Mexico Institute

AL DÍA: Breakdown of Public Campaign Funding in Mexico’s upcoming election (In Spanish)

mexicoinstitute — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:05:17 +0000

Mexico Institute, 1/31/12

A Washington based group has produced an interesting breakdown of public campaign funding for Mexico’s political parties. Unlike in the U.S., Mexican campaigns are primarily publicly financed.

The Mexican Federal Electoral Institute, IFE, has designated approximately 128,901,000 USD (1,680,560,420 MXN) for public campaign financing during the upcoming national election. According to one analysis, public financing has increased in nominal terms between 2006 and 2012, but actually decreased in real terms due to inflation.

The graphs and analysis below were produced by the Mexican Professionals Network, in Washington DC, based on information from the IFE and other public sources.

View the graphs here…

The PGR investigates 3 former PRI leaders [In Spanish]

mexicoinstitute — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:59:13 +0000

Former governors of the state of Tamaulipas, Eugenio Hernández, Tomás Yarrington, and Manuel Cavazos Lerma are currently under investigation by the PGR, Mexico’s Office of the Attorney General. As part of the investigations, the Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes has been asked to track down every travel (both national and abroad) undertaken by the three former governmental leaders, as well as those of some of their family members and close collaborators.

El Universal, 1/31/2012

La Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) investiga las actividades de tres ex gobernadores de Tamaulipas: Manuel Cavazos Lerma, Tomás Yarrington Ruvalcaba y Eugenio Hernández Flores —que administraron la entidad entre 1993 y 2010—, aunque no se informó si son indiciados por algún delito como parte de diligencias que realiza la Subprocuraduría de Investigación Especializada en Delincuencia Organizada.

Como parte de las pesquisas, el Ministerio Público de la Federación solicitó mediante oficios girados a la Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT) que reporte a las autoridades ministeriales los viajes que realicen los ex mandatarios locales, algunos de sus familiares y ex colaboradores, hasta integrar una lista de más de 40 personas, aunque esto no impide el libre tránsito de quienes integran la relación, pueden abandonar el país.

AMLO announces Torruco as Secretary of Tourism [In Spanish]

mexicoinstitute — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:15:14 +0000

Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) announced that, were he to win the presidential elections on July 1st, 2012, he would name Miguel Torruco Marqués as Secretary of Tourism. López Obrador referred to Torruco Marqués, president of the National Confederation of Tourism, as someone with “broad experience with everything relating to tourism.” López Obrador unveiled this news as part of his presidential campaigning tour in the state of Veracruz.

La Jornada, 1/30/2012

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, precandidato presidencial, anunció que su propuesta para ocupar la Secretaría de Turismo es Miguel Torruco Marqués.

A través de un boletín, López Obrador destacó que Torruco Marqués tiene amplia experiencia en todo lo relacionado con el turismo, y se desempeña como presidente de la Confederación Nacional Turística.

Indicó que el nombramiento de posibles secretarios para su Gabinete tiene el propósito de integrar un grupo plural, más allá de cuotas partidistas o de grupos, poniendo por delante el interés de la Nación.

¿Qué opinan? Firmas del día: 1/31/12

mexicoinstitute — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:31:28 +0000

The Mexico Institute, AL DÍA: News and Analysis from the Mexico Institute, 1/31/12

Each morning, through the Mexico Portal feature, “¿Qué opinan? Firmas del día”, we will bring you an assortment of op-ed pieces from five major Mexican dailies: Reforma, El Universal, La Jornada, Excelsior and Milenio. Enjoy!

Cada día, por la entrada titulada, “¿Qué opinan? Firmas del día”, vamos a traerles un surtido de artículos de opinión de cinco periódicos populares de México: Reforma, El Universal, La Jornada, Excelsior y Milenio. ¡Que lo disfruten!

Reforma

Templo Mayor: the 25 million pesos that were seized by the PGR at the Toluca airport last Saturday are still a topic of controversy around Javier Duarte, governor of Veracruz from the PRI. It will not be a “Super Bowl” but certainly a “Super Sunday” as the panistas will be ready to nominate their candidate for the presidential race and the priístas will determine their lists in San Lázaro. As the PGR investigates three former governors of Tamaulipas, príistas claim this is part of a dirty way against the PRI in time of national elections.

