Mexico State Governor Enrique Peña Nieto, in yet another demonstration of the fear he has of a PAN-PRD coalition, is sending the Green Party (Partido Verde Ecologista de México, PVEM), on a dirty errand The PVEM will introduce legislation in the Mexico State Congress to change the state's electoral code to make alliances illegal. This is the same Green Party, to recall, that jumped on board with Fox and the PAN in 2000, only to become PRI's ally ever since. One might think this new legislation would thus serve to block PVEM's possibility of running with the PRI, but no: The legislation would "block common candidacies of parties that are of distinct ideologies." That should take care of the PVEM: The party is utterly devoid of any programmatic or ideological backbone
While so hypocritical in nature that it nearly defies belief, it is simply an idiotic proposal: What authority would declare what parties are not compatible? A PRI-PVEM appointed commission? One could, alternatively, leave it to the voters. It's called democracy.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
AMLO will seek to retake control of the PRD this weekend
Despite having failed to have Alejandro Encinas elected as PRD president in 2008 - a cochinero that took 8 months to resolve, and nearly tore the PRD apart - AMLO is going again on the offensive to retake control of the PRD, through calling upon his followers, loyalists or opportunists alike, to kick out the national PRD leadership.
This weekend, the movement-advocates within the PRD - those who are often labeled as "radicals," yet who like AMLO are often socially conservative and want the PRD to remain intimately tied to AMLO - are launching a direct attack on the leadership of Jesús Ortega and his social democratic Nueva Izquierda faction, which currently controls the party.
Eight corrientes have signed on to a declaration that calls for Ortega to step down in December 2010, but that also attacks the recent alliances with PAN. Judging by the statements of some, the goal is also to simply have Ortega ousted as leader this weekend.
Ortega, to recall, only started his 3-year presidency in December 2008 and his three-year term would then end in 2012. More important still, party disunity and yet another harrowing internal fight - the 2008 internal election took eighth months to resolve, and nearly destroyed the party - is simply the last thing the PRD needs. Especially given the hugely important elections in Guerrero and above all Mexico State next year, it seems hard to fathom that Ortega's opponents are going on the war path. Yet this infighting can only be understood from the logic of movement-advococates: While Ortega and Nueva Izquierda, along with his principal ally Alianza Democrática Nacional (ADN), seek to build an institutionalized organization autonomous of its old strongman, AMLO and the movement-advocates want the PRD to remain a loose movement-like party that is chiefly a tool at the disposal of a "cause," which, it is now clear, remains AMLO's presidential bid. Amazingly, AMLO and the movement-advocates are willing to risk yet another brutal internal party war by launching their nth attack on Ortega.
This weekend, the movement-advocates within the PRD - those who are often labeled as "radicals," yet who like AMLO are often socially conservative and want the PRD to remain intimately tied to AMLO - are launching a direct attack on the leadership of Jesús Ortega and his social democratic Nueva Izquierda faction, which currently controls the party.
Eight corrientes have signed on to a declaration that calls for Ortega to step down in December 2010, but that also attacks the recent alliances with PAN. Judging by the statements of some, the goal is also to simply have Ortega ousted as leader this weekend.
Ortega, to recall, only started his 3-year presidency in December 2008 and his three-year term would then end in 2012. More important still, party disunity and yet another harrowing internal fight - the 2008 internal election took eighth months to resolve, and nearly destroyed the party - is simply the last thing the PRD needs. Especially given the hugely important elections in Guerrero and above all Mexico State next year, it seems hard to fathom that Ortega's opponents are going on the war path. Yet this infighting can only be understood from the logic of movement-advococates: While Ortega and Nueva Izquierda, along with his principal ally Alianza Democrática Nacional (ADN), seek to build an institutionalized organization autonomous of its old strongman, AMLO and the movement-advocates want the PRD to remain a loose movement-like party that is chiefly a tool at the disposal of a "cause," which, it is now clear, remains AMLO's presidential bid. Amazingly, AMLO and the movement-advocates are willing to risk yet another brutal internal party war by launching their nth attack on Ortega.
Yet while eight corrientes or internal party factions have signed on to the war document against its leadership, they do not appear to have the votes: Only IDN, led nominally by Dolores Padierna but de facto by her disgraced husband René Bejarano, has a significant number of councilors, but all the others, including Izquierda Social of Martí Batres, who holds the powerful portfolio of secretary of social development in Mexico City, and Red de Unidad Nacional de las Izquierdas (RUNI), which was recently launched by AMLO ultraloyalist Alejandro Encinas and also attracts some old cardenistas, have still very little presence on the PRD's National Council, and it seems doubtful they will get the 160 or so votes required to oust Ortega.
