PAN makes peace with Enrique Peña Nieto

What a big move from the heady days after the July 1, 2012 election, when PAN president Gustavo Madero  claimed there was so much vote buying in the election that PRI winner Enrique Peña Nieto would never be a "legitimate" president, even if "legal."

Last week, 7 PAN governors and 2 governors-elect, as well as Madero himself, met with and rallied around the PRI president-elect, promising to back key initiatives on "shared initiatives."

Madero said PAN would back any "democratizing and modernizing" projects Peña Nieto might launch once in power.

For the PAN at least, whatever happened on July 1, 2012 - we're unlikely to know any time soon, or perhaps at all, given the decision of Mexico's electoral tribunal not to investigate serious claims of vote buying - is long since forgotten.

Source:
Gobernadores de AN dan respaldo a Peña. El Universal, Sept. 13, 2012

Even PAN does not rule out election annulment

New and unexpected tones from Gustavo Madero:

la legitimidad no le alcanza... Los cuestionamientos que surgen en torno a esta elección son muchos

The PAN leader did not say that the evidence PRD and PAN has gathered is enough to demand the 2012 election's annulment, but pointedly did not rule it out. This marks a rather sharp turn away from PAN's immediate reaction to lament irregularities, but then essentially signal it would accept the results regardless.

Source:
“Legitimidad no le alcanza” a Peña Nieto, dice Gustavo Madero. Proceso Online, July 8, 2012.
“Los cuestionamientos que surgen en torno a esta elección son muchos.” Milenio, July 8, 2012.

PAN backtracks on extremist abortion legislation: No prison for women

Gustavo Madero, head of the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), to his credit declared that PAN will promote reforms on the state level that will block women from being thrown in prison for having an abortion (or even a miscarriage, as has often happened).

It is about time the national PAN makes a move to counteract the shameless legislation passed the past 3-4 years in at least 18 states, by PAN and PRI legislators, that essentially makes any abortion - along with many birth control options - a crime.

A most pathetic defense from Humberto Moreira

Humberto Moreira Valdés, president of Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), is in stormy weather not only due to the explosion of debt during his term as governor of Coahuila, but also for his government seemingly falsifying documents to creditors and as well the federal government. Gustavo Madero, head of Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), has in particular been on the offensive here, demanding that Moreira explain these irregularities.

Yet what has been Moreira's response? He attacked the "perverse campaign" against him, and  launched a challenge to PAN: If you want to talk about the debt, then let's also talk about the debt to the dead in the fight against organized crime."

What on earth is the connection here? If this illogical,  non-nonsensical rubbish is all what Moreira can come up with, he might be in serious trouble.

Also: Enrique Peña Nieto jumped to Moreira's offense, of sorts, claiming that the debt issue had been "politicized." Well of course it has! If a governor leaves office with an incredible amount of debt accumulated, some possibly even illegally, and then heads the country's biggest party, how can it not be "politicized"?

... and now PAN rejects any alliance with PRD for 2012

Gustavo Madero, PAN president, now says there will be no alliance with the PRD for 2012, and definitely the PAN will not back AMLO or Ebrard.

Two thoughts:
1) Words matter very little one year ahead of 2102, and Madero's even less, despite being head of PAN.

2)  If not AMLO and Ebrard - would the PAN back a common "citizen candidate"?

No one is calling for PAN president's head, at least not yet

The PAN elite, represented by its National Political Commission, made it clear that it is not blaming the party's poor election results on its leader, Gustavo Madero, but rather offered its "unanimous" backing.

PAN president Gustavo Madero accuses PRI of drugtrafficking collusion

National president of the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), Gustavo Madero, accused the PRI of having colluded-turned the blind eye, to drug trafficking for decades:

"The eggs of the snake were nesting for years. They made pacts with the narco traffickers, and now we are paying for these omissions."

Yet this is perhaps what many would want the PRI back for: A new "national pact" with the drug gangs.

