The crisis engulfing the Mexican congress regarding control over its key organs appears to be resolved, for now, yet the deal appears more than a bit shady: PRI will preside over the Congress directorate, while the PRD will get control over both the directorate and the coordinating junta the last year of the congress period.
To recall: PRI, reneging on previous accords, decided to go for the presidency for the coming year of the mesa ejecutiva or Congress directorate, a key organ, even though this corresponded to the PRD. Given that the presidency of both the directorate and the coordinating junta rotates among the three largest parties in congress, this would, given the cycle, leave the PRD in control of both of these organs the last year of congress, which would be unconstitutional. Then how was this possibly resolved?
The coordinators of the parties in congress agreed to a deal where PRD will get to preside the two organs, though a special vote of 2/3 majority will be held where the stipulations of the Organic Law regulating Congress will simply be "set aside" for that year. PRD will simply have to take their word for it, that this will actually come to pass.
Yet it gets fishier. Knowing that the part of PRD allied with Andrés Manuel López Obrador was strongly opposed to allowing the Nueva Izquirda faction obtain the Congress presidency, the deal that PRD's group coordinator and AMLO incondicional Alejandro Encinas made appears a bit suspicious, given that Encinas himself loudly condemned as unconstitutional just a few days ago the outcome he now has apparently signed on to.
The new mesa ejecutiva president, Jorge Carlos Ramírez Marín, is considered very close to PRI national leader Beatriz Paredes, who has not given up her own presidential ambitions, or at least to be mayor of Mexico City. Even though she will step down as PRI leader, her influence will thus clearly be felt in San Lázaro the coming session.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Enrique Peña Nieto's report to the Mexico State Congress: A freudian moment
Mexico is not only facing the threat of narcos:
More here and here.
"There is another serious threat: the struggle of power for the sake of power, which promotes ademocracy without content, and for the sole purpose of gaining power projects are negotiated between antagonistic alliances, which generate confusion and distrust in politics."The words well be used to describe the alliances Enrique Peña Nieto has tied with the Mexican Church, which despite the PRI's historic role as a defender of the secular state has become a key ally in promoting Peña Nieto's presidential candidacy, as well as with a range of business interests of more or less shady character linked to former president Carlos Salinas. But no: the words were uttered by Peña Nieto himself, as he used the occasion of his fifth informe or report to the Mexico State congress to launch a full frontal attack on the PRI-PAN alliances. Peña Nieto knows well that should a PAN-PRD materialize for Mexico State in 2011, and should it win and thereby block Peña Nieto from leaving the state in the hands of an anointed successor, his chances for winning the presidency in 2012 would have received a brutal blow. Peña Nieto continued:
"Crime is not the only risk facing the country. Another serious threat to Mexicans is the lack of congruency in the negotiation of alliances between antagonistic visions, and this fight only leads to authoritarianism and reduced people's options and undermines the spirit of democracy."To be able to state such nonsense with a straight face requires a good actor and Peña Nieto apparently has received some good acting lessons recently from his telenovela girlfriend. Yet to claim that the PRD-PAN alliances lead to authoritarianism and undermine democracy, when these alliances, in Oaxaca, Sinaloa, and Puebla, recently succeeded in overthrowing authoritarian state governments that had been ruled by PRI for 80 years, is such a brazen distortion of political reality that I am only bracing myself for the next installment of Peña Nieto's "reality show," increasingly removed from reality.
More here and here.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Why can't Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez stop talking about sex?
Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez of Guadalajara is taking a few pages out of the play book of the truly wackiest elements of the U.S. Republican Party. Remember when former Senator and now presidential hopeful Rick Santorum a few years ago compared gay marriage with "man on child, man on dog"? He was not reelected. Former Arizona congressman and possibly even more utter lunatic J.D. Hayworth a few months back resorted to the same argument, warning that a Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling put marriage under threat and could lead to man-horse nuptials.
Cardinal Sandoval has now joined the fray:
Or rather, what explains Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez increasingly bizarre obsession with sex?
Cardinal Sandoval has now joined the fray:
Exactly who would interpret it this way, cardinal? On what authority do you make these claims?"If what the [Supreme] Court is defending is a right of adults, then, over time, adults could be entitled to claim the right to establish any relationship with anyone, person or animal. (And for the record, we are not equating homosexual relationships with the relationships between animals, because there are plenty of those who would want to interpret it this way)"
Or rather, what explains Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez increasingly bizarre obsession with sex?