Miguel Borbosa, who took over as national coordinator of Nueva Izquierda after Jesús Zambrano, in turn, accused some of the Ortega opponents within PRD to be tied to Enrique Peña Nieto. To be sure, should Ortega be ousted, the PAN-PRD alliance in Mexico State will tumble, and Peña Nieto is almost certain to have a priísta succeed him as governor of Mexico State. As such, Peña Nieto can only hope that Andrés Manuel López Obrador's attack on Ortega will be successful. Regardless, expect quite a ruckus this weekend.
"I am free, because I am innocent": Seven imprisoned Guanajuato women finally free
María Araceli Camargo Juárez, Ofelia Segura Frías, Yolanda Martínez Montoya, Liliana Morales Moreno, Ana Rosa Padrón Alarcón, Susana Dueñas Rocha and Bonifacia Andrade Hurtado were finally set free yesterday, after spending between two and seven years in prison accused of infanticide. The real issue, of course, is abortion, which is illegal in Guanajuato, yet this is only half the story: While abortion only carried a penalty of maximum three years, the women were accused of infanticide, which carries a significantly stricter penalty (though after UN pressure, the government succumbed to reform the laws); some had received up to 27 years in prison for this.
But the kicker is this: Most of the women, all poor campesinas, appear to simply have had miscarriages, having suffered beatings - several of them had been raped - and were moreover coerced to confess to their "crime" by state prosecutors.
Yet rather than apologize for this travesty of justice, the state government, headed by Governor Juan Manuel Oliva, stubbornly and stupidly refuses to admit it did a mistake and that the women were innocent. Given the fighting spirit of these women and their clamor to have their name cleared, the matter will now most likely move to the courts, ensuring more bad publicity for Juan Manuel Oliva, who tried to please the women with promises of housing assistance, and offered state vehicles to transport them, which they rejected.
Yet rather than apologize for this travesty of justice, the state government, headed by Governor Juan Manuel Oliva, stubbornly and stupidly refuses to admit it did a mistake and that the women were innocent. Given the fighting spirit of these women and their clamor to have their name cleared, the matter will now most likely move to the courts, ensuring more bad publicity for Juan Manuel Oliva, who tried to please the women with promises of housing assistance, and offered state vehicles to transport them, which they rejected.
Yolanda Martínez Montoya, in prison for more than six years, gets the final word:
"I want nothing. I want to be me. I don't want to be tied to anyone who has something to do with the government, because they caused me so much harm. I want nothing from them"
Reporter: "Was the government's offer in exchange for keeping silent?"
"It could be. One may deduce using logic."
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Will AMLO succeed in tumbling the PAN-PRD alliances?
Mexico State Governor Enrique Peña Nieto used the occasion of his fifth Report to the Mexico State Congress to attack the PAN-PRD alliances. Peña Nieto, in the clearest yet sign of his fear of such an opposition alliance, absurdly and shamelessly likened these alliances by two democratic parties to a threat equivalent to that of organized crime. It was a moment of infamy.
Yet Peña Nieto may soon breathe a sigh of relief: GAP, the Grupo de Acción Política, which claims a majority on the PRD's Mexico State council, declared its opposition to a PAN-PRD alliance and a common candidate in next year's state elections to replace Peña Nieto's successor. GAP allied with current national PRD leader Jesús Ortega in 2008, yet now opposes Ortega's plans for a common candidate, and is reportedly backing AMLO's bid to be PRD's presidential candidate in 2012. GAP, notably, wants its leader Horacio Duarte to be the PRD's gubernatorial candidate, and its recent opposition to the alliances has the semblance of a quid pro quo with AMLO's supporters. AMLO, to recall, has been adamantly against the PAN-PRD coalitions since the start, though several of his "devoted" followers such as the IDN faction, tacitly agreed to the alliances. Now, however, IDN and other corrientes are vocally denouncing them, in Mexico State and elsewhere, following AMLO's bidding. And it seems likely that GAP is now doing the same thing.
PRD national deputy and coordinator of its parliamentary group Alejandro Encinas, also a strong contender for the Mexico State nomination, somewhat bizarrely contested Peña Nieto arguing that the only threat to fear is the unity of the left, meaning PRD-PT-Convergencia. Yet Encinas knows very well that Peña Nieta was referring to a broader PAN-PRD alliance, and not just one by the three left parties.
