Monday, August 2, 2010

Peña Nieto and the church

Mexico State Governor Enrique Peña Nieto recently declared that his government and the (catholic) church has “common objectives.” That is putting it mildly. For years Peña Nieto has shamelessly courted the support of the religious right, jumping on its most regressive of social positions. I say shamelessly not principally due to the utter incongruence with the PRI’s historic secularism and reticence toward mixing religion and politics (though much of this did, to be sure, come to an end during the government of Carlos Salinas), but his breaching of electoral law to announce his love for the church. The most infamous that comes to mind is Peña Nieto's trip to the Vatican, duly covered by Televisa, where he "presented" to the pope his new wife-to-be, Angélica Rivera, and where functionaries of Mexico State lined up to get the pope´s blessing.  
Expect more expressions of love from Peña Nieto's faction of PRI to the church in the months to come. 

(His first wife died under what still appear to be rather unclear circumstances. Without exaggerating this point, it is worth having a look at this video clip, where he can´t seem to recall her exact cause of death).

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