AMLO's erklärungsproblem: PAN-PRD alliance in Mexico draws broad support

AMLO continues his tireless quest to sink the PAN-PRD alliance in Mexico State, denouncing the top PRD leadership as in cahoots with Calderón and utterly unrepresentative of the party as a whole, which he claims is universally rejecting a PAN-PRD common candidate.


Yet this weekend, the state branches of the PRD and PAN in Mexico State held their first mass meeting to debate the possible alliance, which also attracted a considerable contingent of PT and Convergencia supporters. The leadership of the these two parties had actually earlier announced their presence in the event, held in Nezahualcóyotl, but pressure from AMLO very likely forced them to desist from attending. 


The Mexico State rumor mill has it that quite a few cadres from at least Convergencia are actually keen to join the PRD-PAN alliance, even though Convergencia n Friday presented Alejandro Gertz Manero, who was President Vicente Fox' first Secretary of Public Security, as its own candidate. In attendance was also Gabino Cué, the Convergencia candidate who won the Oaxaca gubernatorial elections heading an alliance that also included PAN, though Cué notably distanced himself from the leadership in that event, making it clear that he supports a PAN-PRD alliance in Mexico State.


Similarly , the PAN-PRD event yesterday also drew another highly popular alliancistas , the highly popular Xóchitl Gálvez, who most recently ran as gubernatorial candidate in Hidalgo, elections whose outcome are still disputed (The PT, to be sure, also backed her, until AMLO then commanded the party to desist).


All in all I think it is fair to say that AMLO's claim that the supporters of a PAN-PRD alliance are only found at the very top echelon of the PRD, is simply not true. In Mexico State, given the increasing support for a common candidate to beat the PRI, he has, in fine German, an erklärungsproblem.

For all intents and purposes, it's official: Calderón's sister Luisa María wants to govern Michoacán

It was ostensibly a mere celebration of her 54th birthday, but the cries of “¡Cocoa gobernadora!, ¡Cocoa gobernadora!" left little doubt that event held in honor of Luisa María Calderón Hinojosa was all but an official declaration of her candidacy to be PAN's candidate for governor of Michoacán in 2011. 


A range of federal and local deputies were in attendance, as well as the three federal secretaries (Economy, Bruno Ferrari; Health, José Ángel Córdova Villalobos; Environment, Juan Rafael Elvira Quezada) and the governors of Guanajuato and Morelos, Juan Manuel Oliva Ramírez and Marco Antonio Adame Castillo, though also prominent local priístas, stoking further suspicions that Calderón's ambitions to place his sister as governor of this home state is leading to local alliances with the Michoacán PRI state branch. 

Yet the festivities came to a an abrupt end with the news that Eduardo Villaseñor Meza, a local PRI notable, was hit and killed by a truck as he was leaving the party. 

Jesús Silva Herzog arrested... for drunk driving!

It might be illusory, yet one might read the incident as a small sign that the law in Mexico at least in some cases apply to poor and rich alike: Jesús Silva Herzog Flores, son of the prominent economist of the same name, a priísta of the old guard, and secretary of finance under President Miguel de la Madrid, of tourism, and ambassador to the United States under Carlos Salinas, at age 75 was put in the dock yesterday for driving with an alcohol level of 0.42, above the legal limit of 0.40. He was let go after filing a ready-made form offered by entrepreneurial coyotes who question the illegality of the new Conduce Sin Alcohol anti-drink-and-drive program in Mexico City, spending 10 hours in detention. It should be added that he hardly appeared to be too drunk, taking his arrest in stride and with humor.

The best part: When questioned as to his identity, Herzog answered: "My name is Chucho," that he was unemployed, but that he was still a very busy man... Final point: Herzog ran against AMLO in 2000 to be mayor of Mexico.

Being a prominent priísta of the old school might not just not be all that it used to be.

AMLO off the hook: IFE wisely abstains from fining him, which might have ended his candidacy for 2012

The Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) wisely abstained from fining Andrés Manuel López Obrador for illegal political propaganda, which actually might have inhibited his presidential candidacy for 2012.

While unlikely, one precedent did exist: in Quintana Roo, one "pre-candidate" for a seat in the chamber of deputies in Quintana Roo was actually disqualified for participating on the grounds that she had started campaigning for the nomination of her party before the allowed time period. In this case, the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), following political ads sponsored by the Partido del Trabajo (PT) where AMLO appeared, had complained to IFE that AMLO was similarly engaging in campaigning too early, as well as complaining that AMLO and PT were "denigrating" the presidency in another ad. 

Notably, AMLO was absolved on both accounts - yet the PT was not. Yesterday, IFE ordered the PT to pay a fine of one million pesos for the latter offense. As it were, PAN also received almost 7 million pesos in fines for their own electoral transgressions, making it a bit harder for AMLO to maintain his line that all of Mexico's political institutions are controlled by "The Mafia" and Carlos Salinas. While one would think the IFE based their decision on objective standards of legality, one might only contemplate the hell AMLO would raise had IFE deemed him to be engaging in forbidden "pre-campaigning," and thus disqualified any possibility of a 2012 candidacy.

