In Oaxaca, Governor Gabino Cué sticks to his promise and proposes constitutional changes

Gabino Cué appears to be a man of his word as newly installed governor of Oaxaca: It was just announced that he has sent 75 proposed changes to the state constitution, which notably includes the mechanism of a recall referendum, as well as allowing for referendums. These will need 28 votes to pass; as his broad PAN-PRD-PT-Convergencia coalition only has 23 seats, some opposition support is necessary.

Nayarit PAN-PRD alliance officially registered

While the battle over a possible PRD-PAN alliance in Mexico State will rage on for the coming weeks, in Nayarit the PRD and PAN agreed to officially register their electoral alliance with the state electoral institute. The coalition's name is "Nayarit nos une," and will dispute the governorships, 20 mayoralties, 30 local legislative seats, and 138 local governing councils at play.
Likely the candidate will be a PRD member, but it is entirely open whether it will be Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo or Martha Elena García Gómez, both national deputies; the former a lifelong activist on the left, the latter the wife of a former governor who until recently was a panista.

Elba Ester Gordillo's SNTE-PANAL stoops to new low: Get them while they're young

It really is quite a scandal, and should have some serious repercussions: The party PANAL, an electoral outfit based in the SNTE teacher's union that came into being when Gordillo was kicked out of the PRI and brought her PRI-affiliated teacher groups with her, has seemingly engaged in a blatant breach of electoral law in Baja California Sur - as well as crossing any remaining moral boundary - by handing out, through its SNTE cadres, school material for children at the primary level that included logos of PANAL and in Kim Il-Sung-style exalted Gordillo's party - all with the benediction of teachers and the administration of the schools.

Baja Calfornia Sur is having elections in a few weeks time, and what better way to get to voters than to hand out election material to children - most likely financed by taxpayers - so that they can bring it home to mom and dad and tell them how great PANAL is? Well, there is another one: Include a little note that asks for their name, last name, street, house number, municipality, state, borough, area code, phone number, and email, or that of "one of their parents."

Even the most  cursory glance at PANAL's actions makes it obvious that it violates not only electoral law, but also Mexico's legal code.

Jesús Ortega, national president of the PRD, argued PANAL should lose its national registry as party.
Manuel Espino, former PAN leader, condemned the use of primary schools for electoral proselytizing; current PAN leader Gustavo Madero echoed Ortega's call for PANAL to lose its official registry.

Let's not forget as well that the party is violating any right of the children to privacy and protection of personal data, even potentially putting their lives and those of their parents in danger

President of the federal electoral institute (IFE), Leonardo Valdés, said IFE would seek to corraborate the information before deciding what to do. Let's hope they act fast: The actions of PANAL, and SNTE, must have consequences, if the law is to appear to have any weight and value at all.

Could one also be allowed to hope, just for a moment, that the increasing calls for leader-for-life of SNTE, Elba Esther Gordillo to renounce her position might actually be heeded?

More on dirty deeds in Guanajuato: Even dirtier than imagined

The Guanajuato state government earlier faced harsh criticism after a public audit revealed that Governor Juan Manuel Oliva had spent two million pesos to buy foodstuffs with public money, to be distributed by the state, from the mother of his son-in-law.

It gets worse: It has now been revealed that the pious governor - the same who has in recent days issued blatantly unconstitutional calls to reintroduce religious education in the schools to instill "principles and values" could use a further refresher course on ethics himself, not to mention laws on corruption and conflicts of interests.

The new revelation:  The state government has spent at least 80 million pesos purchasing foodstuffs from  a company belonging to the daughter-in-law of Elías Villegas Torres, the regional leader for the ultra catholic extremist secret society El Yunque. The company, mind you, was created only four months after the coming to power of Oliva in late 2006, yet managed to beat out well-established competitors for contracts to supplying the state's DIF, which the current investigation has revealed as something close to a snake pit of crooks.

As for "principles and values," at least the way most decent citizens recognize them, they appear increasingly absent from the state government of Governor Juan Manuel Oliva.

Spoken like a true yunquista: Guanajuato governor wants "religious education" in the schools

Guanajuato governor Juan Manuel Oliva, following up on a "proposal" from the archbishop of León, declared he was in favor of "analyzing" whether to reintroduce "religious education" in the schools in Guanajuato.

According to Oliva, who is a member of the extremist catholic secret El Yunque society:
"I am a believer that parents should choose the education for their children, and because of this right that they have, we will need to consider a request of this nature." Oliva also added that even though the secular state remains "protected," this does not imply living in a society that is "absent of principles and values."

Where does one start... for one, to even call it "religious education" is disingenuous. What Oliva wants is to indoctrinate the children with the catholic gospel, period - no need pretending. And exactly whose parents are demanding it? Yet even more fundamentally still: It is utterly pathetic to hear the old canard of these believers in invisible friends chime in on "principles and values." Does not teaching catholicism truly mean not teaching "principles and values"? Does this religion really have a monopoly on teaching children good "principles and values"? Unfortunately, this is what ignoramuses like Oliva believe in - that absent the (highly selective, mind you) teaching of bronze-age scriptures, students will simply not learn the good values and principles Olivia is obliquely referring to.

Is it truly so that the more one teach catholic values, the better human beings the students will come out?  Is it truly so that in societies that do not teach religion in this manner in school - Scandinavia, most Western European countries - its students turn out to have less "principles and values" than those who are indoctrinated in catholic values?  Let's put it this way: Quite a few scientific studies do show a clear correlation with church attendance/religiosity, and "social trust" and crime rates. Unfortunately for Oliva, the relationship runs in the other direction: The less religious a society is - and the less religious its education system is - the better off a society is.

And lest we forget: Guanajuato is one of the states in Mexico with the highest rates of teen pregnancy. Guess what state does not teach any sex education in the schools?

The great John Ross is dead

I just saw the sad news that John Ross died this very morning, at age 73, due to liver cancer.

I was by coincidence just reading his absolutely amazing book of Mexico City, El Monstruo, which only came out in 2009. It is a great read, even if you have not lived there for a couple of decades like him.

Here is a wonderful obituary of a most extraordinary man.

Nayarit elections and the party Convergencia: "We will only join winner"

Perhaps not verbatim, but pretty close: The party Convergencia in Nayarit said it would only join a coalition of PAN and PRD if the candidate proposed was the one ahead in the polls.

Everybody loves a winner, but especially Convergencia. That said, expect Convergencia in the end to line up behind thecandidacy of former PRI, then PRD, then PAN, then whatever party she can use for her gain, politician Martha Elena García, now a federal deputy, and wife of a former governor of the state.