Plaguarize, let no one else’s work evade your eyes…
Geeze. PAN always sells itself on being the party of “gente decente” — the good and decent folk. Just like the Republicans
Pilar Ortega, a PAN federal deputy from Guanajuanto, has been taking (at Mexican government expense) a graduate course in planning at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Ortega’s student project, dealing with installation of an electrical plant, received some unaccredited source material: Jordy Herrera, Undersecretary of Energy downloaded government documents to Ortega, who did a cut and paste job on them.
Blogotitlan snarkily notes that Professor Gallagher is not a member of Esther Gordilla’s SNTE (Teachers’ Union), nor are Harvard professors likely to feel pressured by political spin from Televisa. Gallagher wants Ortega expelled. From Harvard. I doubt — and Blogtitlan doubts — the party will do anything about it.
Another excuse out the window…
Having spent some time as an “illegal alien” in Mexico, I was always bemused by the right-wing dolts who said “well, what would happen to me if I went to Mexico and…” They were always disappointed that the answer was “not a hell of a lot.”
Of course, the smarter of the right wingers (er… the slighly less stupid ones) would then point out that Mexican authorities did hold some immigrants … usually those passing through the country from elsewhere, and were travelling to the United states. Or, who were working as migrant workers in the South (where, ironically enough, immigration to the U.S. has led to a shortage of farm workers, and Mexican growers have to turn to Guatemalans and Hondurans), or those few immigrants who take jobs. Yeah, the lockup sticks, but it wasn’t exactly a concentration camp … more a holding pen next to the airport. And, a lot of “illegals” awaiting deportation were held in hotels. I used to catch the Brazilian pianist held at one of the Mexico City hotels, who was being paid under the table as the lounge act while waiting to be repatriated.
Guess what, dudes?
Todays “Diario Oficial de la Federacion Mexico” includes a “Decreto por el que se reforman y derogan diversas disposiciones de la Ley General de Población“. In other words, some legal changes became official today. Illegal aliens are now subject to a fine of twenty to one hundred days the Federal District’s salario minimo (from about one hundred to five hundred U.S. dollars). The provisions in the code for locking people up just for being in the country without the right papers are gone.
Mexicans can be fined for contracting marriages for the purpose of circumventing the immigration laws.
Ironically, there may be more prosecutions of gringo illegals as a result of the reforms. A lot of people work who are on tourist visas (like I did), or have residency permits, but not a work visa. I get the feeling Immigration generally ignored these people just because it was a hassle to arrest and charge them. Since it’s only a fine now, I expect there will be more prosecutions.
So, I guess the best the right wingers will be able to come up with is some blather about the people in Ritmo not paying their fines. “Debtors’ Prison” somehow sounds less sinister than Concentration Camp, right?
Fight for the right to party!
(Dissident teachers at the start of the Alternative Guelaguetza,in Oaxaca. Notimex photo by Hugo Alberto Velasco, printed in The News)
It’s that time again. The annual running of the protesters in Oaxaca always cumulates in the now traditional duelling traditional Guelaguetzas. What had been since the 17th century a religious fiesta and market was always running away from the authorities, as the locals had their own ideas of what they expected from the Oaxaca-wide swap meet and party. In the early 1930s, to satisfy the people’s needs, and at the same time satisfy restrictions on religious processions in public, Guelaguetza was given a new identity as a “folk festival.” That was fine until the State, in the 1980s and 90s decided to make the event a tourist attraction. While the State invested in facilities and brought in “acts” to perform for the tourists. The chronic political and social unrest within the State, as tourism and other foreign investments (especially in mining) left people feeling more and more alienated from the State government, cumulated in violent uprising in 2006.
One “victim” of the violence was the offical Guelaguetza — dissidents burned down the “traditional” site (in use since the 1930s). Since “the show must go on” (and the last thing anyone wanted were tour groups cancelling their reservations), the Guelaguetza went on in a heavily guarded compound, while an ad hoc alternative Guelaguetza took place in the streets, sponsored by the dissident unions and other groups.
This year’s events are being held both at the official site (Cerro Fortin) and at the State University Stadium. The problem in Oaxaca, according to some, was that the state was run by a single political party. Maybe this doesn’t change the politics, but it’s a step in the right direction to set up a “two party” system.
Another Eagle Warrior….
Even if he can’t sing “Guadalajara” (or at any rate, shouldn’t), he probably deserves the honor:
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico has awarded Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy the country’s highest honor for his work defending the rights of immigrants during his decades in Congress.
The Mexican government said in its official gazette it presented the “Aztec Eagle” honor to Kennedy in Washington on Friday.
“He has denounced injustices suffered by immigrants,” and “promoted initiatives to promote full political participation and increased access to health and education services for the Mexican-American community,” the official announcement said.
