Up for debate?
… Enrique Peña Nieto (PRI), has refused to participate in any other debates. EPN’s decision to avoid any unnecessary debating makes strategic sense, since he is already ahead in the polls by around 20 points, and gains little from additional public appearances. And, since he has already demonstrated that he can’t think on his feet, and will likely embarrass himself if he deviates from the campaign script, his campaign managers are doing everything they can to keep him away from the media.
Yann Karevel, “The First Mexican ‘Debate’ of 2012“, Americas North and South, 7 May 2012
Now that EPN is NOT leading by 20 percent (if he ever really was) and it appears the PRI candidate MIGHT have an issue… or be able to deflect criticism from his own (rather thin) record by pointing to the “pass the plate” scandal (such as it is) … AND… since “Yo soy #132” are pointedly not supporting the candidate …
… does it make any sense that Peña Nieto is the first of the candidates to come out in favor of a third debate?
Yes. what EPN said was a masterstroke of evasion… saying that a third debate was theoretically possible (and at the same time hinting that it was somehow illegal), but it was up to the Secretaría de Gobernación to make the call: which, of course, it won’t.
A third debate being one of Yo Soy 132’s demands, there are two ways this can be read. Either “Yo Soy 132” — by raising the issue of the television networks collusion in trying to keep Peña Nieto from appearing with his fellow candidates — has scored a victory or with the election a lot closer than the prevailing wisdom had it, and the networks under scrutiny, the Peña Nieto campaign needs to find a legitimate way to keep saturating the airwaves, even if the other candidates are also going to be present.
Of course, nothing is said about the format for a third (theoretical) debate. The carefully scripted rules for the second debate seem designed not only to avoid the game show atmosphere of the first debate, but to make it as dull as possible. One gets the sense that by appearing to agree to a third debate, what the Peña Nieto camp is hoping is that bickering over matters like whether the candidates stand at podiums or sit at a table, and the number of minutes and seconds allotted to each candidate (matters that took weeks to thrash out), they can just run out the clock, while presenting their candidate as one willing to listen to, and accept, criticism.
Hard science in Cuba
Cuban doctors have implanted more than a thousand prosthetic penises since 2005.
Made of silicon with a silver or steel wire (I’m not so tacky as to refer to a “rod”), the Cuban devices function better than the hydraulic devices used to treat severe erectile dysfunction in other parts of the world… and, costing about 10 thousand dollars, are much less expensive than the 15 to 20 thousand price tag for a hydraulic prosthetic penis.
Prescribed for men over 40 with diabetes and/or circulatory problems, the implants are free for Cubans who qualify for an implant. For foreigners, the cost is still cheap: $5000.
Maybe when Karl Marx wrote “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need,” this isn’t exactly what he had in mind, but then again, as the words to the Internationale have it, “Arise, oh human race!”
The fighting keyboard brigade, Mexican division
You notice these idiots always speak of themselves in the plural? I guess the voices in their head keep them company.
The godmother
I’ve always been bothered by the assumption that social service is best left to “ladies who lunch” here in Mexico. DIF (Desarrollo Integral de la Familia), the family services agency, is traditionally in the hands of the wives of governors (though, when the governor is a woman, I’ve yet to hear of her husband running the agency) and, at the national level, by the First Lady.
Photo: Karla Lucía Pablo/La Opción de Veracruz
We’re extremely unlikely to have a “First Hubby” as a result of the next election, so for now, it looks like DIF will be the province of the wives of the well-connected, rather than professionals. Not that DIF doesn’t do good work, and no matter what one thinks of Veracruz Governor Cesár Duarte, a shout-out to the state’s First Lady, , who worked with the states Secretariat of Health to get more midwives trained and in the field, cutting in half the maternal death rate.
The first Asamblea Nacional Interuniversitaria, held Wednesday at UNAM released their “Provisional Resolution” to the press in Spanish. My translation, with some footnotes, follows.
Provisional Resolution from the working groups conducted by youth and student activists in the “Yo soy 132” Movement, organized by the Asamblea Nacional Interuniversitaria (Inter-university National Assembly). The event took place on May 30, 2012, on “the Islands” of Ciudad Universitaria[1], UNAM, and included participants from 54 public and private universities from throughout Mexico, as well as various artists, intellectuals, academics and representatives of civil social movements. Over 90 local, national and international media were on hand. The meeting was attended by over 6500 people.
1. Our social and political positions
We are an autonomous, non-partisan movement, pluralistic, inclusive and pacific.
- We declare that culture, art, and education are our most powerful weapons in this battle of free expression, protest and political participation.