Madero vs. Calderón

Yet another case in point that relations between president Felipe Calderón and PAN president Gustavo Madero are hardly stellar: Following the proclamations of support by a range of prominent PAN members, linked directly to the president and his wife, of the presidential ambitions of Ernesto Cordero, Madero remarked in an interview that the letter was "inconvenient," "doesn't contribute" to the process," and "creates inappropriate pressure."

Abraham González Uyeda, who in 2004 lent his ranch to Felipe Calderón for his candidacy declaration, said he would gladly lend it to Cordero for his announcement.

Will history again be repeated as farce when it comes to the PAN presidential nomination?

Even PAN's national party leader hints at a "de facto alliance"

Quite noteworthy: PAN's national president, Gustavo Madero, said yesterday that while the PRD's national council, through lack of a 2/3 majority, failed to approve an official alliance with the PAN, a "de facto alliance" between the two opposition parties might very well be an option.

It is very hard to imagine an end to the 82-year-old hegemony of the PRI in Mexico State if PAN and PRD go separately, and Madero knows this fully well. Yet never before has the possibility that PAN may decline in favor of the PRD candidate been noted by someone of Madero's stature.

More on Calderón's statment; Gustavo Madero bactracks

Regarding Calderón's statement that the party had to look for the best possible candidate for 2012, whether a member or not, I asked, does Calderón have a particular non-PAN candidate in mind?

Writing in today's El Universal Denise Maerker, who I find to be a very sensible journalist and columnist, ask very much the same question, and notably claims that Calderón's declaration was "not an innocent suggestion."

She list three possible reasons for Calderón's comment on 2012:
- He doesn't think PAN has any winning candidate
- He is thinking of a possible alliance with the PRD
- He is playing a game, trying to cover up who his real preferred candidate is

Note as well that PAN appears backtrack on its seeming endorsement of Calderóns comment/proposal; party president Gustavo Madero said that it is in any case "99.99 percent sure" that PAN's 2012 candidate will be a party member" (though former president Vicente Fox backs what Calderón appeared to suggest).
We'll see.

"PRI, Party that Governs"? Rather, party that contracts massive debts

PAN national president Gustavo Madero lashed out against the PRI for what can rightfully be described as reckless spending with very little to show for it:

- In Chihuahua, former PRI Governor José Reyes Baeza left new Governor César Duarte a debt of more than 13 billion pesos, 869 percent (!) higher than when Baeza assumed in 2004.
- In Nuevo León, Rodrigo Medina took office with a debt of 27 billion pesos, 222 higher than when his PRI predecessor José Natividad González Parás took office in 2003
- In Veracruz, Fidel Herrera left a debt of 9 billion pesos, 163 higher than in 2003
- In Tamaulipas, the thoroughly incompetent Eugenio Hernández left a 9 billion debt, 582 percent higher than when he took office
- Even Humberto Moreira, the young and dynamic golden boy who is set to lead the PRI, left Coahuila with a debt of 1.6 billion pesos, up from 273 million pesos when he came into office  - though in the case of Coahuila, at least the state has quite a bit of achievements to show for this spending.

And let us not forget Mexico State, the disaster that Enrique Peña Nieto is heralding as a model for the rest of the country: 1.5 billion in debt in 2004 became.... 37 billion in debt by 2010!

All this from PRI, the party that claims it is the only one that really knows how to govern - and may win back national power in 2012.

Madero backs alliance with PRD in Mexico State

Not a surprise, but now official: The newly elected national president of the Partido Acción Nacional, Gustavo Madero, declared he is fully supporting an alliance with the PRD in Mexico City to stop the PRI, noting that AMLO´s incessant attacks and campaigning against a PAN-PRD alliance "definitely favors the PRI."

I cannot see how one can argue against that.

