Nuclear power is making a comeback, and Mexico is no exception: The CFE, the state-owned federal electricity company, announced plans to build two more nuclear plants in Laguna Verde, in Veracruz state, home to Mexico's sole electric power-generating nuclear plant, in operation since 1990, as part of President Felipe Calderón's clean power energy. Long-term plans of new plants in Sonora were also announced.
It's going to cost, though: So far, $4.5 billion is an estimate. Yet if the alternative is fossil-powered fuel plants, when it comes to pollution it's hard to argue against nuclear plant on environmental grounds.
Atomic energy - it ain't going away anytime soon.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
PRD internal battle update, in mercifully brief,bullet-point form
* After Alejandro Encinas made it clear he would follow AMLO on his "leave of absence," from the PRD, AMLO made it clear that "these are times of definitions, and the same applies to Encinas."
* AMLO said if Encinas will not join his "movement" lead a PT-Convergencia candidacy, another candidate will replace him.
* Encinas has declared that it would be up to the party organs to decide who the candidate will be. Will that also include respecting the outcome of the upcoming citizen poll on the alliances?
* Twenty-eight out 32 state branches of the PRD rallied around national party president Jesús Ortega, demanding respect for the decisions of its national council.
* Many state branches openly criticized AMLO's complete lack of respect for the decisions of said organs; the Oaxacan PRD went as far as to call AMLO a "traitor and a defamer" for his recent actions.
* The IDN faction, led by the infamous Bejarano-Padierna couple, said it would take the PRD to the TEPJF electoral tribunal for breaking the party statutes - quite ironic given that if there is any corriente within the PRD which does exactly as it pleases and ignores votes it loses, its the IDN.
* IDN, which like AMLO always seem to know what "the people" want, said it would not participate in the planned vote over the possible PAN-PRD alliance. Why bother actually asking the people?
* Jesús Ortega, PRD leader, asked, "Do you remember the famous Juanito of Iztapalapa? You can't treat Alejandro Encinas this way. Or anyone.... this is symptomatic of authoritarian behavior. You cannot say that, 'I am the State,' 'I am the party,' 'I am the truth' - it is not like that in politics. He should calm down."
* And finally, perhaps the most newsworthy item: Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas declared, during the presentation-promotion of his recent book (more on that later), that AMLO should "take charge of the party, of the designation of a candidate for the governorship of Mexico State, and of designating a presidential candidate for 2012," in order to avoid a party rupture. The proposal is so unrealistic it that for now I'll leave it without comments.
* Asked about 2012, Cárdenas responded, "I don't know what I will do in 2012."
* AMLO said if Encinas will not join his "movement" lead a PT-Convergencia candidacy, another candidate will replace him.
* Encinas has declared that it would be up to the party organs to decide who the candidate will be. Will that also include respecting the outcome of the upcoming citizen poll on the alliances?
* Twenty-eight out 32 state branches of the PRD rallied around national party president Jesús Ortega, demanding respect for the decisions of its national council.
* Many state branches openly criticized AMLO's complete lack of respect for the decisions of said organs; the Oaxacan PRD went as far as to call AMLO a "traitor and a defamer" for his recent actions.
* The IDN faction, led by the infamous Bejarano-Padierna couple, said it would take the PRD to the TEPJF electoral tribunal for breaking the party statutes - quite ironic given that if there is any corriente within the PRD which does exactly as it pleases and ignores votes it loses, its the IDN.
* IDN, which like AMLO always seem to know what "the people" want, said it would not participate in the planned vote over the possible PAN-PRD alliance. Why bother actually asking the people?
* Jesús Ortega, PRD leader, asked, "Do you remember the famous Juanito of Iztapalapa? You can't treat Alejandro Encinas this way. Or anyone.... this is symptomatic of authoritarian behavior. You cannot say that, 'I am the State,' 'I am the party,' 'I am the truth' - it is not like that in politics. He should calm down."
* And finally, perhaps the most newsworthy item: Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas declared, during the presentation-promotion of his recent book (more on that later), that AMLO should "take charge of the party, of the designation of a candidate for the governorship of Mexico State, and of designating a presidential candidate for 2012," in order to avoid a party rupture. The proposal is so unrealistic it that for now I'll leave it without comments.
* Asked about 2012, Cárdenas responded, "I don't know what I will do in 2012."