http://www.reforma.com/editoriales/nacional/644/1286118/

El Universal

Bajo Reserva: Discussions of another “michoacanazo”: in Tamaulipas after PGR-led investigations against three former governors of Tamaulipas, allegedly tied to organized crime. Leading up to the PAN’s decision this Sunday, most tension is found between Josefina Vázquez Mota and Ernesto Cordero. The Mexican government had said that it would go after the offenders of the Operation Fast and Furious yet after Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, acknowledged yesterday the grave mistakes the operation caused, the Mexican government has still not taken any action

http://www.eluniversalmas.com.mx/columnas/2012/01/93875.php

Jornada

Clase Política, “Demanda y contrademanda”: The attorney general’s office of Mexico, the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR), has prohibited three former governors of the state of Tamaulipas from leaving Mexico due to the recent murder of candidate Rodolfo Torre Cantú. The PGR’s decision has caused anger within the PRI party which has accused the federal government of a ‘dirty war’ against its former governors. Manuel Cavazos, one of the former PRI governors, has pledged to countersue the federal government. Elsewhere in Mexico, the secretary of finance for Veracruz, Tomás Ruiz, has asked the federal government for the return of 25 million pesos that were recently confiscated from Veracruz state officials. The money, it is argued, has legitimate origins.

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/01/31/opinion/006o2pol

Excelsior

Jorge Fernández Menéndez , “Camarena, Nazar Haro, la DFS”: In 1984, elements of the Mexican army destroyed in Chihuahua what was then the largest marijuana farm known to the authorities, a ranch called ‘El Búfalo’. In retaliation, the drug lord Félix Gallardo ordered the kidnapping, torture and murder of Enrique Camarena, the DEA agent that was instrumental in the location and destruction of El Búfalo. When the complicity of the Dirección Federal de Seguridad in the kidnapping of Enrique Camarena was revealed to the public, it demonstrated the depth of the narco’s permeation into Mexico’s security apparatus.

http://www.excelsior.com.mx/index.php?m=nota&seccion=opinion&cat=11&id_nota=806604

Leo Zuckermann, “De cómo México pierde y Slim gana”: Mexico experiences the highest prices for telecommunications out of all 34 OCDE counteies. Mexicans pay high prices for landlines and mobile phones as well as for access to broad band. The cause of such high prices is a result of the dominance by Carlos Slim over the Mexican telecommunications sector. Calors Slim, owner of Telmex and Telcel, is the world’s richest man, mostle due to the accumulation of a fortune through the dominance of Mexican telecommunications. Slim’s virtual monopoly in Mexico, a result of the Mexican state’s complicity in permitting said monopoly, has damaged the productivity and competitiveness of the Mexican market particularly in comparison to the other OCDE states.

http://www.excelsior.com.mx/index.php?m=nota&seccion=opinion&cat=11&id_nota=806605

Milenio

Trascendió: Juan Ignacio Zavala and Roberto Gil enjoyed a debate free or previously established guidelines, time limits and ‘no agression’ rules. On the other hand, the candidates for the presidency will not enjoy such a free debate. The PAN intends to divulge the results of its internal election between Ernesto Cordero, Santiago Creel and Josefina Vázquez immediately on Sunday evening. In the meantime, the PRI’s leadership have accused the PGR’s investigations in Tamaulipas as a ‘dirty war orchestrated from Los Pinos’. As the federal government moves against certain members of the PRI, it has been accused of using the judiciary for political pretenses.

http://www.milenio.com/cdb/doc/impreso/9104684

Ciro Gómez Leyva, “Por qué Josefina no puede perder el domingo”: Josefina Vázquez Mota cannot lose the PAN’s candidacy on Sunday. Assuming that the PAN’s internal candidate selection process is clean it is safe to affirm that Vázquez Mota will become the PAN’s candidate for the presidency due to her staggering lead in the polls. Unless the PAN’s convoluted voting mechanism and party structure works against Vázquez Mota and in favor of Creel or Cordero, it is impossible for her to loose. If Vázquez Mota fails to win the nomination, it could provoke a significant scandal with grave consequences for the PAN.

http://www.milenio.com/cdb/doc/impreso/9104672

Mexican Supreme Court of Justice considers limiting military privileges [In Spanish]

mexicoinstitute — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:27:27 +0000

Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice is considering the possibility of sending members of the military for trial under civil judges, whenever they become accused for crimes such as drug trafficking in which no member of civil society is identified as a victim. This idea stems from the case of Rosendo Radilla, which established that soldiers who commit a crime against civilians must be tried by civil judges and not by military jurisdiction.

In addition, Supreme Court minister Arturo Zaldívar explained that from now on there will be two types of military trials: for those whose crime inflicted damage upon a civilian, either in an active or passive fashion; and for those whose criminal offense is not contained in the Code of Military Justice. Information on who will be in charge of trials in that second category has not yet been defined, Zaldívar stated.

Reforma, 1/31/2012

La Suprema Corte de Justicia estudiará la posibilidad de enviar a jueces civiles los procesos penales contra militares acusados por delitos como narcotráfico, aunque en dichos ilícitos no hubieran afectado a una víctima civil identificable.