The veteran Massachusetts senator fought for an immigration reform bill in Congress that failed to pass last year.
Mexicans, and Latin Americans in general, have a soft spot for those that try, but are defeated. Although Bill Gates is also a recipient of the Order of the Aztec Eagle, it is normally it is reserved for heads of state (Eduard Benes of Czechoslovakia, Queen Margaret of Denmark, Lulu Ignacio de Silva of Brazil, etc.) though it can be awarded to military officers (Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1950) and parliamentary leaders (like Kennedy).
Right wingers, of course, are whining about the award.
Sunday readings: 20 July 2008
Guns or butter (or rice, or tortillas):
Frei Beto, “Food: A luxury item” (Latin America in Movement):
Who would have imagined having to go to a boutique to buy rice, beans, vegetables, and meat? But perhaps this reality is not so far off. The average price of food has tripled in the last twelve months.
Last year, the owners of the world invested $134 billion in the industry of death — arms manufacturing — a 45% increase from just ten years ago, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI. Governments invested 2.5% of the global GDP in military spending. Worldwide, $202 billion was invested per capita in feeding the beasts of the Apocalypse with missiles, bombs, mines, and nuclear arms. In summary: according to the FAO, compared to spending on food, the amount spent on arms surpassed it 191 times over!
Gringos are whiners
(Trailero, Mexico Trucker):
They’ve set up surveillance on the Rio Grande and filmed illegal immigrants crossing the river by night.
They’ve mapped border crossing spots from Texas to California in airplanes mounted with cameras. They’ve confronted day laborers on street corners and parking lots in Houston.
But now activist groups working to limit illegal immigration are stunned and dismayed by the rise of Arizona Sen. John McCain as the likely Republican presidential nominee — and a threat to their work and cause.
Left unsaid too long
(Mexico’s long forgotten dirty war, Duncan Kennedy, BBC)
To have the words “Mexico”, “dirty war” and “death camp” all appear in the same sentence, might come as a shock to some people.
We all know about Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, but Mexico?
I met the family of Rosendo Radilla, a local man brought here in 1974.
His son, also called Rosendo, was just 10-years-old when soldiers came to take away his father.
His eyes swollen with tears, he tells me his father was active in council politics. But he was never the left-wing anarchist he was accused of being, by the commanding officer of the late night snatch squad.
Rosendo Radilla was 10 when his father was arrested
Rosendo and his 11 brothers and sisters never saw their father again. They now believe him to be one of those buried in this garden.
PEMEX deal from PRI might change everything
I’ve been thinking for a while (and started a post on the subject about two months ago, that I never finished) that Beatriz Paredes Rangel may be Mexico’s first woman President. Since taking over as party chair after Roberto Madazo’s disasterous campaign for President in 2006 and the party purge that finally threw out Elba Esther Gordilla, PRI has recovered nicely.
While it has always been the largest party, it never seemed to find an identity after losing its position as the “Party of everyone who had a stake in the 1910-20 Revolution”. Trying to be socialist and neo-liberal, nationalist and internationalist, and at the same time making space for individual party power brokers (like Gordilla) is impossible in a multi-party state. While the PRI normally is able to hold its own, normally by forming fusion tickets with the Greens or other small parties, it seemed to be losing its identity. Gordilla and Madroza had been trying to work with PAN, but the Mexican right is only about a third of the electorate, and it’s attempts to become a centerist party have opened it to severe criticism by PRD. One factor in Lopez Obrador’s phenonomal appeal was that the PRI was wishy-washy, and seen as a “me too” party by those on the left. PRD writers still refer to PRIAN — suggesting PRI and PAN are one and the same. In other words, basically irrelevant and too willing to give in to the more reactionary proposals from PAN that never really appealed to PRI voters.
Paredes stemmed the losses, going back to the party’s socialist and nationalist roots, and appealing to the Mexican middle (left of the U.S. center) for whom the PRD is “too leftist”. Certainly PRI still includes some incompatible elements — and some embarrassing leaders (Ulises Ruiz in Oaxca, Manuel Marín Torres in Puebla), but every party has its bozos.
By making common cause with the PRD, and presenting a viable energy reform compromise that satisfies the majority of Mexicans who oppose (energetically oppose is what I want to write) any hint of privatization and foreign control of oil resources, the former Tlaxcala Governor and Senator may be an odds on favorite for her party’s presidential nomination in 2012
The PRI proposal for PEMEX reform is only being presented partially. I suspect there are still details to be worked out, and some horse-trading with the PRD to handle. Interestingly enough, in this article, PAN is only mentioned in passing. The PEMEX deal, when it comes, will not be a PAN production. The original article, “Cierra filas el PRI en torno de su plan energético” by Susana Hernández appeared in today’s Milenio. My translation.
