Governor candidate debate held in Michoacán - no knock outs

The three candidates to be governor of Michoacán held their first and only debate yesterday. I haven't gone through full footage yet (available here), but it appears that none of the candidates landed any knock-out blow.

The most pathetic moment appears to be PRI's Fausto Vallejo Figueroa's comments that he is already thinking about what to ask the next president for (in his judgment, Enrique Peña Nieto) for, in other words launching a "vote for me because I'll be on better terms with the national president" argument.
It hardly inspires too much confidence in his own plans, which very vague and banal: "recover the well being,"  "reconciliation," and so forth

Luisa María Calderón, the president's sister, proposed fusing the state attorney general with the secretariat of public security, to create a unified Secretary of Justice.

Silvano Aureoles Conejo, of the PRD, proposed a secretariat of citizen participation, and to strengthen the state Auditor's office.

AMLO offers truce with Mexican media

Quite notably, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) met for almost an hour with the Cámara Nacional de la Industria de Radio y Televisión (CIRT), or the Mexican chamber of the TV and radio industry.

AMLO emphasized that he was not looking for revenge, only equitable treatment for the 2012 contest, and that he would not withdraw concessions or expropriate any media.

AMLO has had hostile relations with CIRT for years, and for good reasons: The media conglomerates were behind much 'swift-boat'-style propaganda in 2006, and have rallied behind Enrique Peña Nieto of the PRI. Yet given that AMLO until very recently directly signaled CIRT as part of the "power mafia," the peace pipe proposal does ring a tad hollow.

Useful CSIS overview of Enrique Peña Nieto

Here's one of the better-written (accurate) overviews from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) of Mexican politics, focusing on  Enrique Peña Nieto, by Duncan Wood. Very much worth a read.

Peña Nieto opens up for PEMEX privatization

Some quite remarkable comments made by Enrique Peña Nieto to The Financial Times on the national oil company in Mexico, PEMEX. According to the likely PRI presidential candidate, PEMEX

"can achieve more, grow more and do more through alliances with the private sector... Different mechanisms could be explored to ensure an involvement for the private sector in its alliance with Pemex... Brazil is one example...I believe that it is possible to find mechanisms that guarantee, on one hand, the state’s ownership of the oil in Mexico but on the other, mechanisms to achieve and encourage a greater involvement of the private sector... we have to take much more audacious steps.”

I can't say that I disagree with the general gist of his comments: Even the national Cuban oil company has less restrictions on private involvement than PEMEX, and Petrobras is an example to follow.

Yet this is something that is extremely controversial even within PRI, and it is interesting that he has come out that relatively clearly on the issue of PEMEX.

Also, of course, one can soon expect an answer from AMLO along the "I told you so" lines.

Direct FT link here.

PAN to use closed primary to elect presidential candidate, legislators

PAN's national executive committee (CEN) decided yesterday that its 2012 presidential candidate will be elected in a closed primary - that is, only open to party members. This, despite front runners Josefina Vázquez Mota and Santiago Creel both supporting an open, general vote.

Also
* Candidates for Senate will be elected by members in 8 states, and chosen directly by the executive committee in 24
*Out of the 300 electoral districts, the CEN will decide 141, and set aside 57 for women. In 143, party members will decide, while in the last 16 (in Mexico State) they will be chosen in an open vote.

I find the latter point to be quite interesting, as it strongly hints at a PAN-PRD alliance for Mexico State's legislative list.

Other than that, this is classic PAN - letting the party organs do most of the choosing. And, it must be noted, given the infighting of other parties when it comes to candidate selection, while "less democratic," it also will save the party for a lot of trouble. Yet for particularly the presidential candidate, the party may end up with someone who is strong within the party, yet weak among the general population.

As for the PRD, I can see both sides using PAN's selection method as an argument:
a) "Look, PAN is only allowing members to vote, so we should as well (AMLO camp)
b) "Look, PAN is only allowing members to vote, so we should be different" (Ebrard camp)

Cardinal Norberto Rivera: Divine law over constitutional law

Cardinal Norberto Rivera comes out as a catholic mirror image of any pro-sharia muslim:

Sure, the church should obey the government, but only to the extent that the church agrees with it:

"when the authorities move beyond the legal framework, where it can not and must not govern, there is no obligation to be obedient, and if they oppose openly fundamental rights, then one must deny it obedience."

Surely, if a government breaks the law, there should be room for civil disobedience - here, I could not agree more. The problem with the the church's statement is of a far different character: It assumes the right and duty to decide for itself, based on bronze-age texts written in the Middle East, what "fundamental rights" are, and use these to deny other people rights - that of divorce, that of marriage, that of birth control, and so forth. These are truly frightening ideas, and sounds just like any pro-sharia advocate.

On a side note: It makes my stomach churn to see SME representatives attend Rivera's mass and mutually extolling each other's efforts. So much for "independent" unions - now allied with the must reactionary elements found in Mexico!

Michoacán: Another mayor candidate steps down after threats

Elizondo Maldonado Ambriz was the PRD's candidate to be mayor of Múgica, Michoacán, but stepped down after what appears to be threats from organized crime. Antonio Soto Sánchez, spokesperson for PRD's candidate for governor Silvano Aureoles Conejo, all but confirmed this.

He is not the first: In the past weeks, mayoral candidates have also stepped down in Tumbiscatío, Indaparapeo, Churumuco, and Arteaga, as they simply are not willing to face near certain death if they defy the criminal group in control of the area.

One is hard pressed to blame them.