PAN's presidential election: Illusion of unity shattered despite declination of Gil for Gustavo Madero

The internal elections in the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) for its new party president for the next three years, a highly significant political event on its own, was given added importance because it was the first elections in five years that actually saw what appears to have been a real competition, unlike the previous dedazos of former party presidents Germán Martínez and César Nava. Yet the two front runners, Gustavo Madero and Roberto Gil, were both considered Calderón's candidates, and in essence, the new CEN (Comité Ejecutivo Nacional) will clearly be loyally calderonista. 

Things seemed on the surface calm Saturday, with one exception: Former party president Manuel Espino, recently expelled from the party, tried to elbow himself in to the PAN compound in Mexico City with hundreds of his followers, yet was told that he would be not allowed to vote, despite the regulation that all former party presidents will have a lifetime seat on the PAN council, which elects the party president.

As the voting rounds progressed, when it became clear that Gustavo Madero was picking up the most votes, Roberto Gil announced he would also decline in the name of party unity, making Madero the winner. The immediate question was, of course: What would Gil get in return for his declination?

Now we know: Gil was apparently promised a significant chunk of the PAN's 40-strong executive committee, as the new president has the right to appoint 2/3 of these. Now Gil claims that Madero failed to keep such a bargain. Madero responded that this is "false," and also refused to affirm that any such agreement actually existed.

The new CEN will have quite a few notable members, such as:
* Luisa María Calderón Hinojosa - yep, the president's sister, who wants to be Michoacán governor
* Cecilia Romero, who was also a candidate for the presidency and represents El Yunque
* Jorge Ocejo, head of the "Rightwing International," Organización Demócrata Cristiana de América
* Maximiliano Córtazar, former presidential spokesperson
* Mariana Gómez del Campo, head of the PAN's legislative group in the Mexico City assembly
* Federal Secretary of Public Administration Salvador Vega Casillas
* Federal Secretary of Communications Juan Molina Horcasitas
* Governor of Morelos,  Marco Antonio Adame,
* Governor of Guanajuato, Juan Manuel Oliva.

In other words, one should make no mistake: This is a calderonista executive committee, through and through, and Madero - a man with the charisma of a grey rock - will very likely be a highly loyal servant of the Mexican President.

Madero proposed 27 out of the 40 members, with the national council the rest, and this appears a rough measure of strength:

- Maderistas, 20
- Cecilia Romero and the yunquistas,  8
- Gil, only 6

It has not yet been decided who will head the powerful position of secretary general, but likely it will be Cecilia Romero, also a close friend of and ultra-loyal to Calderón. Should this happen, Gil, who thought one of his people deserved this secretariat, will not be happy, and more trouble may be expected.

More details here: La Jornada, El Universal, Milenio

The caballada expands: Roberto Gil Zuarth registers for PAN leadership succession

The past weekend and week saw the additional registration for contenders for the PAN presidency of Senator Blanca Judith Díaz and Francisco Ramírez Acuña, former governor of Jalisco (2001-2006), briefly minister of the interior in Calderón's cabinet, and now a federal deputy. 


Yet it was the rather surprise announcement by Roberto Gil Zuarth yesterday that he would also seek the nomination that caused the greatest stir.  Roberto Gil Zuarth is considered quite a hot-shot in PAN and a quick riser - and he is barely 33 years old. Notably, former interior minister Fernando Gómez Mont, under which Gil served, accompanied him for his registration and declared he would consider returning to PAN, should Gil become its next president. Gómez Mont, to recall, loudly renounced from PAN over the electoral alliances with PRD, and then from the administration of Felipe Calderón this July. He has held a very low profile ever since. 


Until now, Senator Gustavo Madero and Ramírez Acuña have been considered the front runners, yet Gil appears closer to Calderón than any of them. 


