PRD's national congress votes in favor of poll to decide 2012 candidate

The PRD's 13th National Congress - the party's highest organ - is currently in session, and voted late yesterday 729-78 in favor of an open poll to decide the party's 2012 presidential candidate. Surprisingly, the IDN party faction close to AMLO also agreed to the poll, representing a sharp about-face following a new command from AMLO to accept it.

(La Jornada's coverage of the vote and the congress is simply a joke: I cannot remember having seen any piece surpassing journalist Roberto Garduño's coverage in terms of confusing journalism with open editorializing, where straight reporting is pushed aside for snarky, snide, simplistic sarcasm.)

Mexico: 80 percent of murders in 162 municipalities

Here's an excellent graphic from an accompanying article in El Universal, detailing not only where most of the murders happen, but also what internal cartel wars they are largely a product of:

(Click here for high-resolution PDF).

The vast majority of deaths are the result of fights between the Sinaloa cartel and its rivals.

PRI president Moreira in trouble: Coahuila debt scandal expands

I've written on the Coahuila's massively expanded debt under ex-governor Humberto Moreira Valdés, now PRI president, before (e.g. here and here). As it stands, the current debt is 32 billion pesos - up from only 200 million  when Moreira took office. The figures are shocking in themselves, yet now a new scandal is brewing that speaks of clear illegalities: that the Moreira government falsified documents given to its creditors where it pretended the state congress had approved of the contraction of new loans.

These are really serious offenses, and might land Moreira in trouble. Already there are reports that Enrique Peña Nieto, 2012 front runner, is quietly distancing himself from his own party president. One particularly recommended read is today's column by Jorge Zepeda Patterson in El Universal, where he outlines how Moreira has even been removed as head of important negotiations, such as Beatriz Paredes taking over talks with the ministry of finance over financial transfers to the states.

Watch for this growing scandal, and whether the two "golden boys" of the misnamed "new PRI" will be able to ride it off.

A good overview of Josefina Vázquez Mota in The Economist

The Economist has a nice overview of Josefina Vázquez Mota, who might be PAN's presidential candidate in 2012 here.

PRD: Never boring

Yet another reminder why studying the Mexican political party PRD is never boring. From Milenio:

The PRD will be obliged to keep its composure during its conference on Saturday, but not because its former moral leader Cuauhtemoc Cardenas or presidential candidates Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Marcelo Ebrard ordered it. No. The warning came from the administration of World Trade Center, where the PRD rented a hall for the first time on the condition that even during the heat of the discussions, no chairs may be used as a projectile.

I wouldn't count on it.

PT Mayor kidnapped in Mexico State, likely by narco

José Eduviges Nava, municipal president of Zacualpan, Mexico State, for the Workers Party (PT) was kidnapped Friday. His bodyguard was killed.

He had apparently received threats from La Familia Michoacana at earlier occasions.

AMLO's "yes, but.." to candidacy poll: Complete nonsense

AMLO seemingly agreed to a poll that would decide whether he or Marcelo Ebrard will be the left's 2012 presidential candidate, but with a major catch: The poll can not include any PRI or PAN sympathizers.

Having an open poll would of course demonstrate which candidate can move beyond the party base to actually reach into other voting groups, whether belonging to other parties or not. But AMLO doesn't want this - and heavens knows how he wants to make a poll that presorts the actual respondents.

In my opinion: This is just pure trickery, as AMLO will not accept any result where he does not come out on top-