OK, lots of developments today after the friday/weekend events, with the added bonus that mexico city schools reopen today. Links and details below the fold:
- Back to school: Mexico city schools reopen to traffic chaos?
- Back to July 2: Deja vu all over again, or how many times do you hit "refresh" before the PREP results come to a screeching halt? (Chiapas governor race)
- Back to 2004: New Ahumada video brings back the merry gang of players... maybe there WAS a conspiracy after all!
- Back to the Jurassic: Right-wing state bans text with sexual education content
- Back to basics: AMLO calls for National Democratic Convention on 9/16, inviting one million delegates to bring their 5 point projects; regional committees have begun to mobilize.
Image: on Sunday a group of women entered the Mexico City cathedral to protest voter fraud. They began chanting pro AMLO slogans but were quickly asked to leave by a PRD officer who asked them to please not mix politics with religion. Some suggest these protestors were planted as provocators.
Back to school
Mexico city schools resume activities today, and they awaken to a city that, to many, has been hijacked by protestors who wish to disrupt our daily lives. Very early this morning Mexico City officials announced that they would implement a special operative to clear access through major cross streets that intersect Reforma, as illustrated in the graphic below:
The red lines indicate through streets that were previously blocked and are now accessible; the green indicates the intersection with Insurgentes, which has always been open to traffic. This graphic only illustrates the Reforma portion from Juarez to Chapultepec; major cross streets that access Polanco and Lomas (along Reforma from Chapultepec to Periferico) were also opened to vehicular transit today.
No matter what happens, the peaceful civil resistance will be blamed for many of Mexico city's traffic woes today (as if we don't all know that back to school day is ALWAYS hell down here).
On the flip side of the issue, the kids at the camps also need to go back to school:
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/...
Back to July 2
Many of us still have a very vivid image of the night of July 2, as we were maniacally refreshing the PREP website and observing what would turn out to be a very peculiar algorithmic behavior, and then... it slowed down... and down... and down... until it came to a screeching halt.
The race for governor in the state of Chiapas is virtually deadlocked, between the PRD candidate Juan Sabines and PRI candidate Jose Antonio Aguilar Bodegas. The PAN candidate is a distant third.
This election takes place in the midst of scandals and allegations on both sides; the PRD has been accused of giving away construction materials to hurricane victims to buy votes, while the PRI has been accused (with recorded audio tape no less) of taking money from the PAN for the Chiapas campaign.
In a surprise move two weeks ago, the PAN withdrew its candidate and threw its support behind Aguilar, a 56-year-old lawyer. It was the first time the PAN has formed an alliance with the PRI since Fox ended the PRI´s 71-year hold on the presidency in 2000.
http://www.mexiconews.com.mx/...
Back to 2004
So it was a conspiracy after all? AMLO wasn't just being delusionally paranoid when he stated two years ago that there was a high level conspiracy to keep him from the presidential race?
That's what the latest video released seems to suggest: that the "videoscandals" were planned and hatched by a tight knit, well defined group that by Ahumada's estimation, could not have existed without the knowledge of Vicente Fox himself.
Here's a good spanish language blog on the topic (hat tip, ivansg):
http://cofradia.org/...
Here is the full 11 minute Ahumada video on google:
http://video.google.com/...
The Mexico City Justice Department (PGJDF) could bring charges against public servants and former public officials for the probable coverup and protection of Carlos Ahumada Kurtz, who is considered to have commited fraud against Mexico City authorities and who asked for money and protection in exchange for material that was recorded illegally.
Bernardo Bátiz, Mexico City attorney general, stated that the videos will be analyzed thoroughly and experts will be called in to opine on the Ahumada statements that appear in a video released last week. He added that it's possible that people mentioned in the video will be subpoenaed to testify, such as Sen. Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, former Government Secretary (and future PAN leader in the Senate) Santiago Creel Miranda, and former Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha.
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/...
Back to the Jurassic: Right-wing state bans text with sexual education content
Hugo Estrada has a thorough diary about this... is it time to write "what's the matter with Guanajuato"?
Back to basics
In his Zocalo speech on Sunday, AMLO once again put the ball in the Electoral Tribunal's (TEPJF) court, stating that they were at a crossroads between treason and dignity. To his many followers filling the central square, he stated that the judges of the special electoral court should resists all manner of pressures and temptation being exerted on them.
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/...
Lopez Obrador also restated his goal of carrying out the National Convention for Democracy on Sept. 16 (Mexican Independence Day) with the participation of one million delegates from communities all over the country in order to form a cohesive alternate national plan (programa alternativo de Nación), focused on the following five points:
- fighting poverty and inequality
- defense of our nation's wealth
- all-out war on corruption and impunity
- access to information
- institution reform
Regional committees in some states have reported that they have already begun to designate their delegates to represent them in the National Convention. Guanajuato will send 3,000 delegates on 9/1 and 3,000 more on 9/16, while Nuevo León has already said they will send at least 2,800.
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/...