The state congress in Guanajuato, following a visit by a UN delegation that sharply criticized the state government for its treatment and criminalization of women, voted 36 to one to reduce the penalties for "infanticide" of one's own children, from 36 to 3-8 years of prison.
Only one deputy, Elvira Paniagua (PAN) from Celaya district, voted against the reduction of the maximum penalty.
This, of course, has nothing to do with vicious child killers, but refers to the drastic penalties given to women - most of them poor, illiterate, and of indigenous origin - accused of having had an abortion, whether they were to blame or not.
One likely consequence is that María Araceli Camargo Juárez, Ofelia Segura Frías, Yolanda Martínez Montoya, Liliana Morales Moreno, Ana Rosa Padrón Alarcón and Susana Dueñas Roch will be set free. They are all poor campesinas who were given draconian prison sentences, simply locked up for having aborted, including for miscarriages.
The state administration signaled the women would be set free soon, possibly through a decree by the governor, but was quick to emphasize this was not the same as exonerating them. This reflects not only stubbornness, but mere stupidity: The government under Juan Manuel Oliva was eager to get this case over with, as Oliva harbors presidential ambitions, yet now, rather than to admit its mistake, it will now likely be faced with an appeal by the women to the Mexican Supreme Court to have their names cleared. The case has the potential to bring even more spotlight on the governor as a radical reactionary, and damage his chances of becoming the PAN's nominee for the presidency.
At, times, one truly reaps what one sows.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Hugo Valdemar barks loudly, but quickly whimpers
Just days after accusing Marcelo Ebrard of "the criminal offense of embezzlement, Hugo Valdemar, spokesperson for the Catholic Church, backtracked on these serious allegations, after Ebrard urged him to present the evidence and press charges.
Valdemar meekly responded to Ebrard's challenge by declaring,
Valdemar moreover noted he did not fear a possible trial - he himself has been denounced legally - for his earlier statements; should he receive a fine, "this is no problem; there are are many Catholics that are ready to pay this [fine] and others that may come." If the catholic high clergy continues to act as if they are still living in the 15th century, I am not that convinced they can rely on the loyalty of the faithful to forever bail them out for the stupidities they commit. As the case of the United States has shown, paying the victims of the church's pederasts can on its own threaten to ruin them.
Valdemar meekly responded to Ebrard's challenge by declaring,
"I said that the actions he took utilizing public resources could be falling under the supposed offense of embezzlement, but I am not going to make it easy for him; they want me to make a (legal) denouncement, but I am not going to do it."And why not? It seems it is far easier to hurl incendiary accusations and then backtrack quickly, rather than to stand by one's words.
Valdemar moreover noted he did not fear a possible trial - he himself has been denounced legally - for his earlier statements; should he receive a fine, "this is no problem; there are are many Catholics that are ready to pay this [fine] and others that may come." If the catholic high clergy continues to act as if they are still living in the 15th century, I am not that convinced they can rely on the loyalty of the faithful to forever bail them out for the stupidities they commit. As the case of the United States has shown, paying the victims of the church's pederasts can on its own threaten to ruin them.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Manlio Fabio Beltrones, new president of the Mexican Senate
Manlio Fabio Beltrones was elected new president of the Mexican senate, on his birthday no less. Expect him to use this position at every occasion to promote his bid to become the PRI's candidate for president in 2012. His first occasion to do so will be in his "reply" to President Felipe Calderón's "Informe," equivalent to the State of the Union, which will be delivered to the Senate. Beltrones pointedly refused to attend the recent "Security Dialogue" convoked by Calderón.
(Ricardo Monreal, who was a PRD senator until he left it for the PT in December 2008, put up a clownish show to protest the PT's exclusion from the Senate directorate).
(On Sunday, José González Morfín was elected new PAN group leader, replacing Gustavo Madero who will compete for the PAN's national presidency. González Morfín was elected by unanimity.)
While it was the PRI's turn to preside over the Senate, its usurping of the presidency of the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, is a whole other matter. Jesús Ortega, president of PRD whose turn had come to preside over the chamber's directorate, yesterday met with members of the Supreme Court, as the party is analyzing taking legal action to obtain what is their rightful turn.
