On Calderón´s barrage against the PRI, and PRI's reply

President Felipe Calderón's commencement speech at Stanford was quite notable in its direct attack on the PRI's rule (1929-2000), referring directly to its repression and massacres - an historic reality hard to deny.

PRI, quite naturally, took much offense against the speech, held in English, e.g. the PRI's parliamentary group asking the president "not to get into the electoral boxing ring," and accusing him of planting "hatred and division."

One comment was particularly disingenuous: Emilio Gamboa, now head of PRI's CNOP, complained that Calderón was acting in a partisan manner and not as the president of all Mexicans.

Of course he is partisan - he was elected, in a minority vote, as a blatantly partisan choice. This is of course the very problem with a presidential regime - that a president is both a party option, with a more or less clear platform and ideology, as well as the "head of the nation." Gamboa's criticism as such is really just a critique of presidentialism per se.

Now, if PRI is serious in this critique, it should take the consequences of this line of reasoning and join what many in the PRD have long demanded: that Mexico become a parliamentary democracy, with a prime minister beholden to parliament, and with a ceremonial head of state, rather than a presidential regime.

Now, that'll be the day.

AMLO in Los Angeles: First campaign meeting outside Mexico

According to Milenio, at least a couple of thousands attended as Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) held his first mass meeting outside of Mexico, in front of the Los Angeles City Hall, where he called for the creation of new committees of his movement Morena, or  Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional.


It will be increasingly tougher to claim that this is not active campaigning, though - and PAN has noted it will likely lodge a complaint with the federal electoral institute, as Mexican electoral law prohibits political campaigning outside of the electoral cycle.

Is this for real? Cardinal's cousin arrested due to name confusion

After spending six days in prison after her arrest due to the discovery of a marijuana-loaded vehicle registered in her name, it appears that María Carrera Rivera, cousin of Cardinal Norberto Rivera, was confused with another person called María Cabrera Rivera.

If this is truly the case, it is yet another shocking reminder that in Mexico you may still remain guilty until proven innocent. It is hardly a comfort that this also applies to the cousin of the head of the Mexican Catholic church.

"I don't want a borough; I want an embassy"

Milenio's recent interview with Senator René Arce is well worth a read: It is hard to find a more complete expression of the extreme opportunism and cynicism pervading much of Mexico´s political elite. To recall, Arce was once a guerrilla fighter, then a PRD member, and has now, with his brother, thrown his lot with the PRI in Mexico State, and, as he outlines, possibly in Mexico City and for the presidency as well.

Asked if he want to return to power in his old fiefdom Iztapalapa, where he and his brother have taken turns on power much thanks to their use of clientelistic networks, he replies, in a call for offers, "I don't want a borough; I want an embassy."

A new low: Bishop of Mexicali backs his "friend" Jorge Hank Rhon

It almost defies belief (no pun intended):

The Bishop of Mexicali, José Isidro Guerrero Macías, in a letter to the highly unchrist-like character Jorge Hank Rhon (who has 19 children and refers to women as "animals,") expressed his support for what he calls his "friend," and the "lamentable situation that you and your family is living through."

And, to be sure, he let Hank knows he is praying for him.

What an extraordinary job the Mexican high clergy does to undermine what little remains of its credibility.

Largest PRD faction favors Marcelo Ebrard´s as 2012 choice

Not exactly a shocker: Nueva Izquierda, (NI), the largest faction in the PRD and the one currently holding the party presidency, in its national conference this weekend, expressed a "predefinition" toward making Marcelo Ebrard PRD´s presidential candidate for 2012. According to the founder of NI, Jesús Ortega, in a clear allusion to AMLO:

I do believe in a libertarian left, attached to legality, inclusive, not exclusive. I believe in a left that represents the entire country, not just a part of it, and in a tolerant left, not intolerance and authoritarianism... Marcelo´s politics of widening the the rights of the citizens of Mexico City are symptomatic of the vision of modern left"

NI still reiterated it will respect the party´s final decision with regards to the final choice of Ebrard or AMLO  as PRD´s candidate. One can only hope AMLO´s backers within the PRD as well as its on-off allies of the PT and Convergencia, should Ebrard win the party vote, will do the same.

I am strongly disinclined to believe they will.

Fausto Vallejo Figueroa PRI's candidate for Michoacán governor

Hardly a surprise: Fausto Vallejo Figueroa, three-time mayor of capital Morelia, on Friday became PRI's "unity candidate" for the governorship of Michoacàn, after the other pre-candidates declined in his favor.

Morelia has long been a PRI stronghold in the PRD-led state; Vallejo won the mayorship with almost 47% of the votes in 2007.