PRI to move HQ to Michoacán: Push for wresting the state from the PRD
The president-elect of PRI, Humberto Moreira, announced that starting on July 4 (the day after the crucial election in Mexico State, and to a lesser degree Nayarit and Coahuila), the PRI's will move and take up camp in Morelia, Michoacán, ahead of that state's gubernatorial election the coming Nov. 13.
This represents quite a shift from that of outgoing PRI leader Beatriz Paredes, who was accused of neglecting the Michoacán PRI in favor of other states and regions. Clearly, Moreira now thinks the PRI has a chance of taking the state, whose elections will be the last in 2011, and the last before the presidential election in 2012. It's significance is obvious: Michoacán is not only the home state of President Felipe Calderón; it is also very much the "cradle" of the PRD, certainly of cardenismo and neocardenismo, and winning Michoacán would be a hugely significant boost for the PRI and a blow to the left.
Yet in spite of Moreira's hopes, I don't see that happening.
This represents quite a shift from that of outgoing PRI leader Beatriz Paredes, who was accused of neglecting the Michoacán PRI in favor of other states and regions. Clearly, Moreira now thinks the PRI has a chance of taking the state, whose elections will be the last in 2011, and the last before the presidential election in 2012. It's significance is obvious: Michoacán is not only the home state of President Felipe Calderón; it is also very much the "cradle" of the PRD, certainly of cardenismo and neocardenismo, and winning Michoacán would be a hugely significant boost for the PRI and a blow to the left.
Yet in spite of Moreira's hopes, I don't see that happening.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Convergencia infighting in Mexico State
The Mexico State branch of the party Convergencia is in deep trouble: Massive internal conflicts and infighting among its factions, though over issues that have little to do with ideology.
On the national level, Convergencia is nominally one of the staunchest defenders of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, chiefly due to the fact that the party was going electorally extinct but managed to save its party registry by attaching itself to AMLO's movement. Yet in Mexico State, the party has notably voted with the PRI and Enrique Peña Nieto on a range of occasions, perhaps most infamously when it even backed the vote in the state legislature over the Ley Peña that recently skewed the electoral playing field in favor of the Mexico State governor. One may only speculate in what the party got in return.
In any case, the national party appointed Alejandro Chanona a special delegate to intervene in the state branch, which adamantly opposes any alliance with the PAN, aligning it perfectly, yet again, with the interests of Enrique Peña Nieto.
On the national level, Convergencia is nominally one of the staunchest defenders of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, chiefly due to the fact that the party was going electorally extinct but managed to save its party registry by attaching itself to AMLO's movement. Yet in Mexico State, the party has notably voted with the PRI and Enrique Peña Nieto on a range of occasions, perhaps most infamously when it even backed the vote in the state legislature over the Ley Peña that recently skewed the electoral playing field in favor of the Mexico State governor. One may only speculate in what the party got in return.
In any case, the national party appointed Alejandro Chanona a special delegate to intervene in the state branch, which adamantly opposes any alliance with the PAN, aligning it perfectly, yet again, with the interests of Enrique Peña Nieto.
Breakin' the law: Jalisco gov. Emilio González Márquez "illegal propaganda"
The general council of Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) declared that Jalisco Governor Emilio González Márquez broke the country's electoral law by turning ads announcing his "state of the state" into personal political propaganda. González Márquez, infamous for a range of drunken appearances and showering public money on the most arch-conservative sectors of the Catholic church, is also on a quixotic quest to gain the presidential nomination of PAN.
Given the rules under which IFE operates, however, it cannot penalize the governor with a fine, as no legislation exists that stipulates the actual penalty for public servants breaking the law, but IFE did send the case over to the Auditoría Superior of Jalisco state to revise the case and possibly sanction the governor. Don't hold your breath that it will.
Given the rules under which IFE operates, however, it cannot penalize the governor with a fine, as no legislation exists that stipulates the actual penalty for public servants breaking the law, but IFE did send the case over to the Auditoría Superior of Jalisco state to revise the case and possibly sanction the governor. Don't hold your breath that it will.
Porfirio Muñoz Ledo: So be it if PRD disappears
Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, a political acrobat par excellance who has been a member of or campaigned for virtually every one of Mexico's parties, and returned from obscurity when he latched onto the post-2006 movement of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said of the PRD that the "time had come" for the party to fold:
"There is no risk; if the PRD disappears, nothing will happen to this country - I renounced in 1999; the country, that's another thing."
