Aguachile

Graco, who introduced AMLO to Cárdenas, governor candidate

2012-02-10T23:44:00.003-05:00

Senator Graco Ramírez (PRD), the man who in 1988 introduced AMLO to Cárdenas (when the latter sought to recruit him to run as opposition candidate to PRI as governor of Tabasco), will himself finally be the candidate of the left to be governor of Morelos, it was announced yesterday

Ramírez stands a pretty good chance, both thanks to the relative strength of the PRD apparatus there, and due to his own popularity within Morelos. Suerte.

Profiles of Josefina Vázquez Mota, The Guardian

2012-02-09T21:42:00.001-05:00

A Josefina Vázquez Mota profile in The Guardian (by Luis Hernández Navarro, opinion editor of La Jornada) is well worth a read. It draws attention to traits pretty much ignored the past days, such a quite worrisome one:

Her religious zeal.

Also, from the very sharp Shannon O'Neil, a profile in Foreign Affairs.My only quibble is that while she notes the PAN candidate has "substantial political experience," she could also have dug a bit more to note that she has, either in government or as a federal deputy, achieved very, very little.

Indeed, except from a public spat with Elba Esther Gordillo, I can't hardly even remember her grabbing the limelight for anything substantial the past six years.

Chiapas: Senator Orantes left's governor candidate

2012-02-09T21:36:00.002-05:00

It's a classic story: María Elena Orantes López is a senator, and was until recently a prominent member of the PRI - until that party denied her the nomination to be its gubernatorial candidate in Chiapas.

The left stepped in, negotiated, and Manuel Camacho Solís, coordinator of the PRD-PT-MC-MORENA electoral alliance, just announced her candidacy for the left coalition to be 2012-18 governor of Chiapas..

The mayor of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Yassir Vázquez (PRD) is not happy. He was also the delfín of current governor Juan Sabines (also an ex-PRI member recruited by the left when, you got it, he, too, was denied its nomination in 2006), and need to be awarded some kind of consolation price.

Given that the PRI is also in turmoil in Chiapas for much of the same reasons, Orantes stands a good chance of winning, and was also strongly backed by AMLO, who noted her alleged progressive record as Senator.

We'll see.

Three million more poor in three years

2012-02-09T21:22:00.001-05:00

What a damning indictment of PAN and Calderón's social and economic policies: According to CONEVAL, there are now 3.2 million poor in Mexico when compared with 2008. Mexico's indigenous are particularly hard hit:

Of the indigenous population, 40.5% have nutritional deficiencies, exacerbated by their condition of marginality and exclusion.

See CONEVAL's full report here.

Josefina Vázquez Mota is running, much like Calderón in 2006, on a campaign of continuity with PAN's policies. For the poor of Mexico, that is a terrible choice.

2012 election: It could hardly be more fascinating

2012-02-08T10:55:00.001-05:00

I venture the 2012 election is even more exciting and interesting and possibly consequential than 2000:

* It could be the return of the PRI, a dreadful scenario
* It could be the victory of Mexico's first women president, a remarkable historic development
* It could be the first victory of the left in Mexico's history, also a remarkable achievement

I rank these in reverse preference order, and instead in order of likelihood.
Yet things are far more open now than I ever thought imaginable when 2011 rang out.

Historic front page of La Jornada today

2012-02-08T10:49:00.003-05:00

The front page of La Jornada today:

La Jornada

Cárdenas strongly backs AMLO - and gay marriage!

2012-02-08T10:36:00.002-05:00

Now this is what I call a remarkable evolution, and for both parties involved.
First, hats off to Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas: In his manifest "A Mexico for all," he comes strongly out in favor of gay rights, including marriage and adoption, as well as reproductive rights for women. Bravo! The evolution of Cárdenas toward the agenda of the modern, international and socially liberal left is very welcome, and speaks volumes of this man's character.

Yet there is more: It is news in itself that AMLO and Cárdenas meet, given the bitter and likely consequential fights between them in the past (Had they been resolved in 2006, for instance, AMLO might now be president). They just did for the presentation of Cárdenas' project (available here), where the three-time presidential candidate now came out strongly in favor of AMLO's candidacy.

Yet then AMLO actually declares he supports Cárdenas' manifest, including all said socially liberal issues. This is nothing short of remarkable, given that AMLO has long been quite conservative on the social front, never touching the abortion issue and moreover operating actively against gay marriage in Mexico City (details to follow in my upcoming book).

Let's repeat it, as it begs so: AMLO declares in favor of promoting abortion rights and gay rights for his presidential campaign.

And a remarkable photo of left unity:

Terra

In terms of left evolution and left unity, the importance of these developments should not be understated. As Joe Biden would put it, it's a...

Another politician with no shame: Zeferino Torreblanca,

2012-02-07T21:40:00.002-05:00

Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo was a professional politician for the PRD from 1992 until 2010, despite never bothering to become a member of the party. When he failed to have his chosen successor imposed as the PRD candidate in 2010, he very publicly broke with the party, which he referred to as "bandits, mercenaries, poisoners."

His abysmal administration is currently being audited.

Yet Torreblanca - to recall, a former governor - is hardly done with politics, and now aims for the mayorship of Acapulco - for the PAN.

PAN is almost non-existent in Guerrero, and apparently they see in Torreblanca the possibility to make inroads in the state, yet given his unpopularity I doubt he'll stand a chance - and only serve to label the Guerrero PAN as highly opportunistic.

The Rick Santorum of Guanajuato

2012-02-07T21:16:00.003-05:00

Here's a profile of Miguel Márquez Márquez, who won the PAN's primary to be its candidate for governor in Guanajuato, a stronghold for the party it is highly expected to win.

Márquez Márquez, a member of the far-right catholic Yunque and a staunch social conservative, is essentially the Santorum Santorum of Guanajuato.

El Yunque wins in Guanajuato: Miguel Márquez Márquez wins

2012-02-07T08:57:00.004-05:00

Other key PAN candidates were elected this Sunday:

Guanajuato: Miguel Márquez Márquez won over former health secretary José Ángel Córdova Villalobos to be PAN's gubernatorial candidate in Guanajuato in 2012 - and given PAN's strength in the state, that makes him very likely its next governor. Márquez was the anointed successor of current governor Juan Manuel Oliva, and is also very close to the catholic extremist organization El Yunque, which nonetheless reportedly is divided internally these days. It was also another defeat for Calderón and also Fox, who both backed Córdova.

Jaliasco: PAN chose Fernando Guzmán, a pure yunquista, as its candidate. PAN has run the state since 1992 but will also face two strong candidates: Mayor Enrique Alfaro Ramírez of Tlajomulco de Zúñiga (of the larger Guadalajara metro area) for the left, and Guadalajara mayor Jorge Aristóteles Sandoval Díaz of the PRI.

AMLO will introduce revocation of mandate

2012-02-06T20:54:00.003-05:00

Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) said yesterday he would introduce the mechanism of "revocation of mandate," where his presidency could end prematurely if enough of Mexico's citizen in a referendum voted to "revoke" his mandate.

Yet AMLO would take this mechanism (as far as I know pioneered by Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and one of the despairingly few positive institutional developments under his rule), one step further:

Not only would this exercise be allowed, but AMLO would make it obligatory, whereby every two years, he would submit to some kind of referendum on his mandate.

Obligatorily.

PAN's Superbowl: Vázquez Mota wins primary for the presidency

2012-02-05T21:42:00.001-05:00

She needed to win a majority of 50 percent plus one vote, or at least 37 percent with 5 percent difference to number two.

She did: With 55 percent to Cordero's 38.1, Vázquez Mota will be the presidential candidate for the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) in 2012 (with around 90 percent counted).

Former interior secretary Santiago Creel, who was the first to declare his candidacy, had earlier conceded.
Now let's wait and see if Cordero does the same, or whether he will protest the outcome.

(While a national primary, PAN's strength and the brunt of its militants are found in 10 states: Veracruz, Estado de México, Jalisco, Mexico City, Puebla, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Yucatán, Sonora and Guanajuato.)

This was a remarkably dirty campaign, with very nasty labels hurled around (Cordero's description of JVM as "intolerant and anti-democratic" perhaps the most offensive of these.)

Now the question is, to be sure, who she will pull votes from. It seems to me that Enrique Peña Nieto will be the loser here; I bet a bottle of Mexico's finest that he would have preferred Cordero.

This is truly historic: For the first time, one of Mexico's major party will have a women candidate. Good for them!

The catholic church and the drug war

2012-02-05T15:27:00.005-05:00

A recent article well worth reading from The Christian Science Monitor, entitled "Growing Catholic divide over Mexico drug war," portrays José Raúl Vera López of Saltillo, the very progressive-minded bishop of Saltillo:

Bishop José Raúl Vera López of Mexico has never shied away from controversy, defending unpopular minorities ranging from illegal migrants to prostitutes.

Now, as violence between Mexican drug traffickers and security forces pushes the drug war's five-year death toll over 45,000, the Roman Catholic bishop is taking on the government. He claims that corrupt officials are allying with criminals to skim drug profits and using the military to murder criminals who might reveal any collusion

Roderic Ai Camp is cited as suggesting the main reason the church is generally staying out of commenting on the drug "war" is out of desire not to undermine Mexico's security institutions. Camp has few rivals when it comes to the breadth and scope of his research and knowledge of Mexico, but he has often gone way too soft on the church in his writing, and I think this claim only reflects one reason why the church is not saying/doing more - and not only that of the generous "narco donations," though that reason surely warrants mention.

