With the risk of boring readers with yet another repetition of an oft-noted point: Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas will seek to be president in 2012, or to place his son as the candidate.
Interviewed in regards to PRD's most recent crisis, which is really just a reenactment of the perennial fault line that has divided the party for more than two decades - to be an institutionalized party, or a personalistic movement-party - Cuauhtémoc had the following to say, in his typical cardenasspeak:
"for 2012, other figures might surge that could become a unifying factor in the unity of the widest and most progressive force."
Gee, I wonder who Cuauhtémoc might have in mind.
Friday, February 25, 2011
TEPJF laments: Still no way to punish public servants for interference
The TEPJF, Mexico's highest electoral tribunal, and IFE, the electoral institute responsible for arranging Mexico's federal elections, are bound, to be sure, by the created for them by congress. The president of the court, María del Carmen Alanís, again lamented a serious shortcoming, ahead of the 2012 presidential elections:
Despite the 2007-08 electoral reform, still no rules are in place to punish a public official that breaches the electoral laws, enshrined in the constitution. This includes the president. While it is not allowed for public servants to interfere in elections - last year, to recall, Calderón was chastised for what was deemed to be political propagandizing - there simply is no penalty stipulated, except if use of public money is detected. With Vicente Fox' blatantly illegal intermission in 2006 also alive and well in many's memory, this is indeed quite remarkable.
Del Carmen Alanís therefore calls for yet another electoral reform to alter this. Good luck getting that through before the very important 2011 elections; even for 2012 I remain pessimistic. Yet should the issue come up with regards to the state elections this summer - whether Peña Nieto, Calderón, or any other key functionary for that matter, do openly and blatantly interfere in the elections - political will may be conjured.
Despite the 2007-08 electoral reform, still no rules are in place to punish a public official that breaches the electoral laws, enshrined in the constitution. This includes the president. While it is not allowed for public servants to interfere in elections - last year, to recall, Calderón was chastised for what was deemed to be political propagandizing - there simply is no penalty stipulated, except if use of public money is detected. With Vicente Fox' blatantly illegal intermission in 2006 also alive and well in many's memory, this is indeed quite remarkable.
Del Carmen Alanís therefore calls for yet another electoral reform to alter this. Good luck getting that through before the very important 2011 elections; even for 2012 I remain pessimistic. Yet should the issue come up with regards to the state elections this summer - whether Peña Nieto, Calderón, or any other key functionary for that matter, do openly and blatantly interfere in the elections - political will may be conjured.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
He won't resign
AMLO declared he won't resign from the PRD, despite his theatrical "leave-of-absence" request.
Why not? Because "Salinas y Calderón would rub their hands."
And if he takes a "leave of absence" from the PRD, campaigning for PT and Convergencia and thereby splitting the left vote, they won't?
AMLO's logic can only be understood when one accepts that his political project is exclusively a personal one: No one else can lead the required transformation of Mexico but him - period.
Why not? Because "Salinas y Calderón would rub their hands."
And if he takes a "leave of absence" from the PRD, campaigning for PT and Convergencia and thereby splitting the left vote, they won't?
AMLO's logic can only be understood when one accepts that his political project is exclusively a personal one: No one else can lead the required transformation of Mexico but him - period.
Bleak 75-year birthday of Confederación de Trabajadores de México
The PRI-aligned Mexican confederation of labor, CTM (Confederación de Trabajadores de México), is turning 75 years today, yet it is hardly a happy celebration. The organization, though still the largest labor confederation in Mexico, has in terms of membership decline been on decline since the 1980s. Founded during the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas, CTM was for the longest a key source of PRI votes, though this corrupt and charro organization functioned more as a pillar of the regime than as an advocate for workers's rights.
Its membership is reportedly down to around 400,000 workers, down from a million workers. This is also reflected in its quota of federal deputies - down to 10 from a height of 40.
In the priísta tradition of "lifelong" leaders who literally lead these charro organizations until their last breath, its current leader, Joaquín Gamboa Pascoe, 83 years old, was just reelected last year as the CTM's general secretary.
Quite symbolical of its decline and loss of influence: There won't even be a a grand ceremony or assembly celebrating its three-quarter-of-a-hundred history.
Here is a recent collaborative academic investigation of CTM, edited by UNAM researcher Javier Aguilar García, entitled Historia de la CTM 1936-2006. El movimiento obrero y el estado mexicano.
Its membership is reportedly down to around 400,000 workers, down from a million workers. This is also reflected in its quota of federal deputies - down to 10 from a height of 40.
In the priísta tradition of "lifelong" leaders who literally lead these charro organizations until their last breath, its current leader, Joaquín Gamboa Pascoe, 83 years old, was just reelected last year as the CTM's general secretary.
Quite symbolical of its decline and loss of influence: There won't even be a a grand ceremony or assembly celebrating its three-quarter-of-a-hundred history.
Here is a recent collaborative academic investigation of CTM, edited by UNAM researcher Javier Aguilar García, entitled Historia de la CTM 1936-2006. El movimiento obrero y el estado mexicano.
Final recourse rejected: Francisco Olvera governor-elect in Hidalgo
As expected, the Mexican federal electoral tribunal, TEPJF, rejected the last complaints by the Hidalgo Nos Une coalition of PAN-PRD and its candidate Xóchitl Gálvez, who had demanded the annulation of the 2010 gubernatorial election in Hidalgo.
As magistrate Salvador Nava noted, the claims were "eloquent and heated, but without effective legal grounds."