Yes, the "country" certainly survived Muñoz Ledo leaving the PRD in 1999. Indeed, let's recall what happened: He resigned when he lost out both nomination to be mayor of Mexico City as well as to be the PRD's presidential candidate, then lined up behind the candidacy of Vicente Fox and PAN, for which he was awarded a plum ambassadorial position in Europe, which of course makes a mockery of his current "radical" stances and opposition to a PAN electoral alliance.
Yes, parties come and go; PRD itself is only 22 years old, and maybe, though I doubt it, the current crisis of the party will be mortal. Yet the party remains nonetheless the largest party of the left in Mexico; it has played a key role in the Mexican political transition, and continues to be a serious governing party in municipalities and states throughout Mexico. A recent editorial in El Universal made a solid run-down of the importance of a "strong and united" PRD for Mexican democracy.
I also want to add that the PRD is the only real left party in Mexico: The Convergencia, and certainly the party to which Muñoz Ledo now belongs, the Partido del Trabajo, or "workers party" - a misnomer if there ever was one - are not left parties, but highly opportunistic parties that turn their cape wholly to the wind wherever they can reap benefits from it. Without a serious leftwing political party in Mexico, I don't think it is an exaggeration to posit that much of Mexico's current social conflicts might explode and turn violent, unless channeled through the PRD.
As for Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, his political relevance has far since vanished, and also apparently his once-sharp political insights; he would be better advised to use his federal deputy seat for something constructive rather than calling for the destruction of Mexico's only democratic leftwing party.
"There is no risk; if the PRD disappears, nothing will happen to this country - I renounced in 1999; the country, that's another thing."
Yes, the "country" certainly survived Muñoz Ledo leaving the PRD in 1999. Indeed, let's recall what happened: He resigned when he lost out both nomination to be mayor of Mexico City as well as to be the PRD's presidential candidate, then lined up behind the candidacy of Vicente Fox and PAN, for which he was awarded a plum ambassadorial position in Europe, which of course makes a mockery of his current "radical" stances and opposition to a PAN electoral alliance.
Yes, parties come and go; PRD itself is only 22 years old, and maybe, though I doubt it, the current crisis of the party will be mortal. Yet the party remains nonetheless the largest party of the left in Mexico; it has played a key role in the Mexican political transition, and continues to be a serious governing party in municipalities and states throughout Mexico. A recent editorial in El Universal made a solid run-down of the importance of a "strong and united" PRD for Mexican democracy.
I also want to add that the PRD is the only real left party in Mexico: The Convergencia, and certainly the party to which Muñoz Ledo now belongs, the Partido del Trabajo, or "workers party" - a misnomer if there ever was one - are not left parties, but highly opportunistic parties that turn their cape wholly to the wind wherever they can reap benefits from it. Without a serious leftwing political party in Mexico, I don't think it is an exaggeration to posit that much of Mexico's current social conflicts might explode and turn violent, unless channeled through the PRD.
As for Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, his political relevance has far since vanished, and also apparently his once-sharp political insights; he would be better advised to use his federal deputy seat for something constructive rather than calling for the destruction of Mexico's only democratic leftwing party.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Eduardo Galeano honored: Mexico, "victim of the hypocrisy of the narcosystem"
The great Eduardo Galeano received the 1808 Medal in Mexico City Wednesday. Expressing gratitude for Mexico's sheltering of thousands of refugees from the murderous dirty wars of the hemisphere, such as his native Uruguay, the writer of "Open Veins of Latin America" noted the following of Mexico's current narco "war" (out of respect for Galeano, I won't even try to mangle the words of this poet):
And, to be sure, from the also soccer fanatic:“Y en estas horas duras, México está recibiendo veladas amenazas del gran hermano del norte que parece que quiere venir a salvar a este país de la violencia y del caos, y eso corresponde a la tradición mesiánica del hermano del norte que a lo largo de casi toda su vida independiente se ha consagrado a esa tarea, al parecer encomendada por Dios, de salvar a los países que necesitan su ayuda. Me parece muy peligroso, porque en la experiencia esa ayuda ha sembrado al mundo de dictaduras militares, ha convertido a Irak en un manicomio y está convirtiendo a Afganistán en un vasto cementerio"
“A mí me parecen peligrosos todos los mesianismos, tengan el color político que tengan y provengan de la religión de donde provengan. El único mesianismo que no parece peligroso es el mesianismo de Lionel Messi, el mejor jugador de futbol del mundo.”
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