35,000 teachers march in Mexico City

2012-02-04T11:45:00.001-05:00

Teachers in Oaxaca, mostly "dissidents" in that they are opposed to the national teacher union SNTE and instead belong to the rival CNTE, have a bad fame for spending very little of their work hours in the classroom and instead out on the road protesting or operating for electoral purposes.

Now they've been joined by other, mostly CNTE-affiliated teachers, from Chiapas, Guerrero, and Michoacán and other states in a huge 35,000-strong protest in Mexico City.

Some of their demands are just: Democratization of the ultra-corrupt SNTE teacher union led by Elba Esther Gordillo. They also have legitimate concerns over the overhaul of ISSTE, changing the terms for retirement pensions and health care to public workers, though this was passed more than four years ago and was arguably needed to avoid complete bankruptcy of the system.

Yet what is their major demand? They refuse to be subject to any tests of their qualifications whatsoever, as proposed in the Alianza por la Calidad de la Educación. No comprehensive entrance exams, no tests later on to see if they are actually qualified to teach Mexico's children and youth, which Mexico's poor educational ratings suggest they may not be.

Is this really a fair and just cause, worth leaving hundreds of thousands of children without school, for as long as the strike last, and shutting down Mexico City in the process?

Strange days in Mexican politics

2012-02-04T11:31:00.003-05:00

Some very unexpected pronouncements in Mexican politics the past days:

* Former president Vicente Fox lauds social programs pioneered by AMLO when he was Mexico City mayor, such as the monthly stipends for the elderly. Fox, who ignominiously sought to bar AMLO from the 2006 contest, and on numerous times joined the dirty and often illegal media campaign against him.

* Liberal intellectual Enrique Krauze, who coined the term "Tropical Messiah" and wrote a scathing essay in the high-brow Letras Libres magazine that likely greatly damaged AMLO ahead of the 2006 election, in a TV program with Sergio Aguayo deemed AMLO a "clean man" untainted by corruption and - the kicker - that he would even consider voting for him!

Strange days, indeed.

Mexico public sector debt: 32.4% of GDP

2012-02-03T11:18:00.001-05:00

Milenio reports that Mexico's public sector debt has gone from 17.5 percent of its gross domestic product in 2007, to 21.2 in 2008, 30 percent in 2009, 30.5 in 2010, and for 2011, 32.4 percent of GDP.

Here's a graphic portrayal of the quite dramatic increase, more than a doubling:

Milenio

Outrageous brazenness of the Veracruz government

2012-02-01T14:56:00.001-05:00

It's a plot out of a movie: A man carries a suitcase of 25 million pesos to the airport to pay off a dubious company, but gets arrested by the federal police in the last moment.

That person was Vicente Benítez González, treasurer of the Veracruz government of PRI Governor Javier Duarte de Ochoa. The governor first sheepishly stated there was absolutely nothing wrong here; the secretary was merely carrying out payment to "Industria 3," responsible for arranging some upcoming festivals in the state.

Really? Since when has it become common to pay debts in cash, which is unsafe and moreover illegal? Yet Duarte and Secretary of Finance Tomás Ruiz still maintained this line that nothing was remotely wrong, and that the payment was simply in cash because the company urgently needed the money, for festivals weeks and months into the future.

As PRD intellectual and pre-candidate for Congress Fernando Belaunzarán, put it in his blog,

Nothing adds up in this case, which goes against even the most elementary logic, Javier Duarte and Tomas Ruiz want to convince us that it was better and safer to send the money in a suitcase with one of his own rather than to type in the transfer in a computer. What a strange urgency that compels one to do everything more difficult! By the way, were they planning to spend the 25 million, including those of the festival 50 days later, during a weekend, or could they not wait until Monday?

After claiming everything was fully correct, governor Duarte then suddenly thought otherwise, and sacked his treasurer.

Where was the money really going? For Duarte's own benefit? For Peña Nieto's campaign? We will likely not know, unfortunately, but what is clear is that if this had been a legitimate transaction, it would not have been attempted carried out in this mafia-like manner.

On Elba Esther Gordillo's downfall: Denise Dresser

2012-02-01T10:32:00.000-05:00

Denise Dresser, eloquent and sharp as she usually is, has a great commentary in La Vanguardia on the weakening power of Elba Esther Gordillo, but also on how Enrique Peña Nieto has far less power vis-a-vis the PRI than many has assumed. Read it here.
The gist of the article:

"Yes, [Gordillo] has been an Iron Lady, but today she is perhaps little less than a dented tin can."

Remarkable column on Juan Sandoval Iñiguez

2012-01-30T19:53:00.002-05:00

Columnist and journalist Carlos Marín usually points his guns at the left. Not this time: His column "A conspirator hangs up his sandals" on Juan Sandoval Iñiguez, the disgraced soon-to-be ex cardinal of Guadalajara, is a heavy barrage of fire against Sandoval's legacy ("No matter how obvious his slanders, the Cardinal leaves impunity."

It really is worth reading in its entirety here.

18 disgraceful years of Sandoval Íñiguez come to end

2012-01-30T11:56:00.002-05:00

He did a disservice to Mexicans through spewing hatred against women, gays, political parties, and Mexican political institutions. He did a disservice to Roman Catholicism, his religion, by acting as a caricature of so many of the evils the church has been criticized for: intolerance, narrow mindedness, misogyny, homophobia, downright authoritarianism, and so much more.

This weekend, Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez of Guadalaja held his last mass. He will be officially replaced by José Francisco Robles Ortega in a week.

To this protector of pedophiles and belittler of rape ("the women provoked them"):
Good riddance, and I hope we will never hear from you for the rest of your life.

More posts here.

AMLO and PRD walking the walk on unity

2012-01-30T07:21:00.001-05:00

It may be merely a facade, and a temporary one at that, but it nonetheless does raise an eyebrow to see this picture:

Milenio

That is AMLO with PRD President Jesús Zambrano, appearing together for a campaign event in Caborca, Sonora. It is remarkable, given the long animosity between AMLO and Zambrano's social-democratic party faction in the PRD, Nueva Izquierda. When it comes to AMLO's talk of a "loving republic," he seems to be not just talking the talk. If only for appearances, that's at least something.

(For the campaign events, AMLO also drew in two popular athletes, cyclist Ana Gabriela Guevar and boxer Hernán "Tyson" Márquez.)

Oscar-nominated movie on immigrants: A Better Life

2012-01-29T09:22:00.001-05:00

In case you have not seen A Better Life, I strongly recommend that you do.

The movie on the plight of a Mexican (or any) immigrant in the US even had its lead actor, Demián Bichir, nominated for the Oscar, for Best Actor.

Bichir's performance is quite amazing, though he will have to fight off George Clooney in "The Descendants", Jean Dujardin in "The Artist", Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and Brad Pitt in "Moneyball" for the nomination.

I truly hope he wins, for many reasons - my main being political, as it will draw further attention to a movie that does a fantastic job in portraying undocumented immigrants' situation in the US without resorting to cliches or any cheap short cuts.

I finally got a chance to see A Better Life, and hope you do as well. It truly deserves wide dissemination.

AMLO vs. Javier Sicilia

2012-01-28T23:33:00.002-05:00

AMLO criticized Javier Sicilia's announcement that he would spoil his vote in the coming elections, stating that by doing so, Sicilia is "playing the game of the rightwing."

Beyond AMLO's obvious self interest - he is, after all, running as a candidate in 2012 - I fully agree with his point: Spoiling the battle will not do the least service to Mexico's progressive forces, quite the contrary, just like the foolish 2009 "voto nulo" campaign achieved absolutely nothing but effectively handing over more votes to the PRI.

Sicilia is in every right to spoil his ballot, and call upon others to do the same.

We are also all in our right to denounce this as reckless stupidity.

Now have you seen this man? Puebla functionary flees justice

2012-01-28T01:35:00.000-05:00

Javier García Ramírez, a government secretary in the 2005-11 government of Mario Marín in Puebla, is now as well wanted by the Mexican police and Interpol, as he has likely fled the country. Here's a picture of the man:

http://www.contraparteinformativa.com

He is the second functionary sought arrested this year from the government of Marín, a protector of pedophiles and rapists. García is accused of having ratted away at least 23 million pesos.

Here's another picture, of his car park, which was just confiscated: A Range Rover, a BMW X6, a Chevrolet Suburban, Audi 5 series, and a VW Touareg. Pretty nice sets of wheels for a state functionary, wouldn't one think?

El Universal

The spectacular fall of PRI in Mexico City

2012-01-27T11:25:00.001-05:00

Ciro Gómez Leyva's column is following up on some very interesting polling in Mexico City: Just a couple of months ago, PRI's Beatriz Paredes Rangel was number one in the polls to be the next mayor of Mexico City, and in the process expected to pull a lot of votes for Enrique Peña Nieto as well.

Yet due to various factors - some extremely ugly infighting and fighting (literally) in the Mexico City PRI, which has some of the worst scoundrels in Mexican politics in its ranks, the ability of the left to pull together and present a great candidate, etc - PRI is plummeting again in Mexico City.

A recent poll gives Mancera 43, with only 16 percent (!) for Paredes. This is quite spectacular, and as Gómez Leyva points out, very, very bad news for PRI and Peña Nieto.

