AMLO's party is born

AMLO finally has his own party: Yesterday, his Morena movement held its constituent assembly to become a political party. 1676 delegates gathered to elected 204 of its 300 national councilors, and "voted" by a raising of the hands (!) AMLO to be president of the party council. So much for a democratic voto secreto y libre! Delegates also approved its statutes and declaration of principles of the new party.

They will next vote to choose a party president, which will be a meaningless position given that AMLO will in any case exercise full control of his own, custom-made, personalized, personalistic, patrimonial party. One likely candidate is the disgraced Martí Batres Guadarrama, who just one day earlier finally left the PRD. He will not be missed by any proponent of the PRD as a serious, modern, democratic left party: Batres represented its worst authoritarian hard-left nationalistic thugishness. His departure is the PRD's gain.

In the long run, so I believe, is AMLO's.

From Milenio.com

UPDATE: Batres it is.

Picture from Milenio.com

Source:
AMLO: con Morena, el reinicio. El Universal, Nov. 20, 2012
Deja Martí Batres al PRD por Morena. Milenio.com. Nov. 18, 2012


Eligen a Martí Batres presidente de Morena. Milenio.com. Nov. 20. 2012

AMLO's parody of a party to be launched Nov. 19-20

The Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional or Morena, the personal, customized, made-to-fit party of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and stuffed with his relatives, hardcore supporters, and a good bunch of opportunists, will be officially launched in a national assembly on Nov. 19-20.

This will be a parody of a party: It is a tool created solely for one purpose, which is for AMLO to run for a third time for the Mexican presidency. It has been created in an absolute hurry - in just a few weeks, scores of state and district "assemblies" have been held where local leaderships have been largely hand-picked by AMLO and his family.

Like the Green Party, the PT, the Convergencia/Mocimiento Ciudadano, PANAL, and other small franchise-parties, Morena is just an extended family enterprise, in this case of AMLO. It exists only for him and his interests - not, for example, to promote a legislative agenda, engage in reform of Mexico's laws, train future legislators, etc. No, this parody of a party has been cobbled, hurled together in an absolute hurry, and is held together only as long as AMLO has absolute control of it. Already many of its "assemblies" have degenerated into shouting matches and fights between different groups that claim to be the real and most loyal of AMLO's supporters.

A party that is held together only by loyalty to one man is very brittle, and is far more likely to descend into internal chaos than one held together by a lasting, common programmatic and ideological agenda. So far there is no indication that the new Morena, in its coming national assembly, will be anything but "AMLO's party," and it will rise, and fall, with him.

Source:
AMLO convoca a asamblea nacional. El Universal, Nov. 9, 2012

The Labor reform fight: Surprise in store next week?

The Mexican senate will vote on the labor reform next week, and the battle is truly heating up. Despite a persistent drive from the PRI to have the legislation passed just as it is - and as it was passed in the Chamber of Deputies three weeks ago- things may take a very surprising turn in the end.

My own views on the legislation are, in very general terms, that a reform is badly needed, and the original proposal from Calderón had both good and bad parts, yet unfortunately the Chamber essentially voted to remove many of the good parts - democracy and transparency within Mexico's notoriously corrupt and authoritarian PRI-linked (as well, yet to a far lesser extent, PRD-linked ones) unions - while making it far too easy to fire workers, pay starvation wages, and outsource. Yes, one may well argue that in certain instances businesses should be freer to hire and fire, and that this may be a genuine impediment to formalizing jobs. But if one does this without putting any credible social safety net in place in return, it is obvious that the reform will be too slanted towards business interests, and not the workers who, lest we forget, also create the wealth. Even so, the left will not be able to block these parts, but it should work with PAN to pass some other key pieces on union democracy.

The hope is above all that the left will  now act in unison, and avoid the embarrassing spectacle in the Chamber:

On Sept. 29, when the legislation came to a vote, despite having vowed not to undertake any "radical" actions such as storming the congress podium, a group of legislators linked to Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) still resorted to this thug tactic. A few thoughts on this:

* Using physical force to block legislation is about as undemocratic as it gets, and worthy more of blackshirt storm troopers than any political organization that purports to be left wing. No matter how much one opposes  a particular legislation, as a democratically elected legislator you simply don't use violence to stop it. This is not a case of legitimate "civil disobedience" against some authoritarian, colonial power or what not - this is using violence to promote your means when you fail to do so through the democratic channels. In this case, PRD deputies Karen Quiroga and Lourdes Amaya, linked to the "radical" IDN faction in the PRD, violently ripped the microphone from the president of the congressional mesa directiva, and was backed by a handful of other PRD, PT and MC deputies who tried to storm or "take" the congressional dais.