One question remains: Will Alejandro Encinas be fully behind the PRD's quest to head the directorate, or has AMLO already instructed him to block Jesús Zambrano, of the opposing Nueva Izquierda faction, from assuming this powerful position? The PRD's internal war, far from over, is merely heating up ahead of the battle over the 2012 candidacy nomination, and AMLO has on numerous occasions demonstrated he will torpedo his old party if it favors his own agenda.
(Ricardo Monreal, who was a PRD senator until he left it for the PT in December 2008, put up a clownish show to protest the PT's exclusion from the Senate directorate).
(On Sunday, José González Morfín was elected new PAN group leader, replacing Gustavo Madero who will compete for the PAN's national presidency. González Morfín was elected by unanimity.)
While it was the PRI's turn to preside over the Senate, its usurping of the presidency of the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, is a whole other matter. Jesús Ortega, president of PRD whose turn had come to preside over the chamber's directorate, yesterday met with members of the Supreme Court, as the party is analyzing taking legal action to obtain what is their rightful turn.
One question remains: Will Alejandro Encinas be fully behind the PRD's quest to head the directorate, or has AMLO already instructed him to block Jesús Zambrano, of the opposing Nueva Izquierda faction, from assuming this powerful position? The PRD's internal war, far from over, is merely heating up ahead of the battle over the 2012 candidacy nomination, and AMLO has on numerous occasions demonstrated he will torpedo his old party if it favors his own agenda.
Alejandra Barrales declares her candidacy for Mexico City... of sorts.
Alejandra Barrales, the flight attendant-cum-leader of the legislative assembly in the federal district (ALDF), announced during her report on the activities of the ALDF that she had "an aspiration, an aspiration that many of those here share with me; you know very well, because you know me, that I will work incessantly to achieve this aspiration." While likely the entire crowd took the message to be her declaration for candidacy, she then meekly added, "my aspiration is that in this city we can guarantee the right of every citizen to happiness." If Barrales didn't have the guts to take it all out - the field for candidates is getting quite crowded already - consider it at the very least a feeler, from a very likely candidate who is moreover one of AMLO's favorites for the position as chief of Mexico City.
Barrales, a member of the more radical Izquierda Social faction of the PRD, has held a range of public positions, from secretary general of the union of airline attendants (ASSA) to federal deputy to secretary of tourism in Ebrard's government to president of the PRD in Mexico City to now head of the ALDF. She has hardly excelled in any of these positions.
Barrales, a member of the more radical Izquierda Social faction of the PRD, has held a range of public positions, from secretary general of the union of airline attendants (ASSA) to federal deputy to secretary of tourism in Ebrard's government to president of the PRD in Mexico City to now head of the ALDF. She has hardly excelled in any of these positions.
El Universal editorial denounces Interior Minister Blake Mora's cowardice
An El Universal editorial rightly takes on José Francisco Blake Mora's failure to simply do his job, which as ministry of the interior includes protecting the constitution. El Universal has been at the forefront in the defense of the secular state following the recent outrageous attacks of the catholic church on key provisions of the Mexican constitution. Yet Blake has not uttered a single word of criticism in public against the church and in defense of the constitution, despite having the occasion as recently as yesterday, when he met with church representatives. The editorial concludes:
"If the federal government wants to give more freedom to the religious sector, it will have to push for a change in the Constitution. It is in the meantime obliged to enforce existing regulations rather than to deal with the subject according to the whims or personal beliefs of its staff."
Luis Armando Reynoso, outgoing governor of Aguascalientes, kicked out of the PAN
Luis Armando Reynoso Femat was officially expelled from PAN following a vote on its National Executive Committee - by unaminity, no less. The case was rather clear cut: Reynosa Femat went out of his way to sabotage the PAN candidate for governor in the recent elections, Martín Orozco Sandoval, campaigning instead for the PRI's Carlos Lozano de la Torre, who came out on top. Reynoso Femat didn't even bother to show up at the hearing, and the expulsion only means he will not have to resign to rejoin the PRI, a party he left in 1995.
An occasion to be noted: A New York Times editorial that gets it all right
From The New York Times editorial on the gruesome massacre of 72 migrants in Tamaulipas:
"The temptation may be to write this atrocity off as another ugly footnote in Mexico’s vicious drug war. But such things do not exist in isolation. Mexico’s drug cartels are nourished from outside, by American cash, heavy weapons and addiction; the northward pull of immigrants is fueled by our demand for low-wage labor....
We have delegated to drug lords the job of managing our immigrant supply, just as they manage our supply of narcotics. The results are clear."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)