Meanwhile, in the PRD proper, despite the huge success of the recent alliances in Oaxaca, Sinaloa, and Puebla, the more "radical" elements in the party such as the IDN and others are yet again clamoring for Jesús Ortega to step down as party president. So much for party unity in the face of a clear adversary: In fine Stalinist tradition, the andremanualistas and opportunists of the party are at least as bent on attacking the social-democratic wing of the PRD than either PRI or PAN, for that matter.
Conspiracy journalist par excellence, Ricardo Alemán, claims that "it remains clear that there will be no PAN-PRD alliance in Mexico State and in Guerrero, and with the help of PAN, PRI will snatch from PRD the states of Baja California Sur and Guerrero."
This seems to me to be jumping the gun at this point, even for Alemán.
Yet Peña Nieto may soon breathe a sigh of relief: GAP, the Grupo de Acción Política, which claims a majority on the PRD's Mexico State council, declared its opposition to a PAN-PRD alliance and a common candidate in next year's state elections to replace Peña Nieto's successor. GAP allied with current national PRD leader Jesús Ortega in 2008, yet now opposes Ortega's plans for a common candidate, and is reportedly backing AMLO's bid to be PRD's presidential candidate in 2012. GAP, notably, wants its leader Horacio Duarte to be the PRD's gubernatorial candidate, and its recent opposition to the alliances has the semblance of a quid pro quo with AMLO's supporters. AMLO, to recall, has been adamantly against the PAN-PRD coalitions since the start, though several of his "devoted" followers such as the IDN faction, tacitly agreed to the alliances. Now, however, IDN and other corrientes are vocally denouncing them, in Mexico State and elsewhere, following AMLO's bidding. And it seems likely that GAP is now doing the same thing.
PRD national deputy and coordinator of its parliamentary group Alejandro Encinas, also a strong contender for the Mexico State nomination, somewhat bizarrely contested Peña Nieto arguing that the only threat to fear is the unity of the left, meaning PRD-PT-Convergencia. Yet Encinas knows very well that Peña Nieta was referring to a broader PAN-PRD alliance, and not just one by the three left parties.
Meanwhile, in the PRD proper, despite the huge success of the recent alliances in Oaxaca, Sinaloa, and Puebla, the more "radical" elements in the party such as the IDN and others are yet again clamoring for Jesús Ortega to step down as party president. So much for party unity in the face of a clear adversary: In fine Stalinist tradition, the andremanualistas and opportunists of the party are at least as bent on attacking the social-democratic wing of the PRD than either PRI or PAN, for that matter.
Conspiracy journalist par excellence, Ricardo Alemán, claims that "it remains clear that there will be no PAN-PRD alliance in Mexico State and in Guerrero, and with the help of PAN, PRI will snatch from PRD the states of Baja California Sur and Guerrero."
This seems to me to be jumping the gun at this point, even for Alemán.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Cardinal Norberto Rivera takes a rare worthwhile stand
Statement:
Yet the words come from Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, and were reported in the church's printed organ Desde la Fe. Rivera calls on the authorities to do more to protect migrants, criticizing the Calderón administration for not doing enough to punish those responsible for atrocities such as the recent massacre of 72 immigrants in Tamaulipas.
"It is a shame that they are always concerned about unimportant and trivial matters... ignoring human situations such gravity that require effective responses and solutions background."
This criticism might very well have been hurled against the Mexican church, which in the past weeks have been, among other things, remarkably preoccupied with the sex lives of others, and more seriously still hurling baseless insults at its opponents (including calling one of Mexico's largest parties "fascist"), whipping up hysteria among its followers,and rejecting the laws and institutions of the Mexican state itself.
Yet the words come from Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, and were reported in the church's printed organ Desde la Fe. Rivera calls on the authorities to do more to protect migrants, criticizing the Calderón administration for not doing enough to punish those responsible for atrocities such as the recent massacre of 72 immigrants in Tamaulipas.
Rivera declared, "A mute church does not serve god nor mankind." Yet this is exactly the point: Speaking out to defend immigrants and attacking the government for not following its own laws is clearly a very different issue than the spewing of hate-speech toward gay people, whose right to marry was recently declared constitutional by law, or outrightly rejecting the secular state and Mexico's laws, products of institutionalized democratic processes, even if the latter allow for practices adamantly opposed to by the church, such as abortion in Mexico City.
It is a shame that the church apparently cannot easily or will not see the monumental differences between the two types of "speaking up."
Remarkable vote in PRD Guerrero state council
Yesterday, the state council of PRD Guerrero - its highest party authority - voted 103-1, with six abstentions, to confirm Ángel Aguirre Rivero as the PRD's candidate for governor next year. The vote is rather remarkable: Even though one might expect a brunt of Aguirre's detractors to want to jump on the band wagon and side with the winner, the vote shows how little impact current governor Zeferino Torreblanca has over the party branch. It also displays, at least on the surface, a massive party unity behind Aguirre's candidacy.