Magistrate Pedro Esteban Penagos accepted that several of the complaints might have caused the annulment of the election, but that they were not well enough documented.
Gálvez said she would accept the tribunal's decision, as did the Hidalgo branch of the PRD.
As magistrate Salvador Nava noted, the claims were "eloquent and heated, but without effective legal grounds."
Magistrate Pedro Esteban Penagos accepted that several of the complaints might have caused the annulment of the election, but that they were not well enough documented.
Gálvez said she would accept the tribunal's decision, as did the Hidalgo branch of the PRD.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
PRD reacts to AMLO's "leave of absence"; AMLO would "step aside" for Ebrard
PRD rejected AMLO's request from a "leave of absence" - so that he can again campaign for other parties to the detriment of PRD - and quite logically so, as this mechanism simply doesn't exist in the party statutes. The party openly lamented AMLO's decision and asked that he reconsider, as many leading members also criticized the decision. National deputy Jesús Zambrano put it most starkly:
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, PRD's founder and once-political godfather of AMLO, also opposed the move.
Notably, though, AMLO did not succeed in his plan to have Alejandro Encinas do the same thing; Encinas' respect for the party is supremely higher than that of AMLO. While I doubt that an imminent AMLO-Encinas break is imminent, this is nonetheless highly significant: Should Encinas leave as well, the party would receive a truly tremendous blow.
Finally, Marcelo Ebrard also lamented AMLO's move, as it clearly will damage the party, and emphasized the importance of a single 2012 presidential candidacy for the left. In an interview, AMLO did declare, though, that if Ebrard will become the PRD's candidate, he would not only accept it, but to campaign for him.
I find that very, very hard to believe.
"If he doesn't want to serve in the party, then say so clearly, and don't go around with ambiguities... It seems like the desire of Andrés Manuel is that the PRD is under his command, or otherwise he won't help the party. Either he has a party at his liking, or he won't be in the PRD... why don't he say it clearly."(In the PRD, notably, its national political commission also voted in favor, 9 to 3, of having the poll in Mexico State over the possible PAN-PRD alliance, which AMLO adamantly opposes).
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, PRD's founder and once-political godfather of AMLO, also opposed the move.
Notably, though, AMLO did not succeed in his plan to have Alejandro Encinas do the same thing; Encinas' respect for the party is supremely higher than that of AMLO. While I doubt that an imminent AMLO-Encinas break is imminent, this is nonetheless highly significant: Should Encinas leave as well, the party would receive a truly tremendous blow.
Finally, Marcelo Ebrard also lamented AMLO's move, as it clearly will damage the party, and emphasized the importance of a single 2012 presidential candidacy for the left. In an interview, AMLO did declare, though, that if Ebrard will become the PRD's candidate, he would not only accept it, but to campaign for him.
I find that very, very hard to believe.
On Calderón's proposed tax breaks for education
Last week, president Felipe Calderón issued a presidential decree where a family can deduct from their taxes the cost of tuition in private schools, from the pre-school up until the pre-college preparatory school level.
For those who can afford to send their children to private schools, it's clearly a gain, and this will be popular with many sectors of the middle class. Yet it will also cost around 1.1-1.3 billion pesos in lost tax revenue, and as such is clearly a subsidy for the the rich on the expense of the poor - as simple as that.
Marcel Ebrard soon responded that rather than this tax break, the government should create a national program of scholarships for students of low means in secondary and pre-college levels - essentially implementing on a national programs the highly popular programs of Mexico City. If the goal is to reduce income differences and give the poor a push to get out of poverty - rather than, say, winning the middle class for the 2012 election (PRD Senator Carlos Navarrete denounced it as electioneering, and rightly so) - Ebrard's proposal makes much more sense.
Now, UNAM rector José Narro Robles also came out against the decree, pointing out how much these 1.3 billion pesos could have helped out in terms of improving public access to education on the university level for Mexico's poor.
According to the Instituto Mexicano de Ejecutivos de Finanzas (IMEF), those likely to benefit are families with incomes around 50,000-100,000 pesos per month - hardly those with the most pressing needs in Mexico.
Yet given the outrageous comments from Ernesto Cordero yesterday, where he argued that one could well live on 6,000 pesos and still afford a house and a car in Mexico, one might seriously question how connected to reality some PAN policy makers really are.
For those who can afford to send their children to private schools, it's clearly a gain, and this will be popular with many sectors of the middle class. Yet it will also cost around 1.1-1.3 billion pesos in lost tax revenue, and as such is clearly a subsidy for the the rich on the expense of the poor - as simple as that.
Marcel Ebrard soon responded that rather than this tax break, the government should create a national program of scholarships for students of low means in secondary and pre-college levels - essentially implementing on a national programs the highly popular programs of Mexico City. If the goal is to reduce income differences and give the poor a push to get out of poverty - rather than, say, winning the middle class for the 2012 election (PRD Senator Carlos Navarrete denounced it as electioneering, and rightly so) - Ebrard's proposal makes much more sense.
Now, UNAM rector José Narro Robles also came out against the decree, pointing out how much these 1.3 billion pesos could have helped out in terms of improving public access to education on the university level for Mexico's poor.
According to the Instituto Mexicano de Ejecutivos de Finanzas (IMEF), those likely to benefit are families with incomes around 50,000-100,000 pesos per month - hardly those with the most pressing needs in Mexico.
Yet given the outrageous comments from Ernesto Cordero yesterday, where he argued that one could well live on 6,000 pesos and still afford a house and a car in Mexico, one might seriously question how connected to reality some PAN policy makers really are.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)