There is one problem:  According to party rules, the party's national councilors, who will elect the president Dec 4-5, all need to have been members of at least five years of the party, and Gil only has about 2.5 years of membership in the PAN. His supporters retort that the rule only apply for councilors, and not the party president, and as such does not disqualify Gil. Yet  this is pretty disingenuous. Yes, the statutes may only stipulate the national councilors need five years of party membership and say nothing about the president, but a more plausible reading of this is simply that it would be even more unthinkable for a president to have less than five years militancy - after all, what is the logic of demanding it of the PAN council but not the president? Yet the time when PAN was a party that strictly adhered to the internal party rules or even obeyed the spirit of the statues, has long passed. To cite but the most obvious, Calderón himself blatantly intervened to  have his designates Germán Martínez and then César Nava appointed as party presidents.


In any event, should there be any doubt as to Calderón's preferences, Germán Martínez (2007-2009 PAN president) declared that Roberto Gil would represent calderonismo as well as post-calderonismo, as the tenure of head of PAN's excecutive committe would extend to 2013, after the presidential elections.  Ramírez Acuña and particularly Madero until now appeared the strongest contenders; now, many may place their money rather on Gil.

Two candidates register to contend for PAN's presidency: One point left out

Gustavo Madero and Cecilia Romero yesterday registered officially to contend for the PAN presidency. The former is a current national senator, and his appearance was a tour de force in that he arrived with a posse of more than 100 prominent supporters, including seventeen PAN senators, and the "moral leader" of the party, Luis H. Álvarez. The latter was until recently head of the INM, the national migration institute, until she was finally fired from her post due to incompetency and failure to curb corruption and abuses in her agency - accusations that harks back years, but was impossible to ignore following the murder of 72 migrants in Tamaulipas. Romero, however, rather than keeping a low profile is heading for an even bigger prize, the PAN presidency. Also of note: She is also a hardcore opponent of any state-level electoral alliance with the PRD.

Two points: 

1) What neither La Jornada nor Milenio mention in their coverage is that Romero is a close ally of the most ultra-right elements of PAN, and is moreover part of El Yunque, an extremist catholic secret society. 

2) The fact that Madero felt compelled to display such a show of force is to me an indication that her candidacy is taken seriously by the more moderate elements in PAN represented by Madero.

As is well known in particularly U.S. politics, displaying incompetence, ideological extremism, or utter stupidity was never a hindrance for postulating for public office; on the contrary, as can be well observed these days, it may even be a plus. The same goes for Cecilia Romero. 

Broad condemnation of Onésimo Cepeda's attack on the state

While so far only the PRD, represented most visibly by Mexico City Chief of Government Marcelo Ebrard's lawsuit, has taken on the responsibility of defending the Mexican constitution and democracy itself from vicious attacks by a highly reactionary church, more legislators from PAN and PRI finally step in the ring to answer bishop Onésimo Cepeda's outright rejection of the secular state.

PRI national deputy Rubén Moreira, head of the Human Rights Commission in the lower house, accuses the bishop of undermining the secular through his actions and declarations. Senator María de los Ángeles Moreno, also of the PRI, found the need to remind the bishop of the supremacy of the Mexican state over the church, while Gustavo Madero, PAN Senator and possibly its next party president, reminds the bishop of the separation of church and state.
As if he ever forgot it.

Juventino Castro y Castro, former Supreme Court minister (judge) and now president of the Commission of Constitutional Affairs, calls on the government to "put [Cepeda] in his place". One shouldn't hold one's breath: Shamelessly, Interior Minister José Francisco Blake Mora still refuses to do his job and defend the constitution and the institutions of the Mexican state by not uttering one word of criticism against the church.

Moreira gets the final word on Cepeda:  "This little father is not going to heaven for being so vulgar"

Senator Gustavo Madero as PAN party president would signal continuity

Gustavo Madero, head of PAN's senate group, announced he would leave his current position in order to compete for the presidency of PAN, given that César Nava will not run for reeelection.

Madero is a very strong candidate for the position, and given his earlier support for the PAN-PRD alliances, his eventual party presidency will signal continuity.

PAN wisely chooses their presidency by a majority vote of its National Council, avoiding - as has happened on every single occasion - acrimonious and devastating mass elections by the party base membership, such as the case of the PRD.