One rare smart thing said by Vázquez Mota on the trail

Josefina Vázquez Mota's campaign to me appears a near disaster of poor organizations and erratic statements and behaviors from as much the candidate herself as the campaign staff. She seems to me utterly unprepared for the presidential office, and I truly hope the anti-PRI vote will go to the left instead. For whatever AMLO's faults, he appears a million times better prepared than the PAN candidate.

Yet one thing she does deserve credit for: Calling out the equally unprepared TV-created media phenomenon Enrique Peña Nieto for his constant signing of his "pledges" or "promises" or "compromises" or whatever to Mexican citizens, in front of a public notary.

Disregarding the fact these "compromises" are essentially about small micro projects the federal government is or will fund regardless, Vázquez Mota declared she won't sign anything - voters can take her word for it. Indeed, if EPN needs to sign these promises, what does that say about his commitment to the spoken word? And what about the promises he makes but doesn't sign? Are they effectively mere campaign lies?

AMLO reaches out to the EZLN

On the campaign trail in Chiapas just before the Easter break, AMLO made a call to "the rebels of 1994" to participate in his electoral movement. The plaza reportedly fell completely silent as he touched upon the topic of  EZLN, without mentioning the zapatistas by name.

El Universal's description of it as a call for "reconciliation" is not entirely accurate, as reconciliation must go two ways. AMLO has always reached out to EZLN, but the latter responded, in the parody of leftwing secterianism that if unfortunately descended into behind its messiah-complexed Subcomandante Marcos, with givin the PRD the finger (literally) and denouncing it as worse than PAN and PRI, and, to boot, "fascist" - coincidentally the same term the more reactionary wings of the Mexican Catholic church likes to fling around.

In 2006, EZLN openly campaigned against any participation in the 2006 federal elections. I'm not sure to what extent that struck a blow for anything, let alone against the imperialists.

So for a "reconciliation" to take place, the EZLN would also need to do their part.
Don't expect them to.

A miracle! AMLO moderated through...prayer!

Archbishop of Jalapa, Hipólito Reyes Larios, has a clear answer to AMLO's moderate discourse on the campaign trail: The church prayed for it! That's right, it is obviously a result of the priests and their congregations having prayed for this to happen!

Now what about those pesky amputees...

Recommended Sunday reads on Mexican politics

A cop out due to work overload on other projects: I'll limit myself to recommend three excellent recent reads in English on Mexican politics this Sunday

* Patrick Corcoran on Javier Sicilia and his movement: The best, most succinct analysis I've seen so far.

* The Economist has an excellent election run-down on the candidates for 2012 where it also notes the increasingly dirty politics of PAN with regards to candidate nominations, especially that of  Fernando Larrazabal Bretón in Nuevo León.

* From the left, a wonderful article from Fred Rosen and NACLA on AMLO, entitled No Resentment Here!

Noroña, a cliche waiting to happen

Gerardo Fernández Noroña is for many the face of the most radical, intransigent sectors of the Mexican left, improbably elected federal deputy in 2009 for the North Korea-praising Workers Party (PT), but before that a long-time radical as head of a social movement-based group within the PRD.

His antics both in the PRD, which he left in 2008, and as a deputy are many (he once threw himself around he feet of president Ernesto Zedillo and refused to let go), but he is perhaps most known as an ardent defender of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and a proponent of the "fraud" claim of 2006.

Now the cliché is served on a silver platter: más papista que el Papa, more catholic than the pope:

In response to AMLO's recent declaration that he has "forgiven" Felipe Calderón,  for 2006, Noroña (as he is most commonly known), now threatening to break with AMLO unless he explains what he means by that - is it a recognition of Calderón's legitimacy as president? - and demanding that he show congruence and firmness. Yes, AMLO is not radical enough for his political children.

 AMLO being accused of going soft on Calderón, by one of his own - it is hard to know what historical analogy to pick given the range of options.

Let's for now stick with the French one: Noroña, the Jacobin. I am not even the slightest surprised.

The charlatans of scientology, now at it in Mexico

Those who have gone to Mexico City and its Alameda square can't help but have noticed the eager members of the church of scientology recruiting new adherents to their dangerous cult, and the enormous "Scientology Mexico" building at the corner of the square.

A highly recommended read on this extremely dangerous and destructive organization is a recent Proceso article, "Dianética: la “religión” que aniquila," now available free of charge, which expounds on its practices in Mexico, where it is accused of slave labor and human trafficking. Please read it. 

AMLO: I've forgiven Felipe Calderón

In an interview with the Spanish El Pais, AMLO said he had forgiven Calderón for the 2006 election, and that he would not seek to reopen any investigation into that election, because there is already a "verdict." Which one is that, one might ask?

He also notes, "I've evolved, I have more knowledge of the reality because I have traveled the country," though he doesn't really tell us what new lessons he has learned, or any self criticism made. I would really like to have seen some.

In any case, the interview is well worth a read.