Saturday, September 4, 2010
José Murat Casab could be expelled from PRI - and Zeferino Torreblanca "not going to eat shit"
It's the season of party purges. A mere days after Luis Armando Reynoso Femat was kicked out of the PAN - Manuel Espino may follow soon - PRI announced that it has started the process of expelling José Murat Casab from the party.
Murat is also a former governor - he was the PRI governor of Oaxaca 1998-2004 - and is now accused of having assisted, or not having done anything to prevent, Gabino Cué from winning the governorship of Oaxaca this July. Despite having been a national senator and four-time national deputy for the PRI, as well as a range of other offices within the party, Murat has become somewhat of a loose cannon the last couple of years. In a book released in 2008, “La Agonía de la Democracia Mexicana," he attacked his own party for having kept a "complicit silence" during the "scandalous election" in 2006, which he openly rejected as a "fraud." (See an El Universal review of the book here). Murat Casab (of Iraqi origin) also condemned the TEPJF, the highest electoral court in Mexico, as accomplices in the operation - though it should be noted that he hardly produces any hard evidence for either this or the "fraud" in general in his book.
Incidentally, another soon-to-be ex-governor will possibly added to the list of party expulsions: Zeferino Torreblanca of Guerrero. Zeferino recently launched an angry tirade against the PRD when he failed to impose his own candidate to succeed him as governor.
He has since continued his criticism, declaring to a group of municipal mayors - all from PRI -
Now the kicker: The Guerrero branch of the PRD revealed that Torreblanca will not be able to compete on any PRD label in the near future as he has not paid his own membership dues since mid-2009; since 2005 he has moreover only paid a fraction of the peso amount party regulations state that an executive should contribute to the party.
Even AMLO has paid his.
The question remains: For whom will Torreblanca campaign in 2011?
Murat is also a former governor - he was the PRI governor of Oaxaca 1998-2004 - and is now accused of having assisted, or not having done anything to prevent, Gabino Cué from winning the governorship of Oaxaca this July. Despite having been a national senator and four-time national deputy for the PRI, as well as a range of other offices within the party, Murat has become somewhat of a loose cannon the last couple of years. In a book released in 2008, “La Agonía de la Democracia Mexicana," he attacked his own party for having kept a "complicit silence" during the "scandalous election" in 2006, which he openly rejected as a "fraud." (See an El Universal review of the book here). Murat Casab (of Iraqi origin) also condemned the TEPJF, the highest electoral court in Mexico, as accomplices in the operation - though it should be noted that he hardly produces any hard evidence for either this or the "fraud" in general in his book.
Incidentally, another soon-to-be ex-governor will possibly added to the list of party expulsions: Zeferino Torreblanca of Guerrero. Zeferino recently launched an angry tirade against the PRD when he failed to impose his own candidate to succeed him as governor.
He has since continued his criticism, declaring to a group of municipal mayors - all from PRI -
"Out of convenience, some politicians eat shit. I'm not going to eat shit from nowhere, I promised not to get rich from the government and not go around lying; I will work to promote democracy in the [upcoming] vote; it's up to you... why don't they explain why they handed over Guerrero, let's see what they'll tell the lower PRD members; here the PRD was the strongest"Strong and quite peculiar words, in particular as Torreblanca has been strongly criticized for riding roughshod over the PRD and almost completely shutting it out of his own government.
Now the kicker: The Guerrero branch of the PRD revealed that Torreblanca will not be able to compete on any PRD label in the near future as he has not paid his own membership dues since mid-2009; since 2005 he has moreover only paid a fraction of the peso amount party regulations state that an executive should contribute to the party.
Even AMLO has paid his.
The question remains: For whom will Torreblanca campaign in 2011?
2006, again: Errors, but no fraud, according to Woldenberg.
It was not the first time and I'll bet a Herradura Reposado that it will not be last time that the contested 2006 election will be subject of academic panels and conferences.
Yet academic José Woldenberg's take on the 2006 elections are nonetheless significant. Woldenberg is a man who throughout his career has always been placed squarely on the political left; he was even a PRD member for couple of years, though he left it in 1991. Notably, he was also the first IFE president (1997-2003), and the UNAM professor remains a man of very high credibility to many - to the point where not a few people, including many perredistas, have toyed around with the idea of "Woldenberg Presidente!" for 2012.
(which probably would make him the first Jewish presidential candidate in Mexican history, though I'll defer to Mexfiles' expertise on that subject).