- We oppose the imposition of any candidate self-selected by the media, as well as biased reporting by the media, especially on the part of the major TV networks of this country.
- In the electoral context, we protest media manipulation and are expressing our dissatisfaction with an contaminated electoral process that aims to restore old political regime.
- We believe that the old PRI regime practiced state violence, repression, authoritarianism, widespread corruption, opacity in public decision making, and coerced voters, among other undemocratic practices.
- We believe that there is sufficient evidence to show that candidate Enrique Peña Nieto is the current face of that old regime and of the projects it represented. We wish to clarify that this is not hatred or intolerance of the candidate himself, but we are fed up with what the PRI candidate represents.
- In light of this, and whereas student by themselves will not be able to prevent the restoration of the old regime, we call on other social organizations that likewise are indignant over the present state of our nation, to carry out different pacific protests, and join in presenting proposals in our country.
2. Regarding the electoral situation and the lack of information and transparency in the voting process, the motion states:
- We do not trust the Federal Electoral Institute or political parties. We recognize that an electoral fraud is in development, which can lead the country into a much deeper social and political crisis.
- We are for a clean, transparent and equitable electoral process. We reject any form of imposition, through whatever means, of the PRI candidate: Enrique Peña Nieto.
- We call for national unity. This movement and social movements in this country have an important potential to change things. We have the ability to organize and change the course of our nation.
- Faced with a possible scenario of electoral fraud or imposition, we propose to document everything that happens during the election, through visual mechanisms, social networks and alternative media.
- We propose to mount a campaign to denounce the undemocratic, illegitimate and fraudulent processes during the election.
- We demand that IFE recognize “Yo Soy 132” observers as election monitors.
- We call on international organizations such as CELAC (Council of Latin American and Caribbean Nations) to participate in in the July First election as international observers. We propose a petition drive to collect signatures for this motion.
- We call on civil and social organizations with similar concerns as ours to build with us an independent citizens computer center, with observers throughout the country to make a parallel computation of election results [done by IFE].
We demand that the next debate on June 10, be transmitted live on national television, and the “Yo soy 132″ movement be allowed to bring up topics for discussion: particularly in education policy and media democratization.
3.Regarding media participation
- We demand a code of ethics for the media and the establishment of an ombudsman, or advocate for the media audiences, guaranteeing the right of reply contained in Article 6 of the Constitution.
We demand a revision of the current scheme by which candidates are allotted air time. - We promote the creation of media specific to each state’s universities, as well as a nationally broadcast television station for UNAM.
- We propose, as of Monday, 25 July, that everyone in the Yo Soy 132 Movement open their modem keys, to guarantee access to society of information distributed on the web[2].
- We will encourage the creation of various alternative media movement.
- We will create a podcast is called “Who is Peña Nieto,” which will be disseminated on public transportation and though other means.
4. Post-electoral agenda and scope of the movement
The “Yo Soy 132” Movement will continue after the election period, in support of democratic and viable national projects. The post-electoral agenda for “Yo Soy 132” movement has identified the following salient goals:
- Reforming media and communications policies.
- Establishing a movement to fight for the demands of society, regardless of the election.
- Demanding transparency and the rendering of accounts.
- Demanding democratic access to communications media.
- Bringing to public attention, documenting and preventing feminicides.
5.With respect to educational policies, the movement requires:
- That education budgets be presented transparently.
- That access to a free education for all Mexicans, and the ability to attend school, without distinction, at all levels and at all educational systems in the country, be guaranteed.
- That there is a total rejection of the “Educational Loan Program for Higher Education” which is in violation of third paragraph of Articles 24 of the Constitution[3].
- That there be constant turnover of teaching and research staff in the public universities, as well as incentives and dignified retirement benefits for academics.
- That Elba Esther Gordillo be removed of his position as lifetime President of the. We demand the impeachment of Elba Esther Gordillo, and an an investigation of bank accounts and properties, owned by Elba Ester Gordillo, her family and their henchmen.
- That the Secretary of Public Education has a relevant background in education.
- That we eradicate illiteracy throughout the country.
6. In matters of science, technology and healthcare, the movement declares:
- We demand that two percent of the budget be dedicated to REAL Science and Technology.
- That proselytizing through social benefits be banned[4]. Health is a right and not a commodity.
- We demand in the next presidential debate the candidates express their priorities, strategies, budget and cabinet nominees in the areas of Health, Science and Technology.
- We demand the creation of the Secretary of Science and Technology.
- We demand that multi-disciplinary courses in health promotion, science and technology be created for all levels of basic education.
- We demand media, television and radio, include space for scientific information.