Governors, legislators and the PRI leadership have closed ranks around an energy reform package which will be presented 22 July during the closing session of the Senate debate on the reform.
Party chair Beatriz Paredes, Senate leader Manlio Fabio Beltrones and Chamber of Deputies leader Gamboa Patrón, along with PRI state governors called the meeting to present the alternative proposal which will be presentate to the Senate in the next week.
The meeting’s participants endorsed the proposal, which meets the party’s objectives of presenting viable and progressive energy reform which will be accepted by a Senate majority.
Interviewed after the closed-door meeting, Beatriz Paredes stressed that the group’s objective was to maintain a dialoge with PAN and PRD, and to reach an accord.
“”I have indicated that our national leadership met in the spirit of open dialogue with all parties, including PRD and PAN, and we are willing to share our point of view with them. Hopefully, we have reached a point of concensus with them,” she emphasized.
The PRI chair went on to say that the party’s proposal included a serious analisis of President Felipe Calderón’s proposal, especially those points insufficiently covered.
Parades rejected the idea that presenting the iniative will entail political costs for the party. She reiterated that the PRI proposal will strenthen PEMEX autonomy, without privatization: goals in line with party statues.
“I am convinced that our proposal is favorable to the country and national development, and that Mexican society will appreciate the initiative that will be presented in the best spirt of citizenship by PRI legislators.”
The PRI leader added that party deputies and senators will be holding workshops to hammer out details of the proposal, backed by the Central Committee.
Regarding negotiations with PRD, Paredes recognized party differences in some areas, but the PRD have yet to read the details.
“The PRI position has been very clear – we have always pushed transparency and in no way support discretionary handling [of the PEMEX budget].”
Paredes added that the time given the legislature by the Executive branch to consider energy reforms was adequate.
According to a PRI Central Committee news release, the meeting included the goverors of Sonora, the State of Mexico, Veracruz, Campeche, Puebla, Nuevo León, Hidalgo and Colima. The Governors of Tamaulipas, Sinaloa, Nayarit and Quintana Roo sent representatives. Missing were the governors of Tabasco and Chihuahua, who were both out of the country.
PRI governors said they respected the decision of the parlimentary coordinators in presenting the initiative.
Key details
• On Wednesday, Manlio Fabio Beltrones will present a PRI propsal which contemplates the creation of PEMEX subsidiaries financed nationally. As the Senator explained, the proposal will allow private Mexican companies to participate in refining and storage.
• In addition, private industry would be allowed to invest in the exploration of deposits with the purpose of discovering new reserves to replace production lost in recent years.
God and Man on the border…
I thought the Bush Administration backed religious freedom. Apparently not when it conflicts with the bureaucratic bullheadedness of their fence-building projects:
Tim Murphy (Religion News Service) writes:
… representatives of an Arizona Indian tribe have asked the federal government to halt construction of a border fence across the tribe’s Arizona reservation.
Leaders of the Tohono O’odham nation say the fence, currently being built along the U.S.-Mexican border by the Department of Homeland Security, will prevent members of their nation from crossing into Mexico for traditional religious ceremonies.
“This wall and the construction of this wall has destroyed our communities, our burial sites and ancient Tohono O’odham routes throughout our lands,” said Ofelia Rivas, according to the Washington Times.
Rivas argued that the fence will violate the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act, which guarantees free exercise of traditional religious practices for Native Americans. She said that the fence would disrupt such practices by limiting travel to and from O’odham land in Mexico…
Remains of (another) day
From the BBC (only indirectly quoting AP)
The remains of what appear to be four US soldiers who died in 1846 during the Mexican-American war have been found, Mexican officials have said.
The skeletons were found at the site of the Battle of Monterrey in northern Mexico alongside relics indicating the bodies were US soldiers.
Mexico lost the battle and the war, ceding much territory to the US.
Experts had previously thought the site contained a mass grave for Mexicans but only the US troops have been found.
Measurements of the skulls and bones, plus US coins and other items found with the skeletons, have led Mexican archaeologists to conclude the remains are US war dead.
Mexico’s state archaeological agency said the bodies were found in several digs between 1996 and 2008 but it took a long time to identify the remains because it was believed only Mexicans were buried at the battle site.
An official with the agency told the Associated Press news agency there were plans to carry out DNA tests and inform the soldiers’ relatives, if possible.
“There are proposals… to return those individuals found so far to the United States, and for them to return those that they have from battles that took place in their country,” said the National Institute of Anthropology and History in a statement quoted by AP.
(Sombrero tip to the NEW AND IMPROVED “Unapologetic Mexican”).
