News Summary for July 4th...

++ Interior Secretary Fernando Gómez Mont guaranteed there will be calm on election day on Sunday… He said he’s been informed about areas where there might be trouble, and the Army will strengthen its presence there… President Felipe Calderón called on Mexicans not to fall into apathy and to go to the polls on Sunday… He asked Mexico’s citizens not to lose faith that the country can be transformed… Calderón said that for to happen, citizens must fulfill their civic duties…

++ Senate speaker and chairman of the Congressional Permanent Committee, Gustavo Madero, said IMSS director Daniel Karam, will appear before Congress on July 6, 10 days earlier than the previous date set for his appearance to speak about the fire that killed 48 infants at a day care center in Hermosillo. (Comment: But the hearing is still going to take place AFTER the elections... I am sure they will release the names of the owners of the IMSS daycare centers this weeks. Must be politically explosive... Why wait... Mmmm who is on the list? ) The Nation’s top court, the Supreme Court, is considering whether it takes on the investigation into the Hermosillo ABC day care center fire tragedy.

++ Health Secretary José Ángel Córdova Villalobos said the A H1N1 influenza outbreak in Mexico cost the country four billion dollars, or 0.4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product.

++ There’s an Interpol request out for the arrest of Lucía Morett, the UNAM university student accused of links to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC… Morett is running for a federal deputy’s post on the Labor Party ticket.(Comment: Morett really needs to win if she is going to avoid being arrested...Must be nice to be offered a seat in congress in order to avoