The Inconvenient Brother: Julio Godoy Toscano loses congressional immunity

The Mexican lower house of congress voted to remove the fuero or immunity from legal persecution from the "inconvenient" (half)brother of Governor Leonel Gody, Julio Godoy Toscano, national deputy for the PRD. The vote was massive: 384-2, with 21 abstentions. Godoy, who reportedly has already removed his things from his office in San Lázaro, thus lost his legislative immunity and can face the criminal charges against him presented by the PGR, the attorney general's office. Most of the PRD deputies voted as well in favor: The party wants to get this case over as soon as possible, to avoid the negative publicity ahead of the upcoming gubernatorial elections in Michoacán last year. With the fuero removed, hopefully Mexicans will know eventually whether Godoy Toscano is indeed guilty, or if this is, as Godoy himself has argued, a political persection.

Guerrero: The wife did it, or persecution of Armando Chavarría's widow?

I've written before about the murder of PRD legislator Armando Chavarría in Guerrero last year.
Now, another turn of events: The state prosecutor's office have ordered an investigation of the assets of Chavarría's widow, Martha Obeso Cázares, specifically properties in her name. One of the lines of investigation of Chavarría's  murder is, to be sure, that his wife did it, though so far no evidence has surfaced in public. Obeso Cázares claims it is a pure persecution by the attorney general's office and Governor Zeferino Torreblanca, with the aim to intimidate her and to divert the investigation of the real killers.
Did Chavarría's widow really do it? Or is this just the revenge of Torreblanca for all her critiques of him, his administration, and the investigation of her husband's murder?

Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas opens up for PRD-PAN coalition

While La Jornada and Milenio covered the event quite differently, to put it mildly, of note is that in Cárdenas' public appearance at the anniversary of his mother's death, the old caudillo, while reiterating his opposition to PAN-PRD alliances, opened up for the possibility of such alliances as long as the candidate is from the PRD.

This, in stark opposition to his one-time protégé AMLO, who since 2009 on has rejected any such tactical alliance to defeat the PRI. Indeed, Cárdenas appeared even to open up for a 2012 presidential candidate of the PRD, backed by PAN. Of note here was the participation in the event of Manuel Camacho, the electoral alliance alchemist par excellance.

Guerrero gubernatorial election: Also about Ebrard vs. Peña Nieto.

Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard continues his active campaigning for the left´s coalition candidate in Guerrero, Ángel Aguirre River, who in campaign appearances with Ebrard promises to implement the same social programs Ebrard, and before him Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has carried out with much success in Mexico City. Amidst worrying reports that the electoral campaign is getting ever more tense and that violence has broken out between supporters of Aguirre and of PRI´s candidate Manuel Añorve Baños, Ebrard directly accused PRI of trying to buy the vote in old fashion with handouts of cement and building materials.

Governor of Mexico State, Enrique Peña Nieto, will also appear soon in state capital Chilpancingo,  Añorve Baños announced. The state election in Guerrero, while also highly significant of itself, will thus clearly be a prelude to 2012: Aguirre vs. Añorve also means Ebrard vs. Peña Nieto.

Aguachile is tying the knot in Mexico

Aguachile has fled the cold winds of the north for the warm embrace of central Mexico, and not just for research this time:  I will get married in a few days, and as I am busy running around putting the final touches on everything from coordinating the mariachis to maintaining bountiful supplies of tequila, blogging will likely be sporadic for some time. I hope you will all have a wonderful December!

AMLO, asked if he would decline for Ebrard: "Would you? No, right?"

AMLO, asked by a reporter if he would consider declining for Ebrard, responded: "Would you? No, right?"
Nevermind that AMLO continues with his standard "whoever is ahead in the polls" line, which he knows is nonsense: AMLO will run in 2012 even with Ebrard as the PRD candidate. I'm willing to take bets here.

In the same appearance, AMLO referred to the leader of the PRD, Jesús Ortega, as a "traitor," for allying with the PAN in certain states. Yet what about the cases when AMLO himself did this as PRD leader? AMLO even considered allying with PAN in 2000, to recall.
Yet his hypocrisy isn't even the main point here. What does it serve to name someone a "traitor"? Why this harsh, violent language? What does one, indeed, do with "traitors"? My first association here is death by firing squad.

In the context of the blood bath that is now soaking Mexico, with 30,000 or more killed in Calderón's war, such language is certainly not worthy of anyone thinking himself presidenciable.

The Craziest One is dead: Government confirms death of Nazario Moreno González

The Mexican government confirms the death of Nazario Moreno González, nicknamed "El Chayo" or "El Más Loco," a man usually considered the founder and leader of La Familia Michoacana.

I don't usually write directly about Mexico's ill-termed "drug war," yet as I am currently in Michoacán and specifically in what has often been described as one of La Familia Michoacana´s stronghold, I can only note that yes, bullets have surely been flying around here the past couple of days.