We demand that the elected government hand over to the “Yo Soy 132” Movement and to society, the task of monitoring compliance with health, science and technology programs and activities.
Ciudad Universitaria, a 30 de mayo de 2012
[1] A large open-area meeting space on the UNAM campus in Ciudad Universitaría.
[2] YoSoy132 is asking for is their supporters to open their personal WiFi modems to general access, either removing the passwords, or just turning on the WiFi key … making it possible for those with access to a computer, but not internet access to tap into the web.
[3] The Programa de Créditos Educativos para la Educación Superior is a government-guaranteed student loan program to cover the costs for private (usually religiously affiliated) university.
[4] Still relatively common, health care projects (like immunization clinics) are often presented in such a way as to leave the impression that they are a “gift” of an individual office holder, political party, or business enterprise.
Priorities…
More Mexicans have died in the U.S. sponsored “War on Drugs” during the Calderón Administration than U.S. citizens were killed in Vietnam during the Eisenhower-Kennedy-Johnson-Nixon presidencies. When it comes to questions about who is supplying the weaponry that kills all those Mexicans, the U.S. government says … “meh”.
HOWEVER… when a subsidiary of a U.S. corporation is targeted by those people the U.S. supplied with weaponry (and who their consumers so blithely support, and for whom their banks so willingly launder money)….
He contained multitudes…
… not all of them quite admirable. But a Happy 193rd birthday to Walt Whitman, in spite of this editorial he wrote for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1846:
What has miserable, inefficient Mexico – with her superstition, her burlesque upon freedom, her actual tyranny by the few over the many – what has she to do with the great mission of peopling the new world with a noble race? Be it ours, to achieve that mission!
Today’s birthday boy at the time of the Mexican-American War… before coming out as America’s greatest poet
The Six Million Dollar Question…
Political consultant Luis Costa Bonino (LCB-Marketing) apparently had dinner with wealthy businessmen and AMLO supporters last week (24 May) and supposedly spoke… several times… of needing six million dollars to win the election.
For someone used to U.S. elections, the figure seems ridiculously tiny for a fund-raising appeal in a national election (just by comparison, Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for U.S. President, has raised just under six million dollars, and President Obama, just under six and a half million dollars in Texas alone… so far). Still, according to a press release from AMLO’s rivals in the PRI, this amounts to “two and a half times the amount of private campaign contributions permitted by law”. I had always thought private campaign contributions were completely illegal, but apparently some are more illegal than others.
Whether the meeting was for the purpose of “passing the hat” (the actual phrase in Spanish is pase de charola … “pass the (collection) plate”, like in Church), is a matter of some controversy. Of course, PAN and PRI have both been quick to demand an investigation by the Elections Commission (IFE) and PRI has also filed a complaint with the Federal Prosecutor’s office and immigration authorities.
Immigration? I cannot find any biographical information on Costa Bonino that gives his nationality, but he holds a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Paris, and his political marketing firm is based in Paris, so presumably he is a foreigner, and by law, prohibited from political activity.
He makes mention on the audio recording, and in his promotional literature of having been a campaign adviser to Lula da Silva, the former Brazilian President, and his European activities seem to be mostly for leftist parties. However, the company’s on-line site shows it has worked for Latin American parties of all political stripes, and in Mexico for PAN, PRI and PRD.
On the audio tape (there is no video), Costa Bonino is heard to mention the figure (in U.S. dollars) several times, including one time when he says that would be adequate for an regional election in Honduras. Whether he was actually fund-raising or was, as film maker Luis Mandoki (who invited Costa Bonino to the dinner meeting) says, simply a discussion of Costa Bonino’s business, is at the heart of the controversy. There is some suggestion that the audio tape was edited. One assumes it was, if only for news value… the only speaker other than Costa Bonino is a comment about the feasibility of “passing the collection plate” by the host, Luis Creel — who, incidentally, is a first cousin to PAN leader, Santiago Creel.
To my suspicious mind, this calls to mind the scandal that erupted in2004 when various Federal District officials were videotaped apparently taking bribes from businessman Carlos Ahumada (at the time, romantically involved with former Federal District Governor Rosario Robles) . Ahumada turned out to have close ties to Carlos Salinas (Enrique Peña Nieto’s political godfather). The thinking at the time (and now) is that the opposition (Salinas in particular) tried to “set up” Lopez Obrador… which, with a healthy assist from the OEM newspapers, … looks like deja vu all over again.
