Peña Nieto's shot at speaking Nahuatl. A bad idea

Kudos for the attempt at showing the indigenous community in Huejutla, Hidalgo, some respect by attempting a line in Nahuatl, the "language of the Aztecs." But beyond the good intentions, it was a bad idea:

He ventured to give thanks in Nahuatl. However, he failed to say "thank you very much" (tlazkamati miaka), and instead said tlaxkali miaka ("many tortillas.")

Michoacán: Morelia elections annulled, possibly entire state elections

Mexico's electoral tribunal TEPJF's (specifically its regional branch in Toluca) annulled PRI's victory in the mayoral race held past month in the state capital Morelia.

The argument: The illegal live television coverage of campaign closing of gubernatorial candidate Fausto Vallejo, and a boxing match where one of the fighters wore shorts with PRI's logo - forbidden according to electoral rules.

Officially, difference between PRI's Wilfrido Lázaro Medina and PAN's Marko Cortés Mendoza was only 2000 votes, or 119, 941 to 122, 258. Now a rematch will need to be held.

PRI, as one may imagine, is not happy about the verdict, and strongly suggests pressure from president Calderón , who it notably took a month to recognize the victory of Vallejo as governor.

Now, given TEPJF's reasoning, the PRD demands annulling the entire state elections, pointing to narco interference but also that of President Calderón himself. PAN also demands the governor election cancelled. I really doubt that, as it would be quite extraordinary, but then again, we live in extraordinary times.

There is already one problem: Morelia will for sure need to run new elections, but they are not cheap - and the state electoral institute does not have money for another extraordinary election.

(On another note, the Archdiocese of Morelia comes out pretty strongly against the recent governments of the state, particularly that of Lázaro Cárdenas Batel (2001-07), essentially accusing him of not having been prepared at all for the job and exercised it poorly).

Death in apartment B19 ruled "suicide": Galina Chankova Chaneva and Niño Verde

25-year old Galina Chankova Chaneva was a young Bulgarian female who came to Mexico from Amsterdam on April 1, 2011. 24 hours Twelve hours later, she apparently decided to commit suicide from the 19th floor of a luxury apartment connected to the Mexican Green party and above all the "Niño Verde," Jorge Emilio González Martínez.

This, according to the state prosecutor of Quintana Roo, who just ruled that González had nothing to do with her death.

While plenty of reports suggested the apartment belonged to "Niño Verde," Elizabeth Regina Díaz appared as the presumed owner. She just happens to be the wife of his private secretary. As Reforma dryly summarizes,

"The Attorney stated that it was investigated whether  Díaz  was the "Niño Verde's prestanombres [strawman] strawmen, because this aspect was not part of the investigations."

Here is her picture, via Animal Político. A report from Terra.com strongly hints at human trafficking.

PAN "social worker" probably gets Dick-of-the-Year award

A last-minute dark-horse candidate in Mexico's Dick of the Year award: Carlos Talavera Leal, head of the important social program Oportunidades in Uruapan, Michoacán, who in public Facebook posts referred to poor indigenous women as "smelly" and that "hygiene is not for them."

Talavera is a member of PAN and was a supporter of the bid of president Calderón's sister to be governor of Michoacán a few weeks ago.

His contract with Oportunidades will not be renewed in January. That's something.

Update: He was also just fired for what remains of the year. And here, a screen shot of part of the Facebook page - it speaks for itself:

Guess which Mexican party laments the death of Kim Jong Il?

From the obituary:

The Workers' Party of Mexico regrets the death of our comrade Kim Jong Il, leader of the North Korean people, who with great wisdom who led the North Koreans on the path of peace and economic, political, social and cultural development.

A comrade of wisdom, indeed. This is truly preposterous.

Who murdered PRI's federal deputy?

Imagine the scenario: A U.S. congressman is abducted along with an assistant. They are found dead by farmers two weeks later, their bodies decomposing.

Two men are arrested and confess to the murder; they are are also in possession of a huge amount of cash that they declare was the payment for the hit job, and also provide them with cars. Their contractor, they say, was a mayor from the dead congressman's party.

How hard should it be to prove or disprove their story? How likely is it that the mayor would simply continue in office and that the investigation would pretty much come to a standstill?

This appears sadly to be the case in Guerrero, where PRI mayor Willy Reyes Ramos is signaled as the man behind the murder of PRI federal deputy Moisés Villanueva de la Luz. As El Universal reports, the murder remains unresolved, almost four months later.

AMLO documentary: "0.56% ¿Qué le pasó a México?"

The documentary "0.56% ¿Que le paso a México?" deals specifically with the 2006 elections, and was recently showed on Milenio TV. You can now see the the entire movie here on Youtube.

It's definitely more on the pro-AMLO side, but far less so than the ultra-propagandistic "Fraude," and therefore worth a watch. Quality is not superb, but more than decent.