Aguirre, to recall, is currently a PRI senator, yet ditched the party to run as the PRD's candidate. Aguirre was also a former interim governor of Guerrero, and retains a very significant following.
Very significantly, Aguirre agreed to creating a Truth Commission, a key demand of the left, in order to seek clearing up the many murders of party, social, and human rights activists in Guerrero, under Torreblanca's rule and previous governments. Like Gabino Cué in Oaxaca, Aguirre also agreed to support constitutional reform that will allow for revocation of the governor's mandate midterm.
And most important of all - if Aguirre sticks to his word and puts his friendship with Enrique Peña Nieto aside - he promised to work for PRD's presidential campaign in 2012, whoever the candidate might be.
Aguirre, to recall, is currently a PRI senator, yet ditched the party to run as the PRD's candidate. Aguirre was also a former interim governor of Guerrero, and retains a very significant following.
Very significantly, Aguirre agreed to creating a Truth Commission, a key demand of the left, in order to seek clearing up the many murders of party, social, and human rights activists in Guerrero, under Torreblanca's rule and previous governments. Like Gabino Cué in Oaxaca, Aguirre also agreed to support constitutional reform that will allow for revocation of the governor's mandate midterm.
And most important of all - if Aguirre sticks to his word and puts his friendship with Enrique Peña Nieto aside - he promised to work for PRD's presidential campaign in 2012, whoever the candidate might be.
Gordian knot cut, for now, in San Lázaro: Jorge Carlos Ramírez Marín president of the Congress directorate
The crisis engulfing the Mexican congress regarding control over its key organs appears to be resolved, for now, yet the deal appears more than a bit shady: PRI will preside over the Congress directorate, while the PRD will get control over both the directorate and the coordinating junta the last year of the congress period.
To recall: PRI, reneging on previous accords, decided to go for the presidency for the coming year of the mesa ejecutiva or Congress directorate, a key organ, even though this corresponded to the PRD. Given that the presidency of both the directorate and the coordinating junta rotates among the three largest parties in congress, this would, given the cycle, leave the PRD in control of both of these organs the last year of congress, which would be unconstitutional. Then how was this possibly resolved?
The coordinators of the parties in congress agreed to a deal where PRD will get to preside the two organs, though a special vote of 2/3 majority will be held where the stipulations of the Organic Law regulating Congress will simply be "set aside" for that year. PRD will simply have to take their word for it, that this will actually come to pass.
Yet it gets fishier. Knowing that the part of PRD allied with Andrés Manuel López Obrador was strongly opposed to allowing the Nueva Izquirda faction obtain the Congress presidency, the deal that PRD's group coordinator and AMLO incondicional Alejandro Encinas made appears a bit suspicious, given that Encinas himself loudly condemned as unconstitutional just a few days ago the outcome he now has apparently signed on to.
The new mesa ejecutiva president, Jorge Carlos Ramírez Marín, is considered very close to PRI national leader Beatriz Paredes, who has not given up her own presidential ambitions, or at least to be mayor of Mexico City. Even though she will step down as PRI leader, her influence will thus clearly be felt in San Lázaro the coming session.
To recall: PRI, reneging on previous accords, decided to go for the presidency for the coming year of the mesa ejecutiva or Congress directorate, a key organ, even though this corresponded to the PRD. Given that the presidency of both the directorate and the coordinating junta rotates among the three largest parties in congress, this would, given the cycle, leave the PRD in control of both of these organs the last year of congress, which would be unconstitutional. Then how was this possibly resolved?
The coordinators of the parties in congress agreed to a deal where PRD will get to preside the two organs, though a special vote of 2/3 majority will be held where the stipulations of the Organic Law regulating Congress will simply be "set aside" for that year. PRD will simply have to take their word for it, that this will actually come to pass.
Yet it gets fishier. Knowing that the part of PRD allied with Andrés Manuel López Obrador was strongly opposed to allowing the Nueva Izquirda faction obtain the Congress presidency, the deal that PRD's group coordinator and AMLO incondicional Alejandro Encinas made appears a bit suspicious, given that Encinas himself loudly condemned as unconstitutional just a few days ago the outcome he now has apparently signed on to.
The new mesa ejecutiva president, Jorge Carlos Ramírez Marín, is considered very close to PRI national leader Beatriz Paredes, who has not given up her own presidential ambitions, or at least to be mayor of Mexico City. Even though she will step down as PRI leader, her influence will thus clearly be felt in San Lázaro the coming session.
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