News Summary

Summary June 18

The rural-peasant “campesina” wing of the Alternativa Party joined the PRI´s Roberto Madrazo, and ruled out supporting Patricia Mercado´s candidature. Ignacio Irys Salomón, the leader of the rural wing of the Alternativa Party, rejected the notion that his support for Madrazo´s PRI party was sought in order to find good jobs within the PRI. Patricia Mercado, the presidential candidate for the Alternativa party, said that the departure of rural wing of the party would not affect her campaign. Another Alternativa party-related problem. On Wednesday a decision be made it will be concluded whether Gustavo Jimenez Pons will be able to run for Mayor of Mexico City, as it was just announced that he has been in prison on three different occasions. (Despite all these problems I believe she will still get enough votes to assure the registry of her party…)
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Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the PRD candidate, said if he wins the presidency there will not be any nepotism, or favoritism. (Alluding to Felipe’s family problems…) Felipe Calderon of the PAN, on the other hand, called on his supporters to achieve a “knock-out-victory” so that a technical draw is not called on July 2.
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We need to keep an eye on Oaxaca. The dissident teachers of Oaxaca extended their strike till after July 2, and blamed the Oaxaca government of not fulfilling its promises, such as canceling the temporary restraining orders against the magisterial leaders. Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Interior, awaits Enrique Rueda, the Oaxaca magisterial leader’s decision to re-initiate the negotiations to solve the conflict in Oaxaca. (There is the probability that there will be no elections on July 2d. How will this affect the results? Will Roberto Madrazo´s be able to annul the results? Mmmmm the plot thickens…)
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The striking miners at the steel mill at Sicartsa in Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan, decided to keep on striking after the Minister of Labor refused to recognize the re-election of the mining union leader, Napoleón Gomez Urrutia (Need I remind you all that a nation-wide strike has been called for June 28th.. Who knows maybe there will be no elections in the whole country? Naaaa. )