Have you seen this man? Interpol would like to know

2012-01-26T11:58:00.001-05:00

Vanguardia

Yes, that's Miguel Moisés Sacal Smeke, the businessman who likes to beat the hell out his employees and shout pinche indio! at them.

He is now wanted by the Interpol, having seemingly fled Mexico. Readers in Miami, FLA should be on the lookout.

Barrales: Make a fuss, and ye shall receive

2012-01-26T11:50:00.000-05:00

Here is an example of a practice I abhor but that seems to be ever more utilized these days:

Alejandra Barrales was just presented as a senator candidate for the left for Mexico City, by Marcelo Ebrard himself. Independent of Barrales' qualifications, this leaves me with a bad taste in the mouth.

Why? Because this is simply rewarding Barrales for not having been a democrat and accepted her loss in the poll that decided the left's mayor candidate for Mexico city 2012. She clearly, utterly lost the poll, but threw a fit about it, and according to some rumors even threatened a separate run on the PANAL label, refusing to accept the validity of the poll and insinuating, without offering any shred of evidence, that she was the victim of foul play. To make her shut up and prevent a break on the left, it now appears, she was simply awarded a senate seat - which I am far from certain she is particularly well prepared for.

In short: It pays to act not only like a stubborn child but even anti democratically and refuse to accept your loss, because the further you push your protests, the more likely it is you will be rewarded with a consolation price.

This is truly a logic of diminishing returns for political parties, as it will only encourage similar behavior in the future.

How many children does Peña Nieto really have?

2012-01-25T18:45:00.000-05:00

According to him, six - with various women, to be sure.

Yet from today's Reforma

Maritza Díaz Hernández, mother of one of Enrique Peña's children, accused the PRI presidential candidate on her Facebook page of lying about the support he gives to his son, and about the number of children they have procreated.

"You should think about the fact that the presidency only lasts six years, while your children are forever, and you are leaving marks with all that you do and say. You do not fool them; they know and realize many things, even if you go out and say something else."

Juicy!

Phone taps of Mexican congressional leadership?

2012-01-25T16:58:00.001-05:00

A story broke this morning that PRD leadership in chamber of deputies - which, by rotation, also hold the key leaderships post in the chamber (Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo, the Mesa Directiva, and Armando Ríos Píter, the Junta de Coordinación Política) - had their phones tapped.

Senator Carlos Navarrete asked for a search in the Senate as well

PRI, which also apparent was targeted, called it a "dirty war" from government of Calderón.

I wonder what will come out of this one.

More class warfare... this time José Ismael Loría Ancona

2012-01-25T15:55:00.002-05:00

Another "Gentleman de las Lomas" incident of pure class hatred from the very wealthy in Mexico, this time the former state sports secretary in Quintana Roo, José Ismael Loría Ancona, who drove his car into a tree dead drunk, and with his sister proceeded to curse out the police, threaten them, and try to bribe them. Rather than try to translate the insults, here they are in pure undestilled form:

To the police:

"Te crees muy chingón no, muy culito, pinche muerto de hambre cabrón"
“Tu seguridad pendeja me pararon, yo les dije tranquilos déjenme ir, les doy una lana, lo que quieran”
"..no sabes con quién trato."..
"si me meten en el bote no hay pedo, mañana salgo, pinche gente no tienen ni la secundaria"

And from his sister, to the police with love:

"Ahora sí se los carga su puta madre cabrones!"

Wow.

Gay rights: Supreme Court tells Jalisco and BC off

2012-01-24T21:31:00.000-05:00

The ultra-reactionary neo-falangist governments of Baja California and Jalisco, still stuck in a pre-enlightenment time warp, are not happy harrassing women and gays in their own states: They even took the gay unions and adoptions in Mexico City to the Supreme Court, so offended were they over this rampant threat to their families.

Now the Supreme Court essentially ruled, what happens in Mexico City is absolutely none of their concern, and it is certainly not "unconstitutional." 'Nuff said? Wouldn't count on it.

An apt metaphor for the PRI

2012-01-24T21:15:00.003-05:00

A story from PRI presidential candidate Enrique Peña's campaign stop in Queretaro:
(where the front runner appeared remarkably out of sync; while his party insisted that it broke with teacher union despot Elba Esther Gordillo, he maintained that it was her party PANAL that did so).

Regardless. From the campaign event:

... close to 20 supporters of the candidate denounced that they had been robbed. ..... before entering the auditorium Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez, security personnel prevented them from entering with bulky backpacks or bags in which the victims kept wallets, clothes, keys and cell phones. But after the event, they approached the guards to have their belongings returned, but were told that there were no objects left to return.

How suitable.

Quote of the day: Teacher union leader Gordillo

2012-01-23T22:18:00.000-05:00

Ultra-corrupt notorious head of Mexico's teacher union SNTE, Elba Esther Gordillo, after failing to make the new PRI leadership agree to place her ultra-incompetent son-in-law and daughter as senate candidates, which lead the PRI and her party PANAL to break their alliance:

"Well, then let everything go to fucking hell."

May it, indeed.

AMLO announced another "cabinet position"

2012-01-23T21:26:00.001-05:00

If elected, AMLO will appoint Adolfo Hellmund López as his energy secretary. Yet another nod to the Monterrey business group: Hellmund is a businesman with a Master's from MIT.

I wonder what his North Korea-praising allies in the PT think of this choice.

Moments in poor photo shopping exposed - check out on youtube

2012-01-21T14:05:00.003-05:00

This is almost worthy of Stalin's photo shopping himself in (and Trotsky out of) old Russian photos:

Look at this quick video.

Yes, that is Marco Antonio Morales Liévano, a nephew of Elba Esther Gordillo, seemingly photoshopping himself into a picture next to PRI presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto, in order to boost his chances of winning the nomination for PRI candidate for mayor of Comitán, Chiapas.

Would you want this guy to be your mayor?

The original picture from El Universal

Political drama: Break PRI-Gordillo

2012-01-21T13:48:00.001-05:00

Front page in all main Mexican newspapers: PRI president Pedro Joaquín Coldwell announced the PRI's electoral alliance with PANAL is over.

This is very dramatic political news: It has been known for a while that grassroots discontent in PRI surged given the extremely generous terms in favor of PANAL, the party controlled by teacher union head Elba Esther Gordillo, and the PVEM, the misnamed "Green party." As for the latter, there was much criticism of the blatant nepotism from Gordillo, who wanted both her daughter and son-in-law as candidates for the senate- as well as a disproportionate number of other senate and legislative seats.

Yet crucially, as far as I can see, this means that any alliance for a common candidate for presidential election - that Gordillo would back Peña Nieto - is also over.

Coldwell, who confirmed the alliance with the PVEM (for now?), said of Gordillo and PANAL: "It is not a rupture, it is an amicable separation." That is simply not true: This is a huge political rupture.

Just a few days ago, we also learned that PRI Chiapas Senator María Elena Orantes López renounced from the PRI, after weeks of wavering, wreaking havoc on the local as well as the national party organization.

I can't wait to learn more about the background for this. Did Gordillo get a better offer from PAN? Did she push it simply too far, and PRI realized her support just cost it too much?

But the good news is, from my point of view: The 2012 race just got a lot more competitive. A lot.

Assault on Abortion rights in Mexico - The Nation

2012-01-21T12:19:00.004-05:00

A belated mention of an article I highly recommend, from The Nation and written by Mary Cuddehe:
"Mexico's Anti-Abortion Backlash."

Rosario. She was 20 and had recently completed a nine-month probation sentence. Her story was shocking to me at the time. She had taken abortion pills, fallen ill with nausea, gone to the hospital and been reported to the police. She said the staff had mistreated her, calling her names, completing the abortion surgically without anesthesia (which is standard) and allowing medical students into the room to take pictures with their cellphones..

More than half of Mexico's states, mostly in PRI-PAN legislative alliances, have passed a ley aborto equivalent to the wacko "life at conception" laws recently defeated in the state of Mississippi. The article in particular highlights the state persecution of citizens in run by one of the most reactionary and ultra-right sections of the PAN political elite. Keep in mind, however, that most of the extremist legislation passed when alleged "progressive" Beatriz Paredes was PRI's national leader. She may well hold progressive views, but did not lift a finger to stop her party, traditionally quite secular, from allying with the traditionally pro catholic PAN.

... In 2009 in the southern state of Quintana Roo, a Mayan woman was wrongfully jailed for what turned out to be a spontaneous miscarriage, and in 2010 an 11-year-old girl who was raped and impregnated by her stepfather was denied an abortion because she was four months pregnant—one month past the allowable twelve weeks.

Read this excellent and harrowing investigative piece of original reporting here.

Results of the poll that made Mancera candidate: Graphic

2012-01-20T14:26:00.001-05:00

From Milenio: Notable is that Mancera is also ahead of PRI's Beatriz Paredes with upwards of 20 percent.

Watch live: Winner of poll to be left's Mexico City mayor candidate

2012-01-19T19:50:00.002-05:00

Here's the live stream. Everything indicates it will be Miguel Mancera, after Alejandra Barrales cancelled her appearance and claimed "irregularities" in the poll to decide the left's candidate for Mexico city mayor 2012.

Two new political biographies: Marcelo Ebrard and Carlos Navarrete

2012-01-19T13:30:00.001-05:00

Books in Mexico are indeed expensive, and not only in relative terms, but also in absolute terms: A thing paperback will easily go for 20-25 dollars, with much left wanting in terms of editing and organization. That does not stop me from spending way too much money on books on Mexican politics.