On the other hand, given the relatively small “footprint” of AMLO’s advertising and marketing outside of that covered by IFE expenditures… bus ads and bling touting AMLO are conspicuously absent, and the candidate makes an issue of traveling by commercial carrier, rather than leased or “donated” aircraft, six million dollars (about 80 million pesos) would buy some hats and tee-shirts and those “dispensas” that the other parties give away in return for showing up at their candidate’s rallies. Or buy a few reporters.
Manifiesto #YoSoy132
A bit more than 144 characters, but in the hours before the march on Televisa, this manifesto began circulating through the social media, under the hastag #YoSo132.
(My translation)
We are students. We are an ex-miner, or a rebellious youth, or a petty middle-class girl. We are what you are.
We come to you from the networks, the world of zeros and ones, from a world they do not know and have never learned to use.
We do not want a world with its eyes glued to a media built for daily distraction.
We did not want to find ourselves lost somewhere we don’t know looking for an emergency exit. We are the Mexicans who woke up.
We do not believe in easy slogans: “Democracy has won”, “The story is over”, “Freedom is Victorious”, “The market is open”.
We are born of silence, far away from the bustle of our protests. We are shouting slogans against power, but our ideology is unclear and changeable.
We are expatriates, who do not believe in borders or passports. We are friends of clandestine outcasts who copy software, music and books and distribute them worldwide.
We are those who conjure up a better country, of male and female, of different parties, languages, cultures and thoughts.
We are the desperate, who refresh their timeline every five minutes. We long for the revolution of our parents. We long for a future that could be.
We had faith in the protest of the past, but we also believe that protest against the established order of today is the foundation of a new order.
We are on the road, but taking a detour.
We are # YoSoy132
A landmark of sorts
Tuesday, about one in the afternoon, something remarkable happened in Puebla: the nine millionth Mexican Volkswagen rolled off the assembly line.
For the record, it was a Denim Blue Beetle.
While there are a number of different automobiles manufacturers in Mexico, Volkswagen is still #1, and has been building cars in Mexico since 1962, although VW “bugs” (what are called Vochos in Mexico) were being assembled in Mexico (from shipped-in German parts at Chrysler and Studebaker-Packard plants as early as 1955, the year after Prinz von Hohenlohe introduced the German car to his adopted country .
Well, since there isn’t a game scheduled…
This is funny:
Ricardo Salinas Pliego, the second richest person in Mexico and CEO of a lot of things, including Mexico’s second network, TV Azteca, decided that his network will ALSO air the upcoming second Presidential debate… but only because there isn’t a futbol game scheduled that night.
The first debate, TV Azteca bowed out claiming a scheduling difficulty, and — probably for the first time in Mexican history — more people watched the news show than the futbol game. Of course, maybe people tuned in for a glimpse of the pulchritudinous and curvaceous Julia Orayen.
Salinas Pliego has a … um… checkered past, having been fined 7.5 million dollars by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in return for having charges dropped against him in one shady stock deal involving TV Azteca, and several of his various companies have been investigated over the years by the Mexican equivalent organization. Other than admitting that “there were a lot of thieves” involved in the privatization of the television networks, he had to take over what became TV Azteca “because it was a drain on the government.”
This photo was taken yesterday… why is it super-rich guys can’t shave themselves properly?
Which nicely avoids saying whether or not he should include himself among those thieves. Still, considering that at the time, Salinas Pliego was with a group of 2000 or so of his employees from one of his other companies, Grupo Electra (both a retail chain marketing to lower-income consumers and a bank specializing in small savings accounts and micro-loans at exorbitant interest rates), listening to a speech by AMLO, the second-richest Mexican said (my translation):
We [and he was quoted using the royal “we”] have our agreements and disagreements with Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. We agree that the government wastes money and spends too much. I have know him for years and he was a good governor for Mexico City. I agree with him that the budget this year amounts to expenditures of 422 million pesos per hour that, if they were distributed among families, would work out to 11 thousand pesos a month each.
Which might help his Banco Azteca clients pay off the outrageous interest payments on those micro-loans written at Electra stores.
(131 + X) > 50%
I received an email today , thrown over the cyber-transom. Addressed as it is to the writer’s fellow Mexican citizens, as a non-citizen, I had to abridge the letter to avoid the appearance of taking a political position, but what I quote below expresses the thoughts of more and more of the voting population than many of us outsiders (including the foreign media… especially the foreign media) have so far acknowledged:
PAN has held the presidency for the past 12 years. President Calderon – to put it kindly – has not lived up to even minimal expectations, and this time round the PAN candidate proclaims she is “different”. Josefina Vázquez Mota is female, but how is she any different from the present administration (to which she belonged)? The PAN election strategy has mostly been to attack the other parties – none of their own proposals seem very clear.
