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

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.

Mexican army praises and awards a governor - is this its role?

I find recent spectacle in Veracruz downright bizarre, and quite disturbing:

"René Carlos Aguilar Páez, commander of the Sixth Military Region, gave governor Ochoa Javier Duarte two swords with embossed lettering, one with the word Veracruz and the other Forward, in recognition of the social commitment and the fight undertaken for the welfare of the people of Veracruz" (La Jornada)

Where I am from, it is the civilian political authorities that rewards the military for its deeds - not the other way around. This seems to me a very unfortunate mixing of roles, and politicization of the military - or, militarization of politics. Why on earth should the military "decorate" a governor, who has moreover been in office for less than nine months, for his "social commitments"?

From La Jornada

The caption from the above picture includes the line, "The veracruzano governor reaffirmed that his government's alliance with the armed forces is inseparable, not only to ensure the safety of the population, but to consolidate the prosperity we yearn for."

To declare a military-political alliance as "inseparable" rings very poorly in my ear, especially for a PRI-elected governor.

PRD's senate faction demands freedom for arrested Veracruz twitterers

The PRD's senate group demanded the immediate release of the two persons accused of terrorism ("causing panic") in Veracruz for publishing in their twitter account warnings of attacks by organized crime.

This is a truly horrid case, and it is nothing but shameful that governor Javier Duarte de Ochoa has not taken charge to shake up his state prosecutor's office. It is a yet another worrisome signal for 2012, and the PRI's likely return to the presidency.

Veracruz outgoing PRI Governor Fidel Herrera leaves massive debt

Just a few days after outgoing Governor Fidel Herrera of Veracruz claimed that he left the state's finances in perfect order and with a surplus of 6.5 billion pesos, his finance secretary Salvador Sánchez Estrada revealed the state's budget deficit is 9.3 billion pesos.

Opposition lawmakers, but also members of the ruling PRI, questioned even these figures and demanded in vain more details on the state of Veracruz' finances. Óscar Lara Hernández, a PAN local deputy, claimed the real debt may even be far higher: Close to 40 billion pesos, or more than 3.2 billion US dollars - a historic high. The line of creditors - from private corporations and banks to social security institutes such as IMSS and ISSTE - is long.

All this - and yet nothing stopped stop Herrera from declaring his interest in a 2012 presidential candidacy for the PRI. 

Another 2012 candidacy declared: Fidel Herrera Beltrán

Not exactly a surprise, yet as far as I can see the first time outgoing Veracruz Governor Fidel Herrera Beltrán has said so himself: He wants to be a presidential candidate in 2012.

Herrera Beltrán dixit: "I am eligible; it remains to be known if I am the chosen one."

Indeed it does.

With all of Mexico's woes, this is the Church's priority: Lock up women

As La Jornada reports, a mere three days after the opening of the new state legislature in Veracruz, the archdiocese of Jalapa, headed by monseñor Hipólito Reyes Larios, asks that the state deputies immediately change the state constitution to throw women who have abortions in jail. 


Despite the increasing violence, drug wars, abuse of immigrants, floods, you name it, in the state of Vera Cruz, the Mexican Catholic Church's main worry is for the state legislature to arrest and throw in jail women - almost invariably poor, indigenous, and illiterate, who can't even afford or don't know about contraceptions because the church has fought against their sales as well as banning sex education - in jail.


It is at this point I am tempted to in person exhort archbishop Hipólito to simply go to hell.

TEPJF rejects Veracruz election complaints, despite dirty phone talk

The Federal Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF) on Tuesday finally rejected the official complaints lodged by PAN against the July 4 gubernatorial elections in Veracruz, as well as a separate complaint by PRD-Convergencia, and thus finally validated the victory of PRI's Javier Duarte de Ochoa. The opposition parties had protested against alleged infractions such as the theft of electoral ballots, illegal diffusion of a poll, promotion of electoral propaganda outside of the allotted time period, and failure to transmit a debate between the main candidates. Yet perhaps gravest were the charges that outgoing governor had used public resources to promote Duarte and other PRI candidates. Ahead of the elections, tapes were released by PAN where Governor Fidel Herrera seemingly ordered the state apparatus to work for PRI's victory. Herrera notably responded by rejecting the tapes' authenticity, yet at the same time accusing PAN and the PGR, the attorney general's office, of illegal wiretapping. 


Yet TEPJF rejected all the arguments, including those based on the tapes, as the electoral court found this apparent strong evidence to be "inadmissible" as it had been obtained illegally. 


Moreover, in an echo of 2006, the court did accept the argument from PAN's Miguel Angel Yunes that the Veracruz electoral authorities had refused to accept various complaints from the candidate, such as dirty campaigns that linked Yunes to corruption and pederasty- yes, no joke! - yet the TEPJF concluded there was no evidence that this filthy "swift-boating" was linked to the ruling PRI. 


It is the law, and Miguel Angel Yunes is not exactly a saint when it comes to electoral transgressions himself, yet it pains me to see that Herrera got off completely scot free with his one, handing this important state to PRI ahead of the 2012 presidential election.