Does SME really have no shame?

About a week ago, the SME again created absolute chaos in Mexico City, using disturbingly violent methods. Members of the electricians union damaged and burnt cars, beat up police officers, a fireman, one photographers, and two reporters, and 11 violent thugs were arrested.

Even Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, who seeks the votes of the SME and their extended family members and has been extremely lenient toward SME's many disruptive demonstrations, condemned the violence.

SME leader Martín Esparza Flores first claimed that the damage was done by people who had "infiltrated" SME, then accepted that the 11 arrested were SME members, yet now demands the release of these 11 claiming they are political prisoners.

Beyond emphasizing that the SME truly has no shame and will do nothing to curb the violence of its members, the false comparison is truly an insult and a disservice to true political prisoners world wide, of which there are thankfully less and less of in Latin America. 

Mexico's interior ministry incapable or unwilling to stand up to church violations

Mexico's electoral institute IFE earlier found that Hugo Valdemar, the attack-dog spokesperson of the Archdiocese of Mexico, had violated Mexican law by calling for catholics not to vote for the PRD.
IFE then sent the case to the Minstry of the Interior for it to decide sanction. It is worth noting here that IFE had first refused to touch the case, but was ordered to do so by the TEPJF, the electoral tribunal.

Yet what does the Interior Ministry, headed by José Francisco Blake Mora, do? It sends the case back to IFE again! In other words, it cowardly refuses to do its job and actually apply a sanction to Valdemar, who it has already been established broke the law.

This case, serious as it is - should the church use its state-funded organization in favor or against certain political parties? - is becoming a true joke. As 2012 is approaching quickly, it is really urgent that this obvious impunity of the church to break the law must end.

Senator Rosario Ibarra asks new attorney general to prosecute president Luis Echeverría

Senator Rosario Ibarra sent a formal letter to Mexico's new attorney general, Marisela Morales Ibáñez, demanding that former president  Luis Echeverría Álvare be called in to testify in regards to the disappearance of her son Jesús Piedra Ibarra, 36 years ago.

While Echeverría was earlier tried for his role as interior minister during the Tlatelolco massacre, he was acquitted. Yet as Ibarra argues, there are no statutes of limitation on the forced disappearances of people, and that Echeverría, who was president 1970-76 and eventually ran the economy into the ditch, can thus be tried for crimes against humanity.

Napoleón Gómez Urrutia of Los Mineros - now a human rights hero?

Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, nominally the head of the SNTMMSRM miners union, is living in exile in Canada. On Monday, he was awarded the  Meany-Kirkland human rights prize, given annually.

Notably, however, Gómez Urrutia is living in exile because he is charged with embezzlement of 55 million dollars, and new and dissident miner unions have been formed.

For ALC-CIO's reasoning, click here. Some highlights:

"His activism quickly incurred the wrath of the Mexican government and major mining companies. In February 2006, the government struck back, withdrawing legal recognition of Gómez’s election as the leader of the union, but Gómez continued undeterred. When a February 19, 2006, explosion at Grupo Mexico’s Pasta de Conchos mine killed 65 mineworkers, Gómez publicly accused the government of 'industrial homicide.' In response to this criticism, the government accelerated its attack by filingcriminal charges against Gómez and other union leaders... In the face of this campaign of repression, Gómez took the difficult decision to leave Mexico and go to Vancouver, Canada. From there he has waged a five-year effort to win justice for his union and for all democratic unions in Mexico...For his courageous commitment to defend the aspirations of Mexican workers to higher living standards, to democratize labor unions, to promote rule of law and a better future for their country, the AFL-CIO is pleased to nominate Napoleón Gómez Urrutia...

I am confident that a lot of miners, including ex-workers and associates of Gómez Urrutia's own union, will take great issue with this interpretation of events.

PRD claims Calderón's visit to John Paul II's beatification violates constitution

The PRD objects to Calderón's upcoming visit to the Vatican:


According to party president Jesús Zambrano, Calderón "can not attend a religious ceremony of this kind nor should he do it, because the Mexican government is obliged to treat  religious associations all equally from the perspective of fairness."

PRD congresswoman Leticia Quezada also noted pointedly that by attending, "Calderón overlooks the ominous scandal that involved one of the leading representatives of the Catholic Church in Mexico, Marcial Maciel, and yet still decided to attend the ceremony."

If the constitutional argument doesn't work on Calderón, perhaps one should indeed remind him that he as in addition attending a ceremony that beatifies the protector of this and other pederasts.