Two news ones I just went through: A biography of Marcelo Ebrard, and an auto-biography of Carlos Navarrete. The former I do not recommend; the latter I do.

The book by Alejandro Páez Varela on Marcelo Ebrard is not really that bad, and does offer some new insights on Ebrard, especially his trajectory in the 1990s. I did not know, for instance, that he went with Cárdenas in 1988, even if he stayed in the PRI, and the book also reminded he that he was an outspoken opponent of the FOBAPROA bank bailout in the late 1990s - something that likely endeared him to AMLO.

But the problem is this: There are too few sources, and the books is simply too thin, with large font, and virtually the entire book is printed elsewhere! That's right, as a chapter in the excellent edited volume Los Suspirantes by Jorge Zepeda Patterson, by the same editorial. Rip-off alert, indeed - and the chapter in Zepada's book is even better, as it has removed some unnecessary self-promotion by Páez' own projects. One additional weakness is that in the book, Páez lets his interview subjects simply talk, and presents their criticism of Ebrard (or praise) uncontested - there is little analysis and attempts to actually confront what they are saying, or corroborate their claims.

The second books is bye Senator Carlos Navarrete of the PRD, entitled De Frente. It is also pretty thin and clearly written with Navarrete's failed bid to be the lefts candidate for Mexico City in mind, but it is nonetheless a highly enjoyable read of Navarrete's political life, and includes some very interesting material on the Mexican left and the PRD. Did you know, for instance, that the PRD's parliamentary coordinator, ahead of Calderón's acceptance speech-ceremony in the Chamber of Deputies, which the PRD sought to block, had to make a last-minute desperate search to locate tear-gas granadesthat some deputies were planning to hurl during the ceremony (with likely injury and loss of life)? The coordinator, Javier González, successfully located the grenades, and stored them in his own car outside of congress...

There's also much more good recent material here, such as the 2008 oil reform of PEMEX, and AMLO's ridiculous blocking of a reform that his own advisers had largely drafted. Go and read it.

Ebrard, mano dura

2012-01-18T17:14:00.001-05:00

Marcelo Ebrard is capable of showing quite a bit of resolve when needed: As we wait for the three polls that will decide the left's candidate for mayor of Mexico City, Ebrard had forbidden any member of his government to make any declarations in favor or against any candidate, so as not to risk a fracture on the left.

It seems Tourism Minister Alejandro Rojas couldn't keep his mouth shut - he stupidly proclaimed that Miguel Mancera would be the candidate - and Ebrard promptly fired him.

Now that's what I call mano dura. Yet the damage may already be done: It may not be enough to keep Alejandra Barrales from expanding her protests, and possibly fracture the left.

AMLO names minister of economy

2012-01-17T21:57:00.001-05:00

Yet another name for a possible AMLO cabinet: He recently announced as, should he win in 2012, his future minister of the economy, Fernando Turner Dávila, a Nuevo León businessman who is head of ANEI, the national association of independent businessmen (Asociación Nacional de Empresarios Independientes).

Deadline passes, five millions did not renew IFE credentials

2012-01-16T20:39:00.002-05:00

Long lines formed the past days outside IFE centers due to a Jan. 15 deadline to renew voter credentials for those whose cards ended in 2003. Unless they did so, they will not be able to vote in the 2012 election.

There is some cause to worry here: Around 5 million people registered did not do so, a very big chunk of the electorate. IFE, which refused to extend the deadline (citing, correctly, previously agreed law), insisted that "60 percent" of these have left the country, and a further "25 percent" are deceased. Even if true, that would still leave 600,000 or so unable to vote in 2012.

Peña Nieto as Putin?

2012-01-16T15:14:00.002-05:00

Here's a column by Jorge Zepada in English for the Financial Times that is well worth the read:

The result of the 2012 elections will push one way or the other. If the PRI wins with such a big margin that it ends up controlling Congress, the temptation for Peña Nieto to become a Mexican Putin will be immense. The public’s yearning for a crack-down on organised crime will only encourage him further. The deterioration of the security situation in Mexico is a tailor-made alibi for an authoritarian government and a big win would look like a blank cheque sent directly from the people.

Read the column here.

(I am currently working on his excellent edited volume "Los Suspirantes 2012," on the 2012 candidates - more on that book later).

Mexico vs. Brazil, perceptions and reality

2012-01-15T20:11:00.001-05:00

Jorge Castañeda has a quite thoughtful comparison on Mexico and Brazil in Reforma that is well worth the read (Reforma is subscriber only, but the article is also available here.)

Another Mario Marín ex-functionary arrested in Puebla

2012-01-15T13:42:00.001-05:00

Authorities in Puebla arrested Alfredo Arango García, who was secretary of health in the terrible 2005-11 administration of child rapist-protector and misogynist Mario Marín Torres, on corruption charges.

Will Marín ever share the same fate? I keep on dreaming.

Javier Sicilia won't run for congress, despite offer

2012-01-15T13:30:00.003-05:00

Javier Sicilia and Julián Le Baron, prominent social activists, won't run for the Mexican congress in 2012, despite being offered candidacies by the left's Movimiento Progresista.

Too bad - it would have allowed them a much bigger forum and wider audience for their anti-violence message.

Mexico's rank of "economic freedom": 54/179

2012-01-15T13:23:00.001-05:00

The conservative Heritage Foundation is out with a new ranking of "economic freedom." Mexico scores 54 out of 179; the "top" Latin American country is, not unexpectedly, Chile, on 8th place - two places ahead of the United States.

No. 1 is Hong Kong.

Take the report for what it is worth, from a far-right outfit: Among the indicators are "Labor Freedom," which does not refer to the ease and freedom of forming and joining unions and their rights, but rather, from the business point of view, freedom from unions.

PEMEX workers for Peña Nieto

2012-01-15T13:19:00.003-05:00

Hardly a surprise given its forever-PRI ties, the union of PEMEX workers (STPRM) declared its "total backing" of PRI presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto. Will they engage, like they did in 2000, in another blatantly illegal funding of the PRI presidency?

Notably, in the audience was union leader Carlos Romero Deschamp and Ricardo Aldana Prieto, two of the main protagonists of "Pemexgate," where it was discovered in 20002 that the state-owned petroleum company siphoned off half a billion pesos to the PRI's 2000 campaign, and was fined a billion pesos for it.

Romero, for his part, lost his "political rights in a corruption conviction after the scandal that barred him from holding political office until last year.

Yet here he is again in the public limelight, with Peña Nieto, who despite claiming to represent a "New PRI" again and again l(literally) throws himself in the arms of its most retrograde parts.

From Milenio

Graphic: Violence in greater Mexico City area

2012-01-13T17:46:00.001-05:00

A very useful graphic from El Universal: Murders in Mexico City and Mexico State. While murders increased 3.3 percent in the former, it jumped 17.8 in the latter, run then by presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto of the PRI. The worst areas: Ecatepec and Neza.

Peña Nieto's campaign team: Graphic

2012-01-13T11:54:00.003-05:00

An overview of Enrique Peña Nieto's campaign team, from Milenio: It has been clinically cleansed of the most polemical of PRI's figures, such as Mario Marin and Ulises Ruiz. Indeed, he just recently stressed that the presence of these criminal thugs in his campaign rallies were really only due to "institutional respect." As if that makes it any better.

In defense of Calderón: On Joaquin Villalobos

2012-01-13T11:13:00.003-05:00

I read a while back Joaquin Villalobos' defense of the Calderón administration's handling of the war-or-not-war against the Mexican drug gangs in Nexos a while back, and found it remarkably tone deaf.

Here's an excellent piece from Insight Crime that directly takes on Villalobos' article.

Sister of Subcomandante Marcos: Peña Nieto campaign coordinator

2012-01-12T20:21:00.000-05:00

Oh, the irony. Paloma Guillén, sister of Rafael Sebastián Guillén Vicente, better known as Subcomandante Marcos of the EZLN, will be campaign coordinator for Enrique Peña Nieto in one of Mexico's electoral circumscriptions, according to the political gossip column in Milenio.

She is currently a federal deputy from Tamaulipas.

Stunning PAN dedazo in Mexico City: Wallace mayor candidate

2012-01-12T20:16:00.001-05:00

The executive committee of PAN decided that its candidate for Mexico City mayor will be Isabel Miranda de Wallace, who became a social activist when her son, a businessman, was kidnapped and murdered in 2005. She successfully pushed for a change to federal law to further protect victims of kidnapping.

Just a few weeks ago, PAN vowed that it would choose its candidate in a primary. This vulgar dedazo makes the PRD's method of choosing its candidate-by-poll in Mexico City nearly a civic exercise in comparison.

Senator Carlos Navarrete declines - and backs Barrales

2012-01-12T20:05:00.001-05:00

It was not a big surprise that PRD Senator Carlos Navarrete declined from the contest to be the left's mayoral candidate for Mexico City - despite heavy campaigning he simply was not rising in the polls - but what does surprise me is that Navarrete declined in favor of Alejandra Barrales. Given Navarrete's not inconsiderable political capital, that means that Miguel Mancera will face a stronger challenge to defeat Barrales for the nomination.

