Why "mafia" is a far better term than "cartel"

One recent example why the drug gangs, cartels, etc should simply be referred to as "mafia":

In Michoacán, three storage places of the Sabritas company, which makes potato chips, were burned down in three different places in the state. One does not need much imagination to see this as a case where "protection money" was likely not paid, or was deemed insufficient - one of the oldest mafia practices in the book, far predating the advent of drug trafficking. Hence, "mafia," not "drug cartels."

Source:

Se incendian tres bodegas de Sabritas en Michoacán. El Universal, May 27, 2012.

Intellectuals with Peña Nieto

Interesting array of intellectuals and other leaders who appear to have lined up with Enrique Peña Nieto, judging by those attending an even/-lauding his "responses" to 37 "questions" they had written to the PRI presidential candidate

* Fernando Gómez Mont, former Interior Secretary who resigned from his post and then his party in protest over the 2010 PAN-PRD alliances
* Héctor Aguilar Camín, historian and Televisa personality
* Cecilia Soto, former presidential candidate for PT
* Rafael Tovar y de Teresa, historian
* Alejandro Martí, businessman and anti-kidnapping movement leader
* Ángeles Mastretta, writer

It is perhaps more notable how very few of Mexico's writers and intellectuals, organic or otherwise, have lined up with the PRI candidate.

Source:

Peña presenta decálogo por "presidencia democrática. El Universal, May 22, 2012.

Priísta defiende su formación demócrata. El Universal, May 22, 2012.

PRI, Peña Nieto and Yarrington in 1 minute

While PRI and Peña Nieto run feverishly to distance themselves from Tomas Yarrington, governor of Tamaulipas from 1999 to 2004 and accused of laundering money for the Gulf and/or Zeta mafia, pictures do speak a thousands word, such as the inconvenient photo of Enrique Peña Nieto with the disgraced governor  (h/t Tim Johnson), pasted below.

Sendero De Fecal

Here is also a 1-minute YouTube video expanding on the Peña Nieto-Yarrington-PRI relationship that is well worth your time, where the PRI's 2012 candidate defends Yarrington of the accusations - before it all blew up a day or two ago, that is: Peña Nieto defiende a Yarrington.

(On another note: I just came back from a panel at the 2012 LASA conference in San Francisco, where John Ackerman suggested that Peña Nieto is the preferred candidate of the U.S. government. How ironic that the State Department, through its spokesperson Victoria Nuland, yesterday came out denying it had any intention to interfere in the election - but against EPN).

Sources:

Yarrington denies drug bribe claims. The Brownsville Herald, May 23, 2012.

EU: Yarrington recibió sobornos del narcotráfico. El Universal, May 23, 2012.

Narco soborna en Tamaulipas desde 1998: EU. El Universal, May 23, 2012

Washington: no buscamos influir en elección. El Universal, May 24, 2012
El partido no solapa impunidad, dice PRI. El Universal, May 24, 2012

JVM y Peña chocan por caso Yarrington. El Universal, May 24, 2012

PRD may win Morelos governorship for first time

Given a strong campaign by the popular senator Graco Ramírez Garrido Abreu, the PRD may win the state of Morelos for the first time. El Universal reports Ramírez is now ahead of PRI's Amado Orihuela Trejo.
PAN's Adrián Rivera is on a distant third, in large part due to the very lackluster rule of PAN's Marco Antonio Adame Castillo of the state since 2006.

Morelos, land of Zapata - how fitting for the leftwing PRD.

Here's a (poor quality) graphic from the newspaper:

El Universal

Source:

Empatados, PRI y PRD en Morelos. El Universal, May 24, 2012.

Brad Will's killer caught?

Oaxaca police reported the arrest of a man known as Lenin N, presumed guilty of the killing of U.S independent journalist Brad Will on Oct. 23, 2006, while covering social protest in the state against then governor Ulises Ruiz.

He is accused of shooting the Indymedia journalist from a distance of 43 meter, from a height of 4 meters, with a 38 special revolver - in other words, cowardly gunning down Will from a long distance on top of a building.

Fantastic news if the true killer is indeed caught this time.

Source:

Presentan a presunto asesino de Brad Will. El Universal, May 24, 2012.

Ex PAN leader Espino, now with Peña Nieto

Manuel Espino Barrientos was president of PAN 2005-2007, and a key architect of the "dirty war" against AMLO that had Calderón elected in 2006. Yet he soon fought with the president, and was expelled from the PAN for backing PRI candidates in 2010, a decision he strongly opposed.

As if to prove his ex-party colleagues right, Espino, who belonged to the most arch-reactionary sectors of PAN and was close to the catholic secret extremist organization El Yunque, now came out in favor of Enrique Peña Nieto for the 2012 election. Here is the obligatory raising-the-arm-of-picture:

El Universal

One utterance by Espino was probably as honest an admission as one could expect for the reasons behind his support: "Perhaps you don't need it, because you are ahead by far, but we wanted to be part of your triumph." Indeed.

While Espino's opportunism explains itself, it is even more disturbing that Peña Nieto will appear on stage with such an unsavory character.

Source:

Varias veces Espino lo llamó “amigo Enrique...” El Universal, May 23, 2012

Poll shockers: AMLO single digits behind Peña Nieto

Two polls appear to demonstrate a dramatic turn in the 2012 presidential race in Mexico:

* According to pollster María de las Heras, Peña Nieto pulls 39 against 31 of AMLO
* According to pollster Covarrubias y Asociados, Peña Nieto pulls 36 to AMLO's 27.

This is truly stunning. With one month left of the race, the outcome is increasingly open.

Source:

AMLO acorta ventaja a Peña: Covarrubias y Asociados. El Financiero, May 21, 2012

Peña conserva ventaja; AMLO va segundo en sondeo. El Economista, May 21, 2012