Mexican church again at war with the left - and the law

Mexico's church is not allowed to call for a vote in favor - or against - parties and political candidates, nor to interfere in politics. It may sound oppressive and intolerant for an outsider, but this is a church that after all, as an institution,

1) fought against independence
2) betrayed Mexico by favoring French intervention in the 19th century
3) virulently fought against the revolution
4) sponsored a religious uprising in the 1920s
5) has often failed to respect loyalty to the state and its insitutions

Etc, etc.

Now the church openly calls for Mexicans to vote in favor of parties that oppose gay marriage and women's reproductive rights.

Norberto Rivera Carrera, Mexico's cardinal - a man who should be locked up in prison not only for his failure to act against child raping priests, but specifically for his active sabotage of the investigations of these hideous crimes and his cover-up and protection of those responsible - has the following to declare:

it is not possible to make a political option those who are supporters or promoters of false rights and freedoms which threaten the teachings of the scripture, tradition and doctrine of the Church.

In one way, it is at least an improvement: At least they didn't declare, "God free us from a fascist party like the PRD" as they did last time.

Best comment yet on Paredes' Mexico City mayor bid

From La Jornada:

"As president of PRI, I backed Ulises Ruiz and [Mario Marín], and I made deals with PAN against the rights of women.

Ah! But now if you give me your vote, I will govern as if I were of the left."

This is how a narco church looks like

Pictures from El Universal, from the church in Tezontle, Hidalgo, where Zeta leader Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano is kindly acknowledged as its donor:





More pictures here, and the story on how the locals celebrate Lazcano in Hidalgo

Is PRI trying to kill its cadres?

Recent events may make one wonder.

It is quite common that PAN, PRD, and PRI - and all the other minor parties - offer meals for people who "show up" at their campaign rallies.

What is thankfully not so common is that the food is of so poor quality and dangerous to your health that it threatens to kill scores of your followers:

- In Chilapa, Guerrero, close to 800 (!) people got intoxicated at a PRI rally eating tainted egg tacos
- Then, in Zinacantepec, Mexico State, 150 people got sick (50 needed hospitalization) after eating food provided by the PRI mayor of Valle de Bravo.

Two such incidents in just one week, from the same party?

Peña Nieto faking Twitter followers

Fascinating article from Milenio on PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto: While leading the pack with seemingly more than 400,000 followers on twitter, an investigation carried out by the newspaper on just a sample of those found that many of these are simply bots, or "ghost accounts" = fake followers.

Perhaps I am mistaking wishful thinking for analysis, but Peña Nieto's presidential project seems ever more shallow the more light shines on it.

Here's a graphic where the official number of followers are displayed. How many are fakes?

From Milenio

How can this be legal? Guanajuato and the pope

According to the political gossip column in Milenio: 

Guanajuato's government paid 2 000 800 pesos for each of the nearly 220 rooms reserved so that officials and friends of Governor Juan Manuel Oliva can sleep in luxurious hotels located on avenida López Mateos, and from there observe the route that Pope Benedict XVI will carry out in the city of  León March.

Bátiz would head PGR, Mondragón SSP

Two more "cabinet announcements" for AMLO should he win the presidency:
- Bernardo Bátiz, his ex-attorney general in Mexico City, would head the national PGR to be Attorney General of Mexico (the position Marisela Morales now holds)
- Manuel Mondragón, current head of police in Mexico City, would head the federal SSP,  Secretariat of Public Security (the position Genaro García Luna now holds)

Also, notably, AMLO in Nuevo León said some businessmen apologized for their role in the 2006 "dirty campaign" where business sectors sponsored illegal campaign ads against him.