Class hatred in Mexico gets international attention

2012-01-11T15:41:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Tim Johnson who first brought this disturbing case to my attention:

The beating of a valet parking attendant by a wealthy resident of the Lomas neighborhood is now getting international attention, from The Guardian:

A video of a businessman assaulting a car park employee has added to mounting pressure within Mexico to confront pervasive class-based and racist abuse.The footage shows Miguel Sacal in the lobby of his apartment building in Mexico City repeatedly punching and kicking an employee, Hugo Vega, who does not defend himself. Subtitles, added to the soundless video, claim the attack was triggered by Vega's refusal to leave his duties at the counter to attend to a flat tyre on Sacal's Porsche.At one point Vega's colleagues halt the violence. Sacal is seen standing over his crouching victim and, according to the subtitles, says "fucking Indians" before kicking him again.

There is nothing new in the class hatred and racism many members of Mexico's upper class feel for their countrymen; what is different now is that thanks to Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, such disturbing acts have recently gone viral for the general public to behold.

A great read on Michoacán from UpsideDownWorld

2012-01-11T13:33:00.002-05:00

I recommend UpsideDownWorlds's article The Michoacán Debacle: Fault Lines Ahead of the Mexican Presidential Election by Paul Imison.

I don't necessarily agree with the implied assumption that Cherán's ditching of democratic elections in favor of the usus y costumbres mechanism may be a viable example to follow, but it is in any case a highly informed read on this beautiful, harrowed state.

Peña Nieto appears with a protector of child rapists: The new PRI?

2012-01-11T11:38:00.000-05:00

This is thoroughly disturbing: PRI's presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto recently met with Mario Marín and his team; the disgraced former Puebla governor even appeared in public in a rally yesterday in Puebla where Peña Nieto was speaking, although they carefully avoided a photo of the two together.

To refresh the memory of those who may have forgotten Mario Marín: This is a a man who was caught on tape plotting with now-imprisoned child rapist Jean Succar Kuri to harass and sexually assault Lydia Cacho, an intrepid journalist investigating child abuse scandals.

To Peña Nieto's disgrace, this is hardly the first time he meets with Marin, representative of the absolute worst of the PRI. Marin should the thrown in jail, not coveted by a man likely to be Mexico's new president.

A couple of few earlier posts:
Pederast Jean Succar Kuri finally sentenced. When will his friend Mario Marín be arrested?
"Goodbye, precious pederast": Puebla sends off Mario Marín

Guess what Gaddafi and AMLO had in common?

2012-01-11T11:25:00.000-05:00

The answer is: Female bodyguards.

I've been on 5-6 AMLO meetings the past years and I've always noted now little security apparently surrounded him. For instance, one evening I was outside the PRD's national headquarters waiting for a ride and all of a sudden AMLO just walked up, alone. In my surprise I didn't get a chance to say or ask much beyond a a few pleasantries. No body guards in sights.

Here's a fascinating story from today's Milenio that addressed exactly the issue of AMLO's security. Turns out that Polimnia Romana Sierra, a personal assistant of sorts, has also been much in charge of protecting him wherever he has gone the past years (which are many places - he has toured every single municipality in Mexico at least twice now, unlike any other human being in Mexican history).

Polimnia offers quite a few interesting anecdotes. Did you know that he never sleeps in the hotel room assigned to him? Read more here.

"Focos rojos" or danger zones for 2012 local elections

2012-01-10T13:54:00.001-05:00

A story from El Universal, with an accompanying graphic (click here for hi-resolution PDF) on municipalities particularly in the states of Guerrero, Colima, Jalisco, Sonora, Tabasco that are considered focos rojos given the level of violence and presence of organized crime.

El Universal

Miguel Mancera: Background information

2012-01-10T10:57:00.005-05:00

Here's an article from Milenio that gives some background information on Miguel Ángel Mancera Espinosa, who is very likely to become the left's 2012 mayoral candidate for Mexico City, and quite likely to win that election.

One fun fact: Why did he take a law degree (he excelled at school), when he was already a medicine student?
A traffic accident where he got hurt and thoroughly screwed over - he was made to sign, half-conscious, a waiver where the rich kid whose Mustang ran into his VW Beatle was released from any responsibility.

Guerrero: First stage of human rights investigation

2012-01-10T09:33:00.001-05:00

Mexico's national human rights commission (Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, CNDH) published its first and preliminary report on the killing of two students and an employee in Guerrero past December 12.

The report first and foremost strongly criticizes the police for having brought and used heavy weapons to the student protest in the first place, and suggests that its final report is likely to show state police as responsible for firing the lethal shots.

Yet Raúl Plascencia Villanueva, head of the commission, notably also criticized the students and said their actions as well would be investigated - they have repeatedly stolen vehicles, blocked the Autopista del Sol demanding "contributions" from drivers, and most notoriously, threw Molotov cocktails on a PEMEX gas station which resulted in the death of an employee.

Most recently, students from Ayotzinapa took over 19 buses, threw out the passengers, and drove to Mexico City where they protested outside the Chamber of Deputies. Earlier they broke into four radio stations in Guerrero to broadcast their protests and demand information on the investigations. They then again blocked the Autopista.

These acts may increasingly be counter productive, as there are indications the Guerrero population is getting weary of their ways of protesting: At several occasions the past days, there have been marches in Guerrero protesting their actions, and backing the Guerrero governor.

As one of the students declared during the taking of the radio stations:

It is true that some sectors of society have asked us to change the methods of struggle. We agree, but what we will do this when there is no longer corruption in the political parties, be it the PRI, PAN and PRD.

Institutional change on state levels: 4-year mayor terms in Veracruz

2012-01-08T11:00:00.000-05:00

With the Political Reform by Calderón stuck in Congress and unlikely to be dealt with before the 2012 elections, it is of interest to note some institutional change on the state levels, as in the case of Veracruz.

Many reform initiatives have proposed reelection of legislators and mayors, at federal and state levels, yet have invariably met the wall, under the exaggerated mantra of "no reelection!" (which referred to the quarter-century presidency dictator Porfirio Díaz and had nothing to do with legislators or mayors).

In Veracruz, however, the state congress, following its backing by a majority of the state's municipalities, recently declared as legal a reform that extends the mayoral term to four years. I don't think that is a bad initiative at all. On the top of my head I can't think of any other state that has implemented similar changes to the state constitution, but I might be wrong here. Could state governments similarly change the state laws to allow for reelection of local deputies and mayors, or do any federal laws prohibit such initiatives? Far too early to tell whether this particular initiative, long in planning, represents something new - state-level initiatives as responds to failure at passing significant reforms at the federal level - but the initiative is interesting nonetheless.

Fun fact check of AMLO

2012-01-07T21:42:00.005-05:00

Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) said that he is not an enemy of private investment, and that he has not ever called businessmen "white collar criminals." He went as far as to say that he never used the phrase, and would even resign as presidential candidate if it were ever proven that he had uttered these words.

Yes, step down from the presidential contest.

La Jornada, Michoacán edition, June 27, 2006:

"No son empresarios, son traficantes de influencias los que están impulsando esa campaña, nada más que no tiene ni caso mencionarlos, son los que han hecho jugosos negocios, son delincuentes de cuello blanco, traficantes de influencias, los que no quieren que las cosas cambien verdaderamente en nuestro país."

So...

PRI appoints Aristóteles Sandoval as Jalisco governor candidate

2012-01-07T20:48:00.000-05:00

In a meeting of its national committee, the PRI, through its old-style mechanism of the dedazo, simply appointed Jorge Aristóteles Sandoval Díaz as its candidate to be governor of Jalisco. Why bother with primaries?

Sandoval is currently the PRI mayor of Guadalajara, and despite the state being a PAN stronghold, does stand a real chance of winning Jalisco.

Zedllo, accused of murder, claims immunity

2012-01-07T11:37:00.000-05:00

Former President Ernesto Zedillo, facing a lawsuit in Hartford, Connecticut for the 1997 Acteal massacre in Chiapas, claims immunity from persecution as a former head of state.

The Acteal massacre was the worst singular violent act during his presidency - 45 civilians, including infants, were murdered by death squads. The indigenous were accused of backing the EZLN insurgency by a PRI-linked paramilitary group.

From what I gather, there is absolutely no evidence it was sanctioned by the national government, which, however, was strongly criticized for doing nothing while the massacre took place, and little to punish the perpetrators.

Mario Delgado steps down from Mexico City mayor contest

2012-01-07T02:15:00.001-05:00

Long regarded the dauphin of Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, education secretary Mario Delgado nonetheless stepped down from the contest yesterday, having failed to gain much traction, and in doing so, clearing the path further for Miguel Mancera, the city's popular attorney general-procurator.

I am currently in Mexico City and can't help but note how electoral law is being quite shamelessly flouted by pretty much every one of the many candidates to be the left's mayor, in spirit at the very least. It is unfortunately quite understandable, as the left coalition will decide its candidate by a poll - which is to a large extent about name recognition for many at this stage. What better way to get your name known than plastering your posters all over the city, "giving" interviews that will get you on the front cover of news magazines, or holding well-publicized informes or speeches on the results of your (secretariat, legislative, etc) work.

Also, a lot of exhortations to denounce illegal behavior of all sorts to "www.tuprocu.mx" or "your attorney general." Sure, it's a great idea to bring the office and services of the city's attorney general closer to the people; it is also an excellent way to publicize what you do.

Count on Mancera snapping the nomination, and to likely be the mayor of Mexico City 2012-2018.

Update: Mancera stepped down from the government to pursue the candidacy.

