Great leap forward for AMLO's MORENA movement to become a party

News buried far within the paper, and undeservedly so, as it may be very relevant news for the Mexican political scene: The Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional or MORENA of Andrés Manuel López Obrador is set to become a "Political Association" the coming Oct. 1- a major step toward becoming a party.

The setting will be the day after AMLO is set to end his latest tour of Mexico, of which I admit I have now lost count.

According to AMLO,

Parties are very discredited, including the progressive ones, because there are vices that turn them into the mold of the traditional ones, and they make them into the mold of traditional and they alienate them from what the people say.

Unless you have a true party of the people, whose will AMLO claims to know so well. This sounds like the beginning of a new party to me.

Given the continued fights betwen AMLO and the PRD, perhaps it would be better, to slightly paraphrase Lyndon B Johnson, to actually have AMLO pissing on the tent from the outside, rather than having him inside the tent pissing... inside.

Gregorio "Greg" Sánchez: Innocent, or a madman

Earlier, to recall, Gregorio "Greg" Sánchez was accused of narco ties with Los Zetas and the Beltrán Leyvas.
Now, however, he is accused by a "protected witness" of laundering money for the Sinaloa Cartel.

I have a hard time imagine Sánchez being so foolish as betting on both the Zetas and El Chapo - he would be a madman. Or, it may well turn out, he is not guilty of associating with either.

The great bishop Raúl Vera receives threats - from whom?

Raúl Vera, bishop of Saltillo, and one of the very few of the top layers of the Mexican Catholic church with a demonstrated care for the poor, has been threatened with narco-style anonymous banners or mantas, containing messages such as "We want a Catholic Bishop" and "We Want the Bishop Only to Talk about Religion."

Vera is known for his defense of human rights and work on behalf of poor and marginalized sectors, and defending the rights of migrants, workers, women, gays, and others.

The usually arch-conservative Conferencia del Episcopado Mexicano (CEM) to its credit found it wise to express its support for Vera, while the vicar general of the diocese of Saltillo noted that the banners could have been placed there by both conservative catholic groups, and factions of organized crime.

Which are far too often, unfortunately, the very same.

"Greg" Sánchez case: PRD wants political trial against Gómez Mont and Chávez Chávez

Given the freeing of PRD's ex-gubernatorial candidate in Quintana Roo, Gregorio "Greg" Sánchez, after charges of collusion with drug trafficking were dropped, the PRD will push for a political trial of then-interior secretary Fernando Gómez Mont, and then-Attorney General  Arturo Chávez Chávez, accusing them of having launched the operation against Sánchez for political reasons.

As PRD president Jesús Zambrano pointed out that in 15 months, the attorney general's (PGR) office was unable to find any evidence for the charges. Sánchez was, however, immediately rearrested, yet now on money laundering charges. Zambrano called for the current attorney general, Marisela Morales Ibáñez, to "not fall in the same factious attitude" as her predecessors.

It seems to me quite remarkable that in 15 months, the PGR has nothing on Greg for what he was originally arrested for. Will this end as yet another Michoacanazo?

Ye of no faith: From 3.5 to 4.6 percent the last decade

While the percentage of Mexicans who define themselves as catholic has dropped from 88 to 83.9 percent the past decade, according to the Mexican census, many of these have simply switched religions, in particular to Pentecostalism. Notably in states such as Chiapas, Campeche, and Tabasco, the percentage of catholics is as low as 59.5-64.1-65.6 percent respectively.

Yet also one sign of human progress: Those who deny living by magic writings handed down from heaven on high during the Bronze age, or of any kind, rose from  3.5 to 4.6 percent .

Fistfight! And fire extinguisher! PAN in Michocán comes to blows over Cocoa vs. Marko

I do not condone violence and even less to solve political conflicts. Yet the internal turmoil in PAN's state branch in Michoacán, where the party is divided over whether President Calderón's sister Luisa María "Cocoa" or Senator Marko Cortés should be its gubernatorial candidate for the November election, sounds like something out of a slapstick movie:

"[Marko's campaign coordinator] Eduardo Chavira Garcia came to the other end of the hall, where [Luisa María's coordinator] Mariano Torres stood,  and suddenly planted a coupled of blows to his face....Mariano Torres lost his balance and fell backward on a fire extinguisher, which got turned on and released powder over those cheering. Shoving ensued between supporters of two rival groups, but there were no more blows, although insults and threats.Members of the Presidential Guard, who constantly guard Luisa María Calderón, merely observed the scene and surrounded Cocoa."

(though El Universal reports the EMP guard intervened on behalf of Cocoa's supporters)

Refreshing to hear the PRD isn't the only party with unorthodox dispute mediation techniques.

Doña Ifigenia Martínez: More dangerous that PAN continues than PRI returns

Ifigenia Martínez is a grand dama in many ways. She was the first woman to hold a range of offices in Mexico - all the time while a priísta - such as ambassador to the United Nations, and graduated as an economist with a master's from Harvard - the first mexicana to do so. On a personal note: I also had the chance to interview her at lengths a couple of years back, and found her a most wonderful and endearing lady, who was very sharp, but from whom it was nearly impossible to extract a straight answer to any of my questions. I found it remarkable that someone of her age and position would be so guarded.

With the years, Doña Ifigenia notably returned to active politics, and is now a federal deputy for the PT, or Workers Party, often considered a more "radical" party than the PRD. In an interview she said she regards the PRI's return as much less of a threat than a continued rule of the PAN.

I find this baffling, and not only given the macroeconomic indicators, where most every study I've read suggests the christian-democratic PAN has been far more successful in alleviating poverty than the PRI:
As a founder of the Corriente Democrática, a progressive current within the PRI that included Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas and Porfirio Múnoz Ledo that eventually ditched the PRI to later form the PRD, her preference for the PRI over PAN is even more perplexing and, might one add, disappointing.