Spy scandal! Queretaro law maker's phone tapped

Not too often Queretaro is in the news (and when it is, superb coverage is of course found here), so I couldn't resist this one: Pablo Ademir Castellanos Ramírez, state representative in the local Queretaro legislature, denounced that people from the Government Secretariat had tapped his phone. Not only that, Francisco Hernández Velázquez, a state official, allegedly even told Castellanos to "be careful with what to say when I spoke by telephone, because they had recordings of the phone conversations."

Pretty chilling - a state functionary threatening a law maker, in addition to tapping his phone.
From what I can see, no response from PRI Governor José Calzada Rovirosa to these very serious allegations.

Disturbing updated figures on rise of poverty in Mexico

Mexico's CONEVAL (Consejo Nacional de Evaluación de la Política de Desarrollo Social) is as official as it gets, and it is in its name: The National Council of the Evaluation of Social Development Policy. It's recent figures on the massive rise in poverty in Mexico are therefore all the more damning, and credible:

There are now at least 52 million poor in Mexico, out of which 11.7 live in extreme poverty.
In percent, poverty went up from 44.5 percent of the population to 46.2 percent in 2010 - more than three million more poor.

And this is real poverty: The number of people who can't even cover sufficiently their daily nutritional needs went from 23.8 to 28 million.

Peña Nieto's Mexico State came out worst, with biggest rise of those in extreme poverty - 200,000 more in these two years - with PRI-led Veracruz and PAN-led Guanajuato close behind.

Calderón's answer to the CONEVAL report was chiefly to blame the international crisis: "It was out of our hands."

Elba Esther Gordillo's monthly salary: 23,900 pesos

I've heard the figure reported before, but a report by Mexico's Secretary of education reports that Elba Esther Gordillo's monthly salary is 23,900 pesos, or about 2000 USD. This, for her official job positions, which is for being a teacher and director of a campus in Neza in Mexico State.

So can anyone explain me, then, how she can be a proprietor of  "more than 60 residences, including an apartment in Paris and a house in San Diego"?

You spot the difference!

In the picture below, on the left, the proposed new party emblem of the Convergencia party, which this weekend is holding a conference to change its name, leadership, and, yes, logo. On the right, the logo of the "Legitimate Government" of  Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO).

Border crossings in southern Mexico drops drastically

Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM), the Mexican immigration institute, reports a huge drop in "irregular" border crossings - from 433,000 to 140,000 in the time span 2005-2010, or around 70 percent, in the south of Mexico.

Does PRI stand a chance in Mexico City?

There's been a few interesting articles in the press recently on the strength of PRI in the Federal District/Mexico City recently. Federal deputy and until a few months ago party president Beatriz Paredes Rangel is a likely candidate for mayor, and keeps fanning the flames that she might be a candidate again, like she was in 2006.

That time, she only came in third with barely 22 percent of the votes. Ever since, however, as El Universal reports, PRI has been growing, and the number of delegations where the party is the second largest (it runs none of Mexico City's 16 delegations, or boroughs) has risen to seven.

High-res graphic here:

From El Universal

Ever since the people of the federal district could choose their own governor - before 1997 the mayor was a "regent" appointed by the President - they have chosen PRD mayors. The PRD struggle with perennial factionalism, and so far there are at least 7 candidates who want to represent the left in the upcoming (July 1, 2012) elections. Given that some clientelistic networks led by René Arce and his brother Víctor Círigo ditched the PRD to join the PRI, if the battle to be the left candidate will be bloody, other defections may come and benefit the PRI.

Yet the PRI remains in a mess, organizationally speaking: It is two years behind in terms of choosing a new party president, and remain as well torn by internal struggles. It is nowhere near even keeping appearances of unity, as the PRI so intensely tries to on the national level. A PRI return in DF, then, even with a Peña Nieto national candidacy, I still see as unlikely.

Partido del Trabajo: Marcelo Ebrard is "young and unexperienced"

The latest anecdote piling on top of a mountain of evidence that there is absolutely no way that the Mexican "Workers Party" or PT will abide by its promise to back either Marcelo Ebrard or AMLO for 2012, depending on who is ahead in a national poll both candidate agreed to take:

Alberto Anaya, national president of the party, said that Ebard, age 51, is "very young, and because of this unexperienced" to be president.

Let's see. Before becoming mayor of Mexico City, what was AMLO's legislative or administrative experience? Any government office? Federal deputy? Senator? Local deputy? Mayor?

None. He was head of the Tabasco PRI, then joined the PRD, and was its president 1996-99, before becoming mayor.

In very much related news, the Convergencia party, which despite jumping on board with AMLO is on the verge of electoral extinction, recently suggested to fuse with the PT. Convergencia, to recall, will change its name to Citizens Movement soon, and change its party logo to use the eagle of AMLO's legitimate government. AMLO, in the meantime, has in the past year and a half used all of the PT's federally allotted airtime, to transmit 665,568 ads in radio and television all over the country.

So much for party identity.