One the one hand, such behavior undermines the image of the Mexican left and presents it as radical, quarrelsome, thuggish, and outright anti-democratic. Even more important, in my view, is that it sets a frightening precedent that would legitimize any force - from the extreme right, for instance - to seek to block i.e. progressive legislation on the grounds that it would against the "will of the people." If the left can openly and violently defy elected democracy by thug actions, why should not the far right, or any other force, feel they have every bit as much right to do so? There is a time for "civil disobedience," yet this is absolutely not it. Love or hate the legislation, it was legitimately voted upon and passed. If you don't accept this, you don't accept democracy.

And the kicker: According to some counts, had the left actually remained united and voted as a block, it could have prevented the entire legislation from being passed in the first place! After protesting, rather than remaining for the vote - which is what these legislators are actually paid to do, that is, to vote - dozens of them simply abandoned the chamber. In addition to lackluster democratic credentials, it illustrates an utter lack of political responsibility.

Jesús Ortega, leader of the social-democratic majority faction in Mexico's largest party on the left, the PRD, noted in an op-ed,

Our "ultra leftists," who "take" tribunes, flee the debate, and who shout instead of responding with arguments, in reality despise the fight in parliament and the electoral path. They feverishly seek to be parliamentarians and when they become so instead of fighting in the battle of ideas - and fighting to win the votes - they withdraw from these, promoting precisely an extremism that, in light of the facts, is tragically useless.

Amen.

They weren't the only to blame, though:
* A handful of PAN deputies as well voted for the legislation in the plenary, even though it came as a "preferred initiative" from president Felipe Calderón, of the PAN.
* A deputy from the "radical" PT, Adolfo Orive, voted in commission against Art. 357, which included union democracy. His vote was decisive in removing this from the final text that was voted upon. Despite disingenuously claiming to have actually voted in favor - the brazenness is simply stunning - the "radical left" legislators in practice ran the errand of PRI, which virulently opposes democracy in the unions.   Afew days later he just happened to be promoted to head the sought-after commission of competitiveness, which he is utterly unqualified for. It reeks of a pay-off.
* The PRD in general backs union democracy, and also wants the government to stop funding unions, instead relying solely on membership dues. This is a Mexican twist that of course stems from the PRI's union advantage, product of its 70 years in power. The PRD also wants to reinstate language removed that regulate work conditions for miners, and prison penalty for owners that neglect worker safety.

(Interestingly, some unions, above all in the PRI-linked CTM, are already calling on the PRI's president-elect Enrique Peña Nieto to block the reform)

Yet then something interesting happened. Despite the many "leaks" in the increasingly pro-PRI Milenio that the senate would simply pass the legislation as it stands - without union democracy and transparency - a few important panistas suggested that PAN would seek to reinstate this language. Finally, PAN president Gustavo Madero confirmed this. The left has also suggested it will try to vote as a block this time. Both PAN and PRD have publicly accused the PRI of exerting enormous pressure on them to not change a comma of the legislation. If united both internally and in unison with the PAN, they have a chance of blocking the legislation, in order to halt it, reinsert the union democracy language (both PAN and the left backs this), and send it back to the Chamber, where, if united they could pass it. This would, however, require an enormous amount of discipline, and, as seen earlier, coherence. I remain cautiously optimistic that they may defy the pessimistic predictions that, come next week, they will fail again.

Source:
PRD lamenta que “tribus” de izquierda abandonaran pleno. El Universal, Sept. 30
Jesús Ortega: El extremismo: Enfermedad senil de la izquierda. Excélsiór, Oct. 2, 2012
AN insiste en incluir democracia sindical. El Universal, Oct. 9, 2012.
Alista PRD más de 150 reservas. El Universal, Oct. 9, 2012.
Proponen a Adolfo Orive para presidir Competitividad. La Jornada, Oct. 11, 2012
Chocan partidos en Senado por sindicatos.  El Universal, Oct. 9, 2012.
Denuncia PAN presión de PRI para no tocar reforma. El Universal, Oct. 10, 2012.
PRI presiona para no mover ley laboral: PRD. El Universal, Oct. 11, 2012.
Pide CTM a EPN frenar la reforma laboral. El Universal, Oct. 12, 2012.
Hay acuerdo en Senado para cambiar ley laboral. El Universal, Oct. 18, 2012
PRI y PAN chocan por ley laboral. El Universal, Oct. 17, 2012

AMLO on violence

AMLO on violence:

I respect highly those who argue that only through armed force can one achieve the changes the country needs, but I do not share this. 

He also rejected to sit down for any talks with president-elect  Enrique Peña Nieto, and advised others to reject dialogue as well.

Noted.

Source:
AMLO rechaza vía armada para cambio. El Universal, Oct. 9, 2012

On AMLO's departure from the PRD

I'd like to share a few thoughts on the biggest story on the Mexican left these days.