Gubernatorial elections in 2012

2012-01-04T00:44:00.001-05:00

It's not only about electing Mexico's next president for six years on July 1, 2012: In addition, there are gubernatorial elections in the following states:

* Jalisco (PAN)
* Guanajuato(PAN)
* Morelos (PAN)
* Chiapas (PRD coalition)
* Tabasco (PRI)
* Yucatán (PRI)

And, of course, mayor of Mexico City - as close to a governor as one can get, until the Federal District gets its own constitution.

Here's a great rundown of the various hopefuls for the offices from the respective parties.

Come on baby, do the Morena

2012-01-03T22:53:00.001-05:00

AMLO's campaign tune, so to speak: "Morena." It's heard everywhere on the campaign trail, and it's a quite catchy cumbia-esque ditty, with a semi-professional video production - and it gets, I'd venture to say, its points across. And yes, there is a beautiful morena in the video, with quite a low-cut dress (here's some background on the song from El Universal).

Michoacán mayors take office - state goes from yellow to red

2012-01-03T09:31:00.002-05:00

Hundred-and-eleven out of 113 municipalities changed hands in Michoacán this weekend. In essence, a big shift from yellow to red - from PRD to PRI. In the capital Morelia, an interim mayor took office given the recent cancellation of that race; in Cherán, the local population refused to hold elections.

Here is the graphic in pdf form on what party controls what municipality.

I happened to be at a ceremony for a PAN mayor where also Josefina Vázquez Mota was present. Her body guards carried the biggest assault rifles I have ever seen in use outside of a Hollywood blockbuster.

Pope Benny 16 to Mexico in March

2012-01-02T22:05:00.001-05:00

The catholic church confirms it: Pope Benedict 16 will visit Mexico over three days this year, March 23-25. He will not come to Mexico City - due to its location (thin air, pollution), but rather Guanajuato. Or perhaps, out of desire to avoid meeting with mayor Marcelo Ebrard, whom major figures in the church a while ago threatened to excommunicate from the catholic church due to the legalization of gay unions and abortion in the city.

He will also meet with President Calderón - expect the governing PAN to subtly or not so subtly use the visit for all its worth ahead of the 2012 election.

Then, he's off to Cuba. That could get far more interesting from a political point of view: Will he follow the lead of Pope John Paul II to condemn the blockade, and also call for democracy?

Guerrero: Gas station employee dies after students burned down station

2012-01-01T19:47:00.001-05:00

There were many tragic stories from Guerrero recently, and what deservedly got the most attention was the gunning down of two students.

There is another side to this story, though, which only makes it more intrinsically tragic: It seems by now beyond doubt that the protesting students deliberately torched a PEMEX gas station. The employee got badly burnt trying to put out the flames to avoid a full explosion.

Yet due to his burns, he died just days ago in a Guerrero hospital.

The shooting deaths of the students was roundly and justifiably condemned. Yet we have heard very little on the death of this innocent worker. Just as one asks for the heads of the Guerrero police who shot the students, will any of the thugs responsible for this murder ever be held accountable?

New graphic from SIEDO on drug gang control of Mexico

2012-01-01T10:32:00.002-05:00

According to SIEDO, Mexico's special organized crime unit, it's mainly a battle of the Sinaloa cartel and the Zetas. Despite blows particularly against the latter, the Zetas are said to lead in drugs and human trafficking, extortion, and fuel theft (Sinaloa has repeatedly gone to quite some lengths to emphasize it only does drugs). Here's SIEDO's latest graphic on the "territorial control" of the drug gangs:

From Milenio

AMLO's red herring

2011-12-31T10:24:00.001-05:00

AMLO proclaims that in 2012, his electoral movement will have more people covering ballot boxes than ever before, in order to avoid a fraud and an outcome as in 2006, "when they falsified the things."

I find this quite a red herring, for several reasons., Most obvious, five and a half years later, there is NO EVIDENCE AT ALL of a widespread and systematic fraud at the ballot boxes in 2006. But there's more:

1) It assumes that as long as AMLO's coalition doesn't have any representative at the ballot box, this will automatically lead to a fraud, meaning, not only would all the other party representatives be in on the fraud, but also the local electoral representatives responsible for the ballot station and the citizen representatives chosen by double-blind ballot to oversee the election. This is an enormous leap of (lack of) faith, especially as there is no evidence that this really has happened on anything close to a wide and systematic scale.

2) In 2006, AMLO insisted on using his "Citizen Networks" as ballot box observers, in many places even displacing the PRD, yet on election day many didn't show up. If there truly was fraud due to a lack of AMLO representatives, he is to blame himself for this. When will we hear any self criticism for this?

3) If there truly was fraud in 2006 at the ballot boxes - that e.g. the local representatives colluded with the other parties to remove ballots from the boxes, etc - how could this ever be proven? That is, if this is how the supposed fraud of 2006 was carried out, no recount would ever make the slightest difference.

For sure: It is very important that AMLO's coalition does manage to have representatives, as they are allowed to by law, at every station. But in order to avoid the errors of 2006 in 2012, more than a bit of self criticism is here in order.

Last-minute entrant for Dick-of-the-Year award: Extorting the poor

2011-12-31T10:09:00.000-05:00

Yet another contestant: Juan Ignacio Yáñez Yaber, a promoter for the anti-poverty program Oportunidades in Mexico City. In the Ixtapalapa delegation, Yáñez was just caught on tape, in a sting operation, demanding 5,000 pesos as a bribe to sign up eligible participants for the program.

Trafficking in poverty to abuse and extort people of few resources in order to have them added to a program they are entitled to? It's a strong last-minute contestant for Dick-of-the-Year award.

(National Coordinator Salvador Escobedo of Oportunidades promises zero tolerance for such criminal acts, and there is, in a sense, a positive spin to it - it should not surprise that functionaries try to seek bribes; what is notable is that in this case, they actually got caught for it).

Tiger in the street. Yes, a tiger.

2011-12-30T11:13:00.001-05:00

This short news piece from Saltillo, Coahuila is just worthy of being translated in its entirety:

Deborah, a Bengal tiger was found roaming the streets at night of the Colonia República Oriente, which caused a mobilization of police and civil protection. According to reports from the authorities, around midnight yesterday, a wild animal was said to roam the streets of the city, and police found Deborah in the intersection of Oaxaca and La Madrid, crouched in the bushes.The owner of Deborah, Richards Rodolfo de la Garza, said the animal took off after thieves opened the 250 square meters area where she was staying as they were committing a a robbery of his office located at 441 Calle Chiapas.

Peña Nieto's shot at speaking Nahuatl. A bad idea

2011-12-30T10:20:00.000-05:00

Kudos for the attempt at showing the indigenous community in Huejutla, Hidalgo, some respect by attempting a line in Nahuatl, the "language of the Aztecs." But beyond the good intentions, it was a bad idea:

He ventured to give thanks in Nahuatl. However, he failed to say "thank you very much" (tlazkamati miaka), and instead said tlaxkali miaka ("many tortillas.")

Michoacán: Morelia elections annulled, possibly entire state elections

2011-12-29T18:29:00.001-05:00

Mexico's electoral tribunal TEPJF's (specifically its regional branch in Toluca) annulled PRI's victory in the mayoral race held past month in the state capital Morelia.

The argument: The illegal live television coverage of campaign closing of gubernatorial candidate Fausto Vallejo, and a boxing match where one of the fighters wore shorts with PRI's logo - forbidden according to electoral rules.

Officially, difference between PRI's Wilfrido Lázaro Medina and PAN's Marko Cortés Mendoza was only 2000 votes, or 119, 941 to 122, 258. Now a rematch will need to be held.

PRI, as one may imagine, is not happy about the verdict, and strongly suggests pressure from president Calderón , who it notably took a month to recognize the victory of Vallejo as governor.

Now, given TEPJF's reasoning, the PRD demands annulling the entire state elections, pointing to narco interference but also that of President Calderón himself. PAN also demands the governor election cancelled. I really doubt that, as it would be quite extraordinary, but then again, we live in extraordinary times.

There is already one problem: Morelia will for sure need to run new elections, but they are not cheap - and the state electoral institute does not have money for another extraordinary election.

(On another note, the Archdiocese of Morelia comes out pretty strongly against the recent governments of the state, particularly that of Lázaro Cárdenas Batel (2001-07), essentially accusing him of not having been prepared at all for the job and exercised it poorly).

Death in apartment B19 ruled "suicide": Galina Chankova Chaneva and Niño Verde

2011-12-28T14:17:00.003-05:00

25-year old Galina Chankova Chaneva was a young Bulgarian female who came to Mexico from Amsterdam on April 1, 2011. ~~24 hours~~ Twelve hours later, she apparently decided to commit suicide from the 19th floor of a luxury apartment connected to the Mexican Green party and above all the "Niño Verde," Jorge Emilio González Martínez.

This, according to the state prosecutor of Quintana Roo, who just ruled that González had nothing to do with her death.

While plenty of reports suggested the apartment belonged to "Niño Verde," Elizabeth Regina Díaz appared as the presumed owner. She just happens to be the wife of his private secretary. As Reforma dryly summarizes,

"The Attorney stated that it was investigated whether Díaz was the "Niño Verde's prestanombres [strawman] strawmen, because this aspect was not part of the investigations."

Here is her picture, via Animal Político. A report from Terra.com strongly hints at human trafficking.

PAN "social worker" probably gets Dick-of-the-Year award

2011-12-28T10:47:00.003-05:00

A last-minute dark-horse candidate in Mexico's Dick of the Year award: Carlos Talavera Leal, head of the important social program Oportunidades in Uruapan, Michoacán, who in public Facebook posts referred to poor indigenous women as "smelly" and that "hygiene is not for them."

