Cárdenas goes after AMLO

While relations between the two old caudillos appeared to have been somewhat improving, here comes a political attack: Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas criticized AMLO's recently pronounced political project for 2012.

I remain fully convinced that Cárdenas has not given up on his own ambitions, and the substance of his criticism of AMLO's program to me only confirms it: He criticized AMLO for not giving his opinion on the PEMEX incentive contracts, which Cárdenas fully opposes, though he knows fully well that AMLO put up quite a show with his "Brigades" in "defense" of the petroleum, holding a "referendum" on whether to take action and then physically seeking to "take" the Senate to block the passing of this very mild (and in my opinion sorely needed) reform to PEMEX in 2008. Second, he criticizes AMLO for not saying anything about Libya (!) and what he calls "preventive wars." Much can indeed be said for and against the attack on Gadaffi's Libya, but to attack AMLO for this - a man, let's recall, who has absolutely no interest in foreign affairs - seems,well, petty.

But again: I don't think this is meant as any substantively based criticism of AMLO's program, but merely as a first strike against AMLO's political project, that is, his presidential candidacy, which Cárdenas might very well, in one for or the other, try to contest.

Mexico State poll numbers

From Milenio:

No shocker here: Assuming there will be no alliance and that PRD and PAN will run separately, PRI's Eruviel Ávila is ahead with 39 percent, against Alejandro Encinas' 24 and Luis Felipe Bravo Mena (PAN)'s 24.
Just like the proponents of a PRD-PAN alliance has argued, there appears little chance of either PRD or PAN winning against the PRI candidate

A ruling of consequences: Mexico Supreme Court rejects "intellectuals injunction"

The Mexican Supreme Court rejected, by a surprisingly lopsided 7-4 vote, the so-called "amparo de los intelectuales" or "the court injunction of the intellectuals."

In essence, a group of public intellectuals, including Jorge Castañeda, Héctor Aguilar Camín (click here for his perspective on the ruling), and others, had filed an injunction against the 2007-2008 Mexican electoral reform, which prohibits, among many other things, that private individuals and corporations contract political advertisement. Intended to counteract, among other, the "swift boat" style dirty campaigns of the controversial 2006 election, the group had nonetheless argued the reform violated free speech, as it doesn't allow citizens to contract political advertising.

As late as this Jan 31, the court had reached a 5-5 tie. Now, the injuncion was discarded, though the court didn't rule on the content of the reform or on the legislative process but rather on whether it was proper to file and accept an injunction against this constitutional reform.

This means that for the time being - until the next electoral reform - and quite likely for the 2012 presidential elections, the parties, through alloted time slots by the IFE federal electoral institute, will retain a monopoly on political advertising - and that IFE will also retain its drastically expanded role of also policing this type of advertisements.

Eruviel Ávila with thinly veiled reference: "I am from Mexico State"

Candidate-designate Eruviel Ávila declared that "Yo sí soy del Estado de México," or "I am from Mexico state," with emphasis on "I" here. It is a barely veiled reference to his possible opponent Alejandro Encinas, who may, should he compete with Ávila for the governorship, will very likely soon find his required residency in Mexico State questioned by the PRI.

Jesús Ortega: A refreshingly candid interview

H/T to Gancho: Milenio Semanal's interview with Jesús Ortega is very well worth a read. Ortega has always been among the more clear-spoken of PRD's elites; here, the now ex-president lays very clear his views of the PRD and of its conflict with AMLO. Read it and tell me if you still think, as does AMLO, that this is a "traitor" and a mere entreguista.

Jesús "tragabalas" Zambrano: The story of how he got shot

As is often noted, PRD's new leader Jesús Zambrano has a past in armed guerrillas, although he is now a leading member of the social-democratic Nueva Izquierda faction in the PRD. There are many myths surrounding Zambrano; here he himself finally recounts how he earned his nickname tragabalas, from the day in 1974 when he got shot in the jaw, was captured, and would spend years in prison.

SME offers to back Peña Nieto with "200,000" votes

As said by Eduardo Bobadilla, a member of the SME leadership, "Peña wants votes; we want a new company."

Despite hailed by AMLO and parts of the left as something akin to a glorious proletarian vanguard, the SME electricians union is openly negotiating with Enrique Peña Nieto to back the PRI candidate in Mexico State the coming July 3rd - around a third of SME's remaining members hail from Mexico State, and these 5,000 workers claim to be able to conjure 200,000 for the PRI's candidates.

Having essentially betrayed their earlier backers (AMLO, PRD, Ebrard, etc), my hunch is that the SME will in turn be used and discarded by the PRI as soon as the elections are over.