The PRI, the party who held the monopoly on Mexican politics for 70+ years is chomping at the bit to get back into power. All the old political dinosaurs are hoping to come out of hibernation with the young-ish Enrique Peña Nieto opening the doors to Los Pinos. No one can imagine how much money is being spent to put this guy in place – the old boys will spend whatever it takes to get back to business as usual.
The PRD candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, claims he was robbed of the Presidency six years ago. The “powers that be” have spent much time and energy painting him as the scariest threat out there. They say he will be president like Chavez in Venezuela or maybe as radical as (Yee Gads!) Fidel Castro. Post-election, he took to the streets, declared himself the “legitimate president of Mexico” and generally upset the apple cart – big time. Even the PRD party faithful is leery of their candidate: AMLO is his own man.
The traditional media, seems intent on smearing AMLO and making Josefina look like a Barbie doll, but they tout the virtues of Peña Nieto – he’s portrayed as the “second coming.”
So who is standing up to the old boys (and girls) club? Who is beating back the media in its attempts to coronate their pre-paid favorite? Answer: “The Students.”
Last week, a group of them showed Peña Nieto the raspberry when he appeared to campaign (oops…I mean address) them at the Ibero University campus in Mexico City. This created much consternation, and in an attempt to diminish the importance of the rejection, The Media reported that there were only 131 students involved. What?!? There were many more than that… and so the students started to furiously spread the word: “I am Number 132” The slogan appeared on T shirts, banners, placards…
… And by-passed the media, sending out their message via youtube and other on-line forums. In their message the students try not to level criticism at individuals and political parties; they target the manipulation of the campaign by the media.
“We cannot allow the media to manipulate us like this, we are fed up. The time has come for young people to wake up,” said one student.
“The time is right for everyone to wake up and see that manipulation and violence are not the solution for this country,” said another.
“This could be the start of what many are calling “the Mexican spring,” a third added, never imagining that a simple video could have such a big impact.
“It was a big surprise for everybody.”
Quite frankly, I am not surprised. I have long believed that this election could be easily turned by the power of social media. And in the hands of the young people… Watch out!
I admire the students who made the video and others who are defending their rights. It is time for some true civic action.
But I feel as nervous as a cat behind a wrought iron fence… a cat being watched by a great huge dog, who is trying to figure out how he might get over to the other side… I have not forgotten October 2, 1968 or any of the other times when a small group tried to open the nation’s eyes…
One difference between now and 1968 is that the public is watching, and the people are, only a week into the protests, already on the students’ side for the most part. María de la Heras, in her poll for the Madrid daily, El País, found that fully half of Mexicans agree that the media is manipulating information in favor of the Peña Nieto campaign and … moreover… if they had the opportunity, would join the protests themselves. What is really eye-popping is that 65 percent of those surveyed see the movement as a sign of positive change in the country, even if only 46 percent of them think the students are not being manipulated by one or another of the political parties (presumably some of those who support the students are supporters of the parties said to be doing the manipulation).
De la Herra is quick to point out that reports about the protests are wrong to speak of “rage” or “anger”, given the so-far good natured (and often irreverent) message conveyed by the ” +131″ protesters.
Still, it may be somewhat worrisome that 40 percent of those polled thought that reaction to the protests by the Peña Nieto campaign have been appropriate. While the candidate himself has been careful to avoid confrontations and any questioning of the protesters´motives have been left to surrogates, small (and possibly unrepresentative) groups of Peña Neito supporters have violently attacked “+131” protests.
Of course, a violent clash (possibly instigated by agents provocateurs, as was seen in 1968 here, and in various “Occupy” movements over the last several months) could change perceptions of the movement, but it appears the movement is growing, that the political landscape — no matter which of the traditional parties wins — has shifted, and shifted towards the better.
(A little more evidence of how far the “+131s” have come in a week, is that the head of the Elections Commission [IFE], after the students began an organized effort to recruit elections monitors [any register voter willing to take a training session is eligible] said he hoped there were 132 THOUSAND showing up to watch over the polling stations on the first of July. )
… AND… Televisa — faced with continuing protests outside its headquarters — has agreed to demands to broadcast the second debate on Canal 2, the “Channel of the Stars”, and not its less important (and less acessable) Canal 5. Televisa has several sub-networks, with different programming. The Channel (“Canal”) number is not necessarily the number you select on your TV at home, but the name of the sub-network. The first debate, which Televisa did its best to avoid showing altogether, was only broadcast by Televisa’s Canal 5 — a sub-network which isn’t available in some of the smaller television market regions, and in others is only available to cable subscribers. Canal 2 is broadcast everywhere in Mexico.
mexfiles.net 