Talavera is a member of PAN and was a supporter of the bid of president Calderón's sister to be governor of Michoacán a few weeks ago.

His contract with Oportunidades will not be renewed in January. That's something.

Update: He was also just fired for what remains of the year. And here, a screen shot of part of the Facebook page - it speaks for itself:

Guess which Mexican party laments the death of Kim Jong Il?

2011-12-27T20:03:00.004-05:00

From the obituary:

The Workers' Party of Mexico regrets the death of our comrade Kim Jong Il, leader of the North Korean people, who with great wisdom who led the North Koreans on the path of peace and economic, political, social and cultural development.

A comrade of wisdom, indeed. This is truly preposterous.

Who murdered PRI's federal deputy?

2011-12-26T18:38:00.000-05:00

Imagine the scenario: A U.S. congressman is abducted along with an assistant. They are found dead by farmers two weeks later, their bodies decomposing.

Two men are arrested and confess to the murder; they are are also in possession of a huge amount of cash that they declare was the payment for the hit job, and also provide them with cars. Their contractor, they say, was a mayor from the dead congressman's party.

How hard should it be to prove or disprove their story? How likely is it that the mayor would simply continue in office and that the investigation would pretty much come to a standstill?

This appears sadly to be the case in Guerrero, where PRI mayor Willy Reyes Ramos is signaled as the man behind the murder of PRI federal deputy Moisés Villanueva de la Luz. As El Universal reports, the murder remains unresolved, almost four months later.

AMLO documentary: "0.56% ¿Qué le pasó a México?"

2011-12-26T10:36:00.001-05:00

The documentary "0.56% ¿Que le paso a México?" deals specifically with the 2006 elections, and was recently showed on Milenio TV. You can now see the the entire movie here on Youtube.

It's definitely more on the pro-AMLO side, but far less so than the ultra-propagandistic "Fraude," and therefore worth a watch. Quality is not superb, but more than decent.

PRD to choose 2012 Mexico City mayor candidate by poll - of sorts

2011-12-24T20:06:00.001-05:00

The PRD will decide its 2012 candidate for Mexico City mayor by a poll, like it decided its 2012 presidential candidate. The poll will have efectos vinculantes or loosely "binding effects" on the PRD state council, which still holds the final word - which sounds a bit of a catch.

"External candidacies" will also be allowed - so as not to leave out Miguel Ángel Mancera, the attorney general and increasingly rumored to be the favorite to succeed Ebrard, as well as the rather unlikely candidacy of Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, who left/was kicked out of the PRD more than a decade ago.

The candidate will be officially ratified Feb. 11 or 12, when the council is scheduled to meet to digest the result of the poll.

Now, off to filet migñon and copious amounts of tequila - happy christmas!

Unemployment in Mexico, 4.97 percent

2011-12-23T20:33:00.000-05:00

President Calderón boasts on Twitter that unemployment in Mexico is 4.79 percent, "the lowest of the OECD countries." Well, as El Universal points out, and represented by this graph, that's still quite a bit more than when he came into power.

Enrique Krauze, by The Nation

2011-12-23T19:10:00.000-05:00

Be sure to check out The Nation's take on Enrique Krauze and his new book in English, "Of Saints and Caudillos."

Love or hate him, or maybe somewhere just right in between, Krauze is one intellectual force to be reckoned with. The article, by Jorge Volpi, does an excellent job in explaining why.

Very recommended Economist 2011 Democracy Index report

2011-12-22T19:15:00.000-05:00

A strongly recommended read is The Economist Intelligence Unit's report "Democracy Index 2011: Democracy under stress," which as its title indicates indexes the world's regime according to various factors (Electoral process and pluralism; Functioning of government; Political participation; Political culture; and Civil liberties) to determine, simply put, how democratic is each country in the world.

Download here.

Mexico's position is 50 - exactly the same as last year. It is immediately above such countries as Argentina, Bulgaria, and Croatia, and scores somewhat high in functioning of government, yet low in political culture. Mexico is also noted for deterioration in media freedom.

The report notes, for the region as a whole,

Flawed democracies are concentrated in Latin America and eastern Europe, and to a lesser extentin Asia. Despite progress in Latin American democratisation in recent decades, many countries in theregion remain fragile democracies. Levels of political participation are generally low and democraticcultures are weak. There has also been significant backsliding in recent years in some areas such asmedia freedoms.

The lowest score (167th place) of any country?
Hint: It is where Kim Jong went from ill to dead.

The highest score: Norway. Yes, I am proud.

PAN leaves the Clouthiers out in the cold

2011-12-22T09:59:00.000-05:00

Manuel Clouthier, commonly known as "Maquío," was the PAN's 1988 presidential candidate, and a very decent man - he actively joined the possible yet defrauded winner Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas in denouncing the fraud, until his own party quieted him down and made deals with president-elect Carlos Salinas.

His family, from their stronghold in Sinaloa, has continued in politics (Maquio died in a mysterious car crash in 1989): Both his son Manuel and his daughter Tatiana have been active in the PAN.

Yet they have been highly critical of Calderón's armed onslaught against the drug cartels and the manner in which is being fought. That is likely the main cause why Manuel was recently rejected as a senate candidate for PAN for 2012, despite his very significant political weight in Sinaloa.

The fight has been long brewing with the PAN, and a break with this emblematic neopanista family with its party seems very imminent: Don't be surprised if in a few weeks we'll see Manuel Clouthier Carrillo as a candidate for AMLO's 2012 coalition.

1.7 million houses left with dirt floors

2011-12-22T09:40:00.000-05:00

As a recent editorial in El Universal points out, the Mexican government's program of piso firme, or hard floor, is of extreme importance: Where the program has implemented - that is, where the federal government has helped construct cement floors in poor houses - parasites have been reduced with 78 percent, diarrhea with 49, and anemia with 81 percent.

This as very real, and extremely important gains, as they particularly affect children.

There are 1.7 million houses left, and El Universal rightly calls for completing this project before the end of 2012. With Calderón increasingly eager to leave a "legacy" that goes beyond the utterly failed "drug war," here's at least one chance to leave a lasting mark.

Morelos: PAN governor's christmas present for himself

2011-12-22T01:00:00.000-05:00

Marco Antonio Adame Castillo (PAN), despite making a hefty sum as Morelos governor, awarded himself an aguinaldo, essentially an extra month's pay as christmas bonus, of cool 300,000 pesos.

That's about 22 times more than that of a worker in his government.

Adame explained he would use the bonus for "family development."

I am sure he will.

Jorge Emilio "Niño Verde" González and the dead Bulgarian in Cancún

2011-12-21T12:02:00.001-05:00

Jorge Emilio González Martínez, until recently president of the Mexican "Green" party PVEM (after succeeding his father in this sultanistic enterprise which is not a Green party as we know them elsewhere), is an utterly failed "politician" who have absolutely no interest in politics, ideology, or programs, as has been amply demonstrated by his, to put it mildly, undistinguished trajectory in public service.

His world is the world of holidays to Disneyland and New York City, sports clubs, extreme consumption, and partying. He is most recently in deep trouble for exactly the latter, after a party that was held in his huge luxury department in Cancún, where a young Bulgarian woman, Galina Chankova Chaneva, "fell from a window" this past April. As investigative reporter Lydia Cacho has confirmed, González tried to kill the story and denied it was even his apartment, yet Cacho states that he was indeed present, and called the governor of Quintana Roo to try to quiet the whole affair down.

Regardless: Now PRI, in "partial alliance" with the PVEM (which means that in some of the 300 single-member districts of Mexico, they will field common candidates, as well as for some Senate seats), has the guts to put forth Jorge Emilio González as its candidate for Senate for Quintana Roo, paired with ex governor Félix González Canto, reportedly under investigation for corruption.

Even Jesús Martínez, who was the first governor of the state in 1975 (it only became a state in 1974), has come out against the alliance, which he calls "shameful." Other members of PRI have also criticized the proposed candidacy, pointing out that González, once nicknamed the "Green Kid," a term now used ironically, is more famous for scandals and corruption than his legislative achievements.

One thing bears pointing out: If elected to the senate, both the Gonzálezes would have six years of immunity for prosecution.

AMLO's future cabinet: Ebrard as Interior Secretary, de la Fuente, Education

2011-12-20T10:58:00.000-05:00

AMLO is taken the time and liberty to declare the names of desired members of his future cabinet:

Marcelo Ebrard, Interior secretary
Juan Ramón de la Fuente, Education secretary
Rogelio Ramírez de la O, Finance secretary.

Very, very solid names. Quite bold to declare them in this manner and not without risks, but might very well pull in some votes.

Cherán votes to ditch elections in favor of "usos y costumbre"

2011-12-20T10:45:00.000-05:00

The village of Cherán in Michoacán, where its mainly Purépecha indigenous inhabitants have since March taken up arms against illegal loggers and organized crime, and in the process kicked out its PRI mayor, voted two days ago to ditch elections, in favor of the system of "usos y costumbres" used chiefly in indigenous areas in Oaxaca, and in a few areas in Sonora.

Usos y costumbres are a traditional and pre-hispanic - and mightily complicated - means of selecting leadership and solving conflicts. Yet they are not without their critics. There is often no semblance of a secret vote, and often women are left out of the equation, as office holders as well as voters.