I’ll be interested to find out what these skeletons can tell us. The battle itself (21-23 September 1846 ) ended in house-to-house combat with the Mexican forces only withdrawing when civilian casualties began to mount (the Cathederal, where civilians had taken refuge, was coming under artillery attack… General Pedro de Amupia also had to worry about gunpower stored in the Cathederal basement). Ampudia and General Taylor negotiated a two month truce. With Tayor having political ambitions (he would be elected President of the United States in 1848), President Polk forced him to hold his position in Monterey for the remainder of the War. These soldiers may have died in the battle itself, or been killed by irregulars (what in Iraq are called “insurgents”) of which there were many, or died of any number of 19th century diseases.
Many of the occupation troops were themselves “irregular” military units, volunteers and Texas Rangers (Texas had been an independent country until 1845 — which was the cause of the war — and the Rangers had been a Republic of Texas guerrilla unit). Samuel Chamberlain, at the time a dragoon corporal (and later a Civil War General), wrote about his experiences with the occupation of Monterrey, which included several hair-raising episodes (literally — he came across an Arkansas volunteer unit scalping a priest) suggest the regulars sometimes got into fire-fights with the “volunteers” when both weren’t fighting insurgents.
(Image from “Viva Computer Links”, SUNY Albany)
So, were they subs?
The four-man crew of a submarine carrying cocaine seized earlier this week was transferred to a Mexico City jail on Thursday, authorities said.
The submarine – which according to media reports was homemade – had been escorted to the Oaxaca shoreline on Wednesday by the Navy, after being stopped for navigating illegally.
The greentopped, arrowhead-shaped vessel was intercepted when it surfaced mere hours after being tracked by a plane about 200 miles (322 kilometers) off the coast of Oaxaca, and the crew was immediately taken into custody without putting up resistance.
The suspects were first flown by helicopter to the city of Huatulco, where they told reporters that they had left the Colombian coastal town of Buenaventura a week ago.
The crew members said they were fishermen, and had been forced to make the journey by drug traffickers at home who had threatened to harm their families.
Aren’t the Colombia military forces supposedly creative and unstoppable? Besides the obvious point that as long as there’s a willing cocaine buyer, sellers are going to find some way of getting to market (even if you believe the crew was a press gang), it’s one more reason to question the veracity of any statement by Colombian officialdom.
Washing their hands in Washington
From James McKinney of the New York Times comes this backgrounder on the latest irritant between the United States and Mexico (and the civilized world):
HOUSTON — Despite pleas from the White House and the State Department, as well as an international court order to review their cases, Texas will execute five Mexicans on death row, a spokeswoman for the governor said Thursday….
The decision by Gov. Rick Perry to allow the executions is the latest twist in a long-running battle between Mexico, which has no death penalty, and the United States …
On Wednesday, the International Court of Justice at The Hague ordered a review of five of the Texas cases after Mexico complained that the convicts, all men, had not been allowed a chance to talk to a Mexican consul after their arrests, as required under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
But that argument holds little sway in Texas, a place with a long history of upholding the death penalty and of telling other governments to mind their own business.
“This ruling doesn’t change anything,” said Mr. Perry’s spokeswoman, Allison Castle. …
Not that I have much sympathy for Roberto Moreno Ramos, César Roberto Fierro, Rubén Ramírez or Alberto Real García, but the willingness of the powerful United States Federal government to give into the whims of the state of Texas reminded me of another time local prejudices were given precedence over international legal standards:
When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!
All the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”
(Matthew 27:24-25)
Would you believe…. terrorists?
The Leon Municipal police chief, Carlos Tornero Salinas, and the officer in charge of police training, Javier Haro, have been fired based on recommendations by Guanajuanto’s Human Rights Commission. No word on what has happened to the Cuban-American and English trainers responsible for the abuses recorded on videos released to Mexican media.
The absurd excuse that Mexican cops were dealing with “terrorists” and needed counter-insurgency training took another hit yesterday. A ridiculous story yesterday claiming that the DEA had information tying “Iranian terrorists” to Mexican drug exporters was denied by both the U.S. and Mexican officials. The timing of the original story was interesting… just as Homeland Security Oberfuhrer Michael Cherntoff was in Mexico. I don’t follow the logic — Iraqis have used automobiles filled with gasoline when attacking occupation forces, so a butane-tank in the back of a car set on fire in Cuilican somehow indicates an Iranian presence in Tamaulipas. C’mon.
The U.S. administration is having a hard enough time selling “anti-terrorism” to its own people. Down here it’s just not working, but s I’ve predicted, the U.S. is trying to justify spending tax dollars for U.S. businesses selling “security services” in Mexico to terrorists in any way it can. I think they’re throwing up whatever they can (lately, claiming a Colombian drug smuggling mini-sub COULD carry middle-easterners to the United States …. yeah, though cocaine seems to be more profitable). Maybe I’m turning Mexican — bullshit almost makes sense if you believe it’s a gringo conspiracy of some kind.
mexfiles.net 