Mexico's party leaders - gossip time!

El Universal had recently a very informal survey, one might say, of the heads of Mexico's political parties. For political junkies (whatever that expression really means), it is quite amusing reading. And not quite gossip either - as the information is actually true. Sadly.

We learn that:
- Jorge Kahwagi Macari, until recently PANAL leader, has a 10-million dollar yacht, and lives in a 5,500-meter square house. A true representative of the teachers that comprise the PANAL party, in other words.

- Jorge Emilio González Martínez, the "niño verde,"nominally head of the PVEM, the Mexican Green Party, which is anything but, just took his girlfriend who is half his age (she must be-according to the article, she just finished the preperatoria(!) to Disneyland. And that despite being a party leader, he did not attend or head any political event in 2010. Rather, he goes daily to play tennis in the wealthy Bosque de las Lomas area where he also lives, or to the Sport City in Santa Fe. And he proudly wears the most expensive designer clothes out there, including Brioni Suits. What a genuine representative of the post-materialist Green agenda!-

- Luis Walton Aburto, leader of the nominally left party Convergencia, which all of a sudden threw its lot with AMLO to become a "radical" party, is ultra rich, from owning gas stations and private schools. He also proudly tells us that he gains tons of money. What a great representative of los de abajo, of the downtrodden and poor!

There are those who come significantly better off. Humberto Moreira at least has a good sense of humor; PAN's Gustavo Madero is quite the wine connoisseur, PT's Alberto Anaya is as unpretentious as one can get,  with crooked glasses and worn shoes, and PRD's Jesús Zambrano still shops at the corner store in Culhuacán, a very modest zone where he still lives, and likes to drink and play guitar with Carlos Navarrete and Guadalupe Acosta.

What more info does one need? To the polls!

Gordillo's PANAL party under investigation by IFE

Mexico's federal electoral institute is carrying an investigation of Partido Nueva Alianza (PANAL), the teachers union-based party controlled completely by  Elba Esther Gordillo, due to "unusual movements" in its bank account. 

PANAL's new president Luis Castro Obregón seems to fit the party like hand in glove.  He denied that the audit has anything to do with recent hurling of accusations of corruption between Gordillo and Miguel Angel Yunes, though refused to offer any more comments on the matter. 

Then, asked if he knew the name of Ricardo Viso Veligson, a man who has endorsed 18 cheques to the party for over 7 million pesos,  he simply refused to confirm or deny anything.

At least the former party president Jorge Kahwagi Macari - he of the 5,500-square meter house, a mini-horse collection,  and a 10-million dollar yacht  - was somewhat entertaining in his eccentricity, by way of comparison. 

PANAL's leadership succession, worthy of North Korea - or Cuba

Absolutely pathetic: Elba Esther Gordillo installs her former personal secretary Luis Castro Obregón as new head of PANAL, and makes her daughter Mónica Arriola Gordillo the party's new secretary general.

And for good measure: Party delegates could vote for any new leadership option they liked, as long as it was the Obregón-Arriola list, as it was the only option available.

The Partido Nueva Alianza has today, according to its outgoing leader Jorge Kahwagi Macari, 64 local deputies, 407 councilors and 34 mayors.

Not bad for a party founded by and for Gordillo's teacher union.

What does it take to get fired from the Chamber of Deputies? Jorge Kahwagi Macari

La Jornada reports on the very poor attendance rate of particularly PRI, PAN, and PANAL deputies in the Mexican Chamber of Deputies. None beats Jorge Kahwagi Macari: The boxer-media celebrity-cum politician, who is also the nominal head of Elba Esther Gordillo's Partido Nueva Alianza (PANAL), a party based on her iron-fisted control of the SNTE teachers union, in the current congressional period has attended 1 - one - out of 26 session! At the single session he did attend, he merely registered in the electronic registry and then took off. All the while, Kahwagi has continued to draw his legislator's salary and the many perks that come with being a national deputy. To add, in the previous session, from February to March, he also only showed up to register electronically, and then skipped the 30(!) other sessions held.

With such behavior, is it any wonder that Mexico's national legislators are held in low esteem?