Friday, January 28, 2011

CSIS Mexico election analysis by George Grayson below par

One may forgive a couple of the inaccuracies in the most recent publication from the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) on Mexico, "Hemisphere Focus: Mexico's 2011 Gubernatorial Elections and their Impact on Drug Policy," such as naming PRD's Alejandro Encinas a "Senator" (he is a national deputy) and Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo the party's "leader in the Chamber of Deputies" - that is actually Encinas' job.

Yet where author George Grayson  - a senior scholar on Mexico, yet one who has grown ever more stridently nationalistic, ideological, and contemptuous of the object of his study throughout the years  - truly confounds me is his assertion that in Guerrero, which is holding gubernatorial elections this Sunday,
"The outcome will be a win-win situation for the PRI and Enrique Peña Nieto, who has ties to both top contenders."
Come again? Yes, while it is true Peña Nieto has ties to Aguirre, this is one of the most fought-over elections in recent history, and the Mexico State governor has invested a ton of time and resources behind the Añorve candidacy. A loss for Añorve would be an absolutely brutal blow to both PRI and Peña Nieto, in my opinion.  I really don't get how Grayson (a man whose own biographical entry refers to him as "Mr. Mexico," and who has done "more than 1,000 research trips" to Mexico) can see it otherwise, and certainly not as a "win-win" situtation.