parish.
Source:
Dejará Solalinde albergue; seguirá en el activismo. El Universal, Aug. 8, 2012.
Solalinde sigue en albergue: obispo. El Universal, Aug. 9, 2012.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Why is IFE's Valdes provoking the left?
Strange days at Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute, IFE. Relations were already strained with the left given some quite erratic earlier comments from the president of IFE's general council, Leonardo Valdés, and they will not be better after this:
- The IFE president, highly unusually, took on the role as defender of Mexico's polling agencies, lauding them for their methodology and professionalism, despite the obvious poor performance of quite a few of them ahead of this election. This contradicted earlier statements from IFE that IFE had no role to play or nothing to say regarding the performance of pollsters.
- Valdés went on to directly respond to a criticism from PRD's representative, sarcastically pointing out that if the left was so critical of GEA-ISA, which consistently inflated Peña Nieto's real support upwards of 18 or so percent, why didn't it complain about its polls in Mexico City, where the left one? This is a complete non sequitur if there ever was one, on so many levels, and a frivolous question that the IFE head even repeated on two occasions.
Why is Valdés so bent on provoking the left?
Source: Defiende Valdés los sondeos de GEA- ISA y critica al representante del PRD. La Jornada, July 27, 2012.
- The IFE president, highly unusually, took on the role as defender of Mexico's polling agencies, lauding them for their methodology and professionalism, despite the obvious poor performance of quite a few of them ahead of this election. This contradicted earlier statements from IFE that IFE had no role to play or nothing to say regarding the performance of pollsters.
- Valdés went on to directly respond to a criticism from PRD's representative, sarcastically pointing out that if the left was so critical of GEA-ISA, which consistently inflated Peña Nieto's real support upwards of 18 or so percent, why didn't it complain about its polls in Mexico City, where the left one? This is a complete non sequitur if there ever was one, on so many levels, and a frivolous question that the IFE head even repeated on two occasions.
Why is Valdés so bent on provoking the left?
Source: Defiende Valdés los sondeos de GEA- ISA y critica al representante del PRD. La Jornada, July 27, 2012.
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