AMLO's departure from the PRD, long in the making, is clearly dramatic for the Mexican left: Any two-time presidential candidate leaving his or her party would be noteworthy in itself, but even more so as AMLO is clearly bent on creating a new, utterly personal party, with which he of course intends to go for 2018 in a third run adn thus compete with the party he was once a founding member of, the PRD. A third presidential run is of course hardly unheard of: Lula ran four times before winning, and so did Salvador Allende in Chile, though notably both were men of their parties, and above all respected the institutional framework within which they were competing. Did any of them ever falsely claim fraud or to have won, without a shred of evidence, proclaim themselves "legitimate" presidents, or reject the democratic institutions of their country, be it elections, electoral courts, or the supreme court?

But there is a larger point to be made, regarding converting AMLO's Morena movement into a party. His spokespersons, and AMLO himself, reiterate that there will in the next months be "consultations" with the base regarding turning Morena into a party or not. It is hard to take this too seriously: For one, "consultations" AMLO-style is text-book plebescitarian, "asking" his followers whether they agree with a decision he has taken long ago. A personal observation: I recall vividly being at the Zócalo in 2011 at the rally where AMLO, as he later claimed, "asked" his followers to go for the 2012 nomination or not, and it was anything but a consultation ("Are we going for 2012? Yeeees... Louder, are we going for 2012? YEEEEES....!). Second, I have little doubt that AMLO wants to turn Morena into a party. He has announced he will hold, from Oct. 10 to Nov. 11, 32 state congresses, and then one national congress Nov. 19-20. What's the hurry? Quite obvious: In order to be allowed to run on the new party's label in 2018, according to the reformed Mexican electoral code, it will need to have been officially formed by this fall.

It is worth stopping to ponder how utterly personalistic AMLO's project is, as there simply has been nothing like this happening on the left in modern times. While Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas contemplated leaving the PRD when he lost the 2006 nomination to AMLO, he in the end did not. Yet AMLO, despite having been PRD's candidate in 2006 and 2012, knows he will not get the candidacy a third time, and therefore has finally split from his old party, like he in turn bolted from the PRI when he failed to get its nomination to be governor of Tabasco. All the "PRI has lost its way, therefore I leave" rhetoric even from that time must be countered with a heavy dose of cynicism: AMLO, like so many others, left the PRI because it did not fit with his personal ambitions.

His decision to form a new party makes it again fully clear how AMLO cares about one project: His own. Elsewhere, in other parties, candidates will fight over positions and some will of course bolt their own party, but on the political left, most nonetheless agree that the party - that is, the project of the party, its political program and plans of action - is far more important than the ambitions of just one man. If AMLO truly cared about any political project beyond his own, he would of course concentrate on using his political capital to strengthen a broader political project with a chance of winning in 2018, with a goal to implement a progressive agenda and not to insist that only AMLO would be capable of doing this. But as these events make abundantly clear, he has no interest in any project that is not led by himself. It is either utterly egoistic, wholly messianic, or both: "No one but me can bring about the change, no one!"

And when his party suggested it would not follow his commands without objection - such as not accepting the election victory of Enrique Peña Nieto, which Morena has declared it will never do - then rather than bending to the party's will, AMLO has finally taken the logical step: If you can't control it, leave it.

His decision will cause enormous turmoil and fluidity on the Mexican left and likely hurt it greatly in the short term, such as upcoming state contests and the 2015 midterms. There is of course also the danger that the  that the left will split in 2018, should AMLO break his earlier promise not to run (he said in 2011 that 2012 would be his last, "out of dignity," and also, as laughable as it appears now, some also believed him when he declared he would retire should he lose this summer). Nonetheless, in the long run, I think AMLO's departure from the PRD, as Marcelo Ebrard characterized it, was not only "predictable and logical," but will also in the end be positive for the Mexican left. As PRD president Zambrano noted, "The PRD is an institution that is much strong than persons and personalities." That includes Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Source:
Creará AMLO partido; deja frente de izquierda. El Universal, Sept. 10, 2012
Es incongruente, afirman PAN y PRI. El Universal, Sept. 10, 2012
AMLO: sin ruptura, dejo el Movimiento Ciudadano. La Jornada, Sept. 10, 2012
Mensaje íntegro de Andrés Manuel López Obrador en el Zócalo. La Jornada, Sept. 10, 2012
AMLO pone en dilema a la izquierda. El Universal, Sept. 11, 2012
Pide Ebrard crear frente de oposición. El Universal, Sept. 14, 2012
Zambrano descarta “fuga” de militantes. El Universal, Sept. 11, 2012
Salida de AMLO no es una sorpresa: NI. El Universal, Sept. 14, 2012

AMLO leaves party politics

At a rally in the downtown Zócalo today, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) - who does not recognize the win of Enrique Peña Nieto in the 2012 presidential election, nor accept the verdict of Mexico's electoral tribunal confirming this - announced he will separate himself from the parties that carried his presidential candidacy, namely the PRD, PT, and MC. This is, then, a separation from party politics, though he may next turn his social movement MORENA into a party in near future:

In this new stage of my life, I will dedicate all my imagination and work to the cause of the transformation of Mexico. I will do this from the space that MORENA represents, and therefore separate myself from the parties of the Movimiento Progresista [the name of the 2012 coalition].