Victory for progressive forces on abortion in Quintana Roo: Conservative wave stemmed?

Following the legalization of abortion in Mexico City, conservative forces counterattacked on the state level by drastically curbing abortion rights in a range of states, in many cases making the legislation far harsher than under the laws of the Reforma period of Benito Juárez in the 19th century. One of these states was Quintana Roo, where the state congress, to its discredit, in April 2009 banned abortion in all its forms from "inception," the term preferred by the ultraright. The tragedies did not wait long to appear: The case of an 11-year girl who was raped by her stepfather and forced to give birth according to the reformed law, was only the tip of the iceberg. Now the state congress finally stood up to its previous reckless stupidity and voted to change the legislation, after a proposal by PRI legislator María Hadad Castillo,  to allow for abortion in the case of rape or if the woman's life is in danger. 


It is a small step forward, but forward nonetheless. Is it also a signal that the wave of social ultraconservatism sweeping across many of Mexico's state governments 1-2 years ago, is losing steam? For the health of Mexico's women and their freedom to decide over their own body, I surely hope so. 

Jalisco gov denies sponsoring "gay conversion" - yet attacks opponent as "intolerant"

The state government of Jalisco, far too often the laughingstock of the nation, in a statement denies sponsoring the "gay conversion" event to be held there in November, arguing that the use of the official logo of the government in material promoting the event was due to it being used without permission, as the conference will be attended by Jesús Manuel Fonseca, of the state General Coordination of Social Affairs. In the same, however, the state government offers no explanation why Fonseca should attend such a quack event in the first place, but rather lauds him as an internationally "accredited psychologist." Instead, the government, rather than acknowledging the local PRD deputy Raúl Vargas López for having discovered what suuuuurely must be the unauthorized use of the state logo, denounce him as an "intolerant" - for standing up to the charlatan fearmongers that promote the nonsense of "gay conversion" through prayer and snake oil. 

Standoff in Michoacán: Calderón is no Morelos

History is alive and well in Michoacán. President Felipe Calderón appeared in the state to celebrate the Constitution of Apatzingán, which was signed in this municipality on Oct. 22, 1814, and was much the work of the great michoacano José María Morelos.  Apatzingán, notably, is on the frontlines of the "drug war," located in the Tierra Caliente, a zone in the state where the gangster outfit La Familia Michoacana has a very strong presence. Calderón, as might be expected, tried to draw a line from Morelos' heroism to his own "cause":

"Morelos signed the Constitution and gave his life to protect it and safeguard and the Congress that made it possible. He never made a pact with the enemies of Mexicans"

The forced attempt to latch on to Morelos' legacy is a bit of stretch: Morelos was a radical anti-slavery priest who fought and died for Mexico's independence from Spain, displaying an immense courage putting his personal safety at risk at each point along the way.

Yet there is more: The Constitution, while it never really entered into force, served as an important example for later liberal reforms in Mexico. While Morelos was originally a priest - and, to be sure, the Mexican catholic church excommunicated him and has never reversed the decision - the Constitution clearly called for the subordination of the church to the state. Calderón, through his interior minister, has kept a shameful silence the past months as the most ultrareactionary elements of the Mexican Catholic church has blatantly interfered in domestic politics, accusing Supreme Court judges of being corrupt, calling the democratically elected mayor of Mexico City a "dictator," denouncing his party as "fascist," and so forth. 


Yet there is even more: Among the articles of the Constitution were:

19. The law must be equal for all

30. Every citizen is deemed innocent until declared guilty

The elephant in the room is of course the Michoacanazo, where 34 out of 35 state functionaries, arrested for alleged links with the drug gangs, were recently set free due to the complete lack of any evidence. 

In a not-too-veiled reference to the case, local PRD deputy Raúl Morón, addressing Calderón in name of the local state congress, demanded the right "to elect our popular representative without fear of the politicization of justice": Morón dixit:

"It does not escape the judgement of citizens that it is entirely contradictory to demand the strict application of the law for some and to give others the privelige of impunity. It does not escape the judgement of citizens to declare in a speech that the government defendes federalism as a system of government and, at the same time, decide to intrude on local powers that the Constitution sets aside for other orders."

Ouch. Beyond the impropriety or not of the politicization of the memory of Morelos and the Constitution of Apatzingán, I find it to be quite a tribute nonetheless that both Calderón and the local congress, from opposite sides, try to attach themselves to these icons of Michoacán. 
And whatever will come out of the case of the Michoacanazo I am for sure convinced of one thing: Felipe Calderón, you are no Morelos.