La Corte envió el pasado 11 de octubre la circular 4/2011-P a todos los tribunales colegiados de circuito del País, con una instrucción escueta para enviarle “los asuntos relacionados con el tema” de juicios penales contra militares.

Lo anterior derivado del criterio adoptado por la Corte en el caso Rosendo Radilla, de julio de 2011, que estableció que los soldados que cometan delitos contra civiles deben ser procesados por jueces ordinarios, no por el fuero castrense.

El Ministro Arturo Zaldívar, presidente de la Primera Sala de la Corte, explicó ayer en entrevista que se analizarán dos tipos de juicios a militares.

“Primero aquellos en los que de manera activa o pasiva está involucrado un civil”, dijo, en alusión a la parte ya conocida del criterio Radilla.

“Segundo aspecto”, agregó. “¿Qué pasa con militares que cometen un delito que no esta en el Código de Justicia Militar, que no es estrictamente de la disciplina militar, a quien le compete (juzgarlos)?”.

Zaldívar dijo que en este punto aun no hay definición, porque no era el tema central de Radilla, pero que los ministros determinaron que también se debe aclarar.

Mexico Says Drought Also Hurting Marijuana Growers

mexicoinstitute — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:24:14 +0000

ABC News, 1/31/12

The drought in northern Mexico is so bad that it has hurt even illicit drug growers and their normally well-tended crops of marijuana and opium poppies, a Mexican army commander said Monday.

One effect of the lack of rains is that drug planting has “declined considerably,” said Gen. Pedro Gurrola, commander of army forces in the state of Sinaloa, the cradle of the drug cartel by the same name. Gurrola said army surveillance flights have detected fewer plantations than in previous years. “We can see a lot less than in other years,” Gurrola told reporters. “It depends a lot on conditions. As you can see, everything is dry.”

He said planters were still trying to eke out crops. “They try to adapt. Where there is a stream, a pit, they put pumps and hoses in there and try to produce as much as they can.”

In new ‘Fast and Furious’ report, Democrats clear Justice appointees of wrongdoing

mexicoinstitute — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:57:05 +0000

Fox News, 1/31/12

Democrats investigating the failed gun-running probe known as “Operation Fast and Furious” are laying the blame at the feet of officials in Arizona, saying in a new report that lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have “obtained no evidence” implicating high-level political appointees in Washington.

At the same time, the report reveals that two top Justice Department officials, in previously undisclosed interviews, insisted they would have taken action if they had the relevant details, and said it is “absurd” and unfair to suggest they knew early-on about the tactics of Fast and Furious.

Titled “Fatally Flawed: Five Years of Gunwalking in Arizona,” much of the report is a historical overview of “gunwalking operations” dating back to 2006, and in a letter to Republicans accompanying the report, the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said he told his staff “to focus on the facts we have discovered rather than the heated and sometimes inaccurate rhetoric.”

Mexico to Push High-Speed Internet With Fiber-Line Auctions

mexicoinstitute — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:44:42 +0000

Bloomberg, 1/30/12

Mexico will promote high-speed Internet adoption by auctioning licenses to use state-owned fiber-optic lines and to build networks in communities that don’t have the service, President Felipe Calderon said.

The government’s auctions will include contracts to use two fiber-optic lines from state utility Comision Federal de Electricidad, Calderon said today at an event in Guadalajara. The government also will take bids on the use of fiber lines on the federal highway network, he said.

Calderon is pushing to put the technology in the hands of telecommunications providers as Mexico lags in the adoption of high-speed Internet. The nation had 10.5 high-speed broadband subscriptions per 100 residents at the end of 2010, placing it 32nd out of the 34 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, that group said today in a report.

The Week in Review: 1/30/2012

mexicoinstitute — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:39:04 +0000

Katie Putnam, The Mexico Institute’s Elections Guide, 1/30/2012

The PAN candidates head into a second debate tomorrow (1/31) under new rules designed to make the event more “exciting,” while political analysts assess the campaigns and the PRI’s prospects in the Mexico City and presidential election.

Food Crisis as Drought and Cold Hit Mexico

mexicoinstitute — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:29:45 +0000

The New York Times, 1/30/12

A drought that a government official called the most severe Mexico had ever faced has left two million people without access to water and, coupled with a cold snap, has devastated cropland in nearly half of the country.

The government in the past week has authorized $2.63 billion in aid, including potable water, food and temporary jobs for the most affected areas, rural communities in 19 of Mexico’s 31 states. But officials warned that no serious relief was expected for at least another five months, when the rainy season typically begins in earnest.

While the authorities say they expect the situation to worsen, one of the five worst-affected states, Zacatecas, got a reprieve on Sunday. Heriberto Félix Guerra, head of the Ministry of Social Development, saw the rain, the first in 17 months, as a guardedly reassuring sign.