This is not a rupture; I leave on the best terms. I separate myself from the  the progressive parties with my deepest thanks to their leaders and activists.

Yesterday, the left's governors-elect and PRD, the largest party on the left, declared they will accept Enrique Peña Nieto's victory, however grudgingly - which clearly distinguished them from AMLO. There is rarely such a thing as a coincidence in politics.

Source:
Anuncia AMLO su separación de las izquierdas. Milenio online, Sept. 9, 2012
Gobernadores de izquierda reconocen el triunfo de Peña. El Universal, Sept. 8, 2012

AMLO's tweet

During the election campaign, AMLO vowed to retire from politics - to go to La Chingada, or his Chiapas ranch - should he not win the election. Months earlier, he also declared that 2012 would be his last election, "out of dignity." Yet despite Thursday's ruling from the TEPJF electoral court - unanimous, and moreover unappealable - he tweeted yesterday, 

Attentive warning: I'm going to retire when the country belongs to everyone, not the 30 potentates. When we realize the fine ideal of justice.

Few will likely remain surprised of this turn-about or lack of memory. AMLO will not retire, and he will do all he can to run in 2018 for a third bid. The battle is already on.

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

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

Stunning The Guardian exposée confirms left suspicions

This is quite explosive news, given in particular its timing: An investigation by Jo Tuckman of the British newspaper The Guardian appears to confirm exactly what the Mexican left and its 2012 presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) - as well as many journalists and analysts - have claimed for many years:

• An outline of fees apparently charged for raising Peña Nieto's national profile when he was governor of the state of Mexico.

• A detailed media strategy explicitly designed to torpedo a previous presidential bid by leftwing candidate Andres Manuel López Obrador, who is currently Peña Nieto's closest rival.

• Payment arrangements suggesting that the office of former president Vicente Fox concealed exorbitant public spending on media promotion.

Read all about it!

Update: See the documents at the Guardian's Web page here.

Sources: 

Computer files link TV dirty tricks to favourite for Mexico presidency. The Guardian, June 8, 2012
Documenta The Guardian la colusión Televisa-Peña. La Jornada, June 8, 2012
Respuesta de la televisora. La Jornada, June 8, 2012
Reacción a nota de The Guardian. La Jornada, June 8, 2012

Ominami, from Chile, an AMLO adviser?

Apologies for merely re-transmitting a rumor, albeit from the well-informed Bajo Reserva: According to sources in AMLO's campaign team, one foreign adviser to AMLO's 2012 presidential campaign is none other than Marco Enríquez-Ominami, the 38-young Chilean leftwing politician most known for his 2009 presidential run in Chile (he came third with 20 percent or so), but later an important promoter of the student protest movement in Chile.

I am very curious on what role he plays in Mexico, whether as a liaison with the #soy132, as an assessor of the movement, as an actual organizer of the protests, or otherwise, and I find the international aspect quite noteworthy.

Source:

Bajo Reserva. El Universal, June 5, 2012. 

Pilot fired for greeting AMLO, colleagues force his return

Quite an amazing little story: An Aeroméxico pilot was fired for greeting, over the aircraft intercom, presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), who was on the flight.

The story hardly stops there.

His colleagues, in a wonderful display of solidarity and in protest over the extreme reaction from the Aeroméxico management (privatized by PRI's Salinas in the late 1980s), refused to fly, which lead to the cancelling of several flights from Mexico City. After brief negotiations, the pilot, Miguel Pérez, was reinstated.

Source: Cesan a piloto que saludó a AMLO durante un vuelo. La Jornada, May 19, 2012.

A miracle! AMLO moderated through...prayer!

Archbishop of Jalapa, Hipólito Reyes Larios, has a clear answer to AMLO's moderate discourse on the campaign trail: The church prayed for it! That's right, it is obviously a result of the priests and their congregations having prayed for this to happen!

Now what about those pesky amputees...

Noroña, a cliche waiting to happen

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

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

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

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

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

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

AMLO: I've forgiven Felipe Calderón

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AMLO like you ain't seen him yet

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

Milenio

PRI getting desperate in Tabasco, may lose state

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

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

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

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

Biden the diplomat

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

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

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

Alphabetical order! Biden, the diplomat - whowoulda thunk!

AMLO, now with movie stars!

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

La Jornada