Regardless: Woldenberg in a recent conference on the democratic transition in Mexico noted that nobody has presented any evidence that Calderón's victory was artificially engineered: The IFE commited mistakes" - "I emphasize, mistakes, not fraud" - Woldenberg dixit.
The mistakes were, according to Woldenberg, a badly designed PREP, the Preliminary Electoral Results Program, and to only declare that the results were "close" but not giving any figures from the quick count that night.
(Actually, Luis Carlos Ugalde, the much maligned IFE president, dealt with this as well in his Así lo viví, now out in cheap bolsillo edition, , which is very much worth a read. Here Ugalde relates that he still wonders if this was a mistake, yet points out that giving out preliminary numbers that favored on of the candidates, where the difference was still within margin of error, might very well have led to the candidate apparently in the lead simply declaring victory.)
Yet here I agree more with Virgilio Andrade, who in my opinion is one of the brightest stars to have served on the IFE. Andrade accepts that the PREP was not clear, but that the real problem was the IFE had not explained properly in advanced that deals had been made in advance with the parties that no winner were to be declared if the preliminary results of the quick count (not to be confused with the PREP) did not give a clear winner.
Regardless, Woldenberg is hardly likely to score any points with the AMLO camp for his recent reaffirmation that while the elections were polarized and dirty, there was no fraud in 2006.
Yet academic José Woldenberg's take on the 2006 elections are nonetheless significant. Woldenberg is a man who throughout his career has always been placed squarely on the political left; he was even a PRD member for couple of years, though he left it in 1991. Notably, he was also the first IFE president (1997-2003), and the UNAM professor remains a man of very high credibility to many - to the point where not a few people, including many perredistas, have toyed around with the idea of "Woldenberg Presidente!" for 2012.
(which probably would make him the first Jewish presidential candidate in Mexican history, though I'll defer to Mexfiles' expertise on that subject).
Regardless: Woldenberg in a recent conference on the democratic transition in Mexico noted that nobody has presented any evidence that Calderón's victory was artificially engineered: The IFE commited mistakes" - "I emphasize, mistakes, not fraud" - Woldenberg dixit.
The mistakes were, according to Woldenberg, a badly designed PREP, the Preliminary Electoral Results Program, and to only declare that the results were "close" but not giving any figures from the quick count that night.
(Actually, Luis Carlos Ugalde, the much maligned IFE president, dealt with this as well in his Así lo viví, now out in cheap bolsillo edition, , which is very much worth a read. Here Ugalde relates that he still wonders if this was a mistake, yet points out that giving out preliminary numbers that favored on of the candidates, where the difference was still within margin of error, might very well have led to the candidate apparently in the lead simply declaring victory.)
Yet here I agree more with Virgilio Andrade, who in my opinion is one of the brightest stars to have served on the IFE. Andrade accepts that the PREP was not clear, but that the real problem was the IFE had not explained properly in advanced that deals had been made in advance with the parties that no winner were to be declared if the preliminary results of the quick count (not to be confused with the PREP) did not give a clear winner.
Regardless, Woldenberg is hardly likely to score any points with the AMLO camp for his recent reaffirmation that while the elections were polarized and dirty, there was no fraud in 2006.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Cecilia Romero: When will this inept official be relived of the "duties" she failed to perform?
When will Cecilia Romero be relived of the"duties" that she certainly has failed to perform as head of the National Institute of Migration? Very soon, it seems: Interior Minister Blake Mora refuses to confirm that she will remain in her post.
Proceso reports in this week's print edition that the National Human Rights Commission and the national ombudsman for years have asked that INM take preventive measures to stop the veritable industry of kidnapping immigrants. Romero has never even bothered to send them a reply, let alone take any serious measures. The slaughtered 72 immigrants, dramatic as it is on its own, is unfortunately only the tip of the iceberg. Yet while Romero has weathered scandals in the past, I am hard pressed to believe she'll survive this one.
Proceso reports in this week's print edition that the National Human Rights Commission and the national ombudsman for years have asked that INM take preventive measures to stop the veritable industry of kidnapping immigrants. Romero has never even bothered to send them a reply, let alone take any serious measures. The slaughtered 72 immigrants, dramatic as it is on its own, is unfortunately only the tip of the iceberg. Yet while Romero has weathered scandals in the past, I am hard pressed to believe she'll survive this one.
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"
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"
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