Cherán is the only municipality to introduce them in Michoacán, after a roughly 4841-500 vote that was recognized by the state electoral institute. Yet as much as Cherán's anger with political parties unable to solve their problems is understandable, I don't really see the usos y costumbres as a panacea for anything.

I will be off to Paracho the coming days, the "world capital of guitars," to by me a nice Vihuela, and hope to stop by Cherán, unless the situation is too tense.

In this Cristiada-mass time... Grabman's Gorostieta and the Cristiada

2011-12-19T19:25:00.003-05:00

Many of us are awaiting with dread the new movie "Cristiada," about the 1926-9 conflict, an armed uprising of catholics against a strongly anti-clerical Mexican state.

Dread, because it appears the this will be a very distorted and pro-cristero portrayal of reality - in other words, a very political movie, yet of the reactionary kind. The trailer for the movie strongly suggests so: To dramatic images of churchgoers being massacred, we are told that "When the government outlawed faith... the faithful became outlaws." Oh, dear. "Based on a true story," the trailer boldly claims. One might add, "Only the facts have been changed to protect the innocent."

For a quick, entertaining, enlightening, and, most importantly, even-handed read on the Cristiada and particularly Enrique Gorostieta Velarde, a general hired to be the leader of the rebellion, I recommend Richard Grabman's Gorostieta and the Cristiada: Mexico's Catholic Insurgency 1926-1929. It proves a quick and accessible overview and background to the event, and seeks to hone in on Gorostieta himself - a highly ambitions army officer that, irony of ironies, had long been considered an anti-clerical and possibly atheist. Keep that thought in mind as you watch the trailer. Yet what motivated him to join the rebellion, then? For one good and highly readable attempt at answering this question, which appears to have been the author's motivation, you can check out Grabman's book.

It is a very useful antidote to what appears to be a very, very flawed film, whenever it will be released.

(available now as an e-book here, or here, it costs less than a beer)

Art. 24 reform: Everyone's going overboard, especially La Jornada journalists

2011-12-17T12:25:00.002-05:00

Where to begin: Two days ago, the Chamber of Deputies approved the reform to Article 24 of the constitution that will now allow religious organizations to carry out acts of worship in public, rather than being restricted only to religious houses of worship, according to existing legislation.

The change has elicited many strong reactions, and understandably so. Given the historic role of the church in Mexico, as well as its often pernicious influence on current politics (many of them noted in this blog), one should be wary of anything resembling an attack on the secular state in Mexico.

Already, strongly secular PRI senators such as Francisco Labastida and María de los Ángeles Moreno said they will vote against the legislation when it comes to the senate.

Yet as far as I can see, the main reasons why the PRI, PAN, and most of PRD voted in favor for the legislation was simply for Mexico to abide by its international obligations stemming from having signed the San José Agreement on Human Rights. Pro-secular NGOs, however, are worried that the legislation means far more than this.

Let that debate continue.

Yet here the nuttiness starts. La Jornada on its front page declares that the Chuchos, or the social democratic wing of the PRD (long known for its pro-secular attitude, pro grays, pro women, pro abortion, etc), agreed to vote for the legislation in return for Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo, a federal deputy and member of the chuchos or (more formally Nueva Izquirda) presiding the Chamber of Deputies for the coming legislative session. The claim is repeated ad nauseam in a rash of articles in the newspaper by the same two journalists, Roberto Garduño and Enrique Méndez, such as here and here. .

But where is the evidence that this is the case, other than the claims of a few of their PRD and PT fellow legislators who merely say that is so?

I've said it before: La Jornada, once a highly venerable, respected, extremely important newspaper, is becoming a caricature of itself due to its ridiculous biases and distortions of reality: You can't repeat as "fact" a highly incendiary claim just because you are opposed politically to the group stating it.
Seriously. At no point do they even mention the San José agreements, but merely throw in the PRD group in what they call "attack on the secular state." There's more than a bit of irony here: Where was La Jornada, when gay groups, human rights group, pro choice groups, women rights group, etc, were pleading with AMLO in 2006 to take up their cause, as he had promised, in his presidential campaign? When AMLO personally blocked the vote on gay unions as Mexico City mayor? Not a word from La Jornada, which from the early 2000s on appeared more an AMLO mouthpiece (or EZLN, depending on the conjuncture), than the serious newspaper it once was.

Speaking of nutty journalists: Some "catholic reporters" - unclear from what newspaper - brought with them a priest to "bless" the press room. Yes, to bless the Chamber of Deputies press room.

And of course, the criminal thugs of the Mexico Archdiocese - criminal in their numerous cover-ups of child-raping priests and pedophiles on all levels - could not resist the temptation to use their favorite word, the F-word.

F for Fascist. Hugo Valdemar Romero, the spokesperson of sorts for the church, said in response to critics of the legislation that "it is incomprehensible that some parties of a fascist style continue to view this as a violation of the Constitution, as a violation of the secular state."

Leave it to Valdemar, who have always gleefully enjoyed pouring gasoline on fire, to tack the label "fascist" to democratic political parties. Self-projection, much?

14 months late, Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) complete

2011-12-16T09:39:00.000-05:00

It's about damn time. At last, the Chamber of deputies came to an agreement to appoint, with the required 2/3 majority, the last three IFE councilors ahead of 2012. None voted against; a handful of PT legislators abstained.

They are:
* Sergio García Ramírez, former attorney general, and judge at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

* María Marván Laborde, Ph.D from New School, now with the federal IFAI (institute for access to information and data protection)

* Lorenzo Córdova Vianello, Ph.D, law expert and researcher at UNAM.

This is excellent new, met with near unison approval from the various legislative leaders, as well as IFE president Leonardo Valdés. It's embarrassing, though, that it took the Chamber so long to get to this, and only under intense pressure from the federal electoral tribunal (TEPJF).

IFE squashes a horrid proposal from two of its councilors

2011-12-15T19:40:00.001-05:00

Marco Antonio Baños and Alfredo Figueroa Mantuvo, IFE councilors both, proposed to IFE's general council that IFE should extend its authority to monitor opinion programs in the media to make sure the treatment of political candidates of the shows are "equitable."

Thankfully, IFE squashed the initiative, which strikes me as truly insane, and far beyond the mere practical details of deciding what is "equitable" treatment of candidtes: What on earth makes them think that IFE is entitled to decide what is "fair" treatment in the media? It is hard to think of a similar extreme and truly frightening attempt at overreach with authoritarian overtones.

While Marco Antonio Baños is known for his erratic behavior, I expected differently from Alfredo Figueroa, who I found to be a very reasonable man when I interviewed him for an hour a little while back.

Both are considered very close to the PRI, despite the nonsense of IFE councilors supposedly having no party sympathies. Yet for them to try to turn IFE into an organ exercising editorial control of political programs on television - I actually did hold that to be beneath them.

Peña Nieto is not the lady of the house, we now know.

2011-12-14T23:01:00.001-05:00

There is something truly pathetic about playing the victim when you screw up like Enrique Peña Nieto has done very publicly the past days. It is also a sign things aren't going your way. Why not at least try to laugh it off, and show that he is not just the scripted puppet incapable of independent thinking and improvisation that his opponents accuse him of being?

Yet Peña Nieto instead plays the victim, and even suggesting there might be more "inaccuracies" in the future.

Word.

He then preceded to not know the minimum wage in Mexico nor the price of a kilo of tortillas nor the price of a kilo of meat, responding that "I am not the lady of the house."

Yes, because only women buy tortillas and meat.

Quote of the day: Carlos Fuentes on Enrique Peña Nieto,

2011-12-14T16:21:00.000-05:00

Fuentes dixit:

"This señor has the right not to read me. What he has not the right to be is president of Mexico due to his ignorance, this is what is serious. Not that he has not read a book of mine, but that he shows his ignorance. He is a very ignorant man."

The dead students in Guerrero

2011-12-14T12:44:00.001-05:00

It seems prudent to withhold judgment on who is to blame for what happened in Guerrero two days ago. What is abundantly clear is that it should never have happened in the first place: Two students dead and more than a dozen wounded following a highway protest.

It was hardly the first time students from the Ayotzinapa teacher school in Guerrerohave been blocking the Autopista del Sol, the highway running from Mexico City to Acapulco, Guerrero. Yet it is the first time it turned deadly: "Someone" - state police, federal police, provocateurs - fired upon students and graduates of Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos who were demanding reuctions in tuition as well as guaranteed teaching jobs after graduation.

Dramatic videos have been released by the Guerrero state government, eager to put the blame on federal police, that also clearly seems to show the students torching a PEMEX gas station.

Yet the federal police have responded forcefully, claiming rather that the shots were fired by Guerrero state police in civilian clothing.

Governor Ángel Aguirre Rivero fired his attorney general, Alberto López Rosas, as it became clear that it contrary to his early claims, video recordings showed that the state police was fully armed. Aguirre also fired the secretary and sub secretary of public security, Ramón Almonte Borja and general Ramón Arreolaos respectively, to "facilitate the investigation."

Students who torch a gas station can hardly be expected to treated with kid gloves. I would never defend what appears to be, from the video images released, the beating and kicking of captured students, though it should also be pretty clear that if you block a highway and then torch a gas station with Molotov cocktails, the encounter with the police is not likely to be pretty.

But gunning down students - firing your guns at a civilian crowd that in no case appears to be a physical threat to the safety of the officers - is a criminal act for which the guilty parties, whoever they are, must be made to pay. This should never have had to come to this.