Chutzpah, a la Mexicana

The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) says it will support all public and social action that counters the attacks on freedom, human dignity and social harmony, because “violence breaks up the political system”.

…

“Our party reaffirms its support for the efforts made by the Government of the Republic in strenghtening the culture of legality in consolidating democracy, and is redoubling efforts to assist in promoting the prosperity of all, to bolster social development, and work for security, justice and peace,” the statement read.

(from a report by Suzette Alcántara in El Universal)

Oh, really? PRI and PAN … who between them have been synonomous with “impunity” for political criminals, find themselves on the Road to Damascus now that the third major party, PRD, is having its own difficulties with being embarrased by its own office holders… especially the former governor of Guerrero, who — just incidentally — was a PRI stalwart, but ran on the PRD ticket. And, of course, the dreaded AMLO, having, as a PRD leader, naturally spoken in favor of his party’s candidates, is always a tempting target for his long-time foes in the two neo-liberal parties and his frenimeis in the supposedly Social Democratic PRD.

If the PRI had come out with this statement back about… oh… 1968… we might have avoided a few of those “embarrasing” political scandals along the way… you know… the ones littered with unsighly corpses (Tlatelolco, 1968; Jueves Corpus, 1972; the “dirty war” 1970-90, Acteal 1997, and on and on and on). PAN, having less time in governance, made up for it in the body count, with the “drug war” … and with nothing but scandals during their 12 years in Los Pinos.

Not that PRD … or any party … has clean hands and everyone involved in politics here has only the purest of motives and best of intentions, but really… when has the PRI… or PAN… or PRD ever been so much abut “promoting the prosperty of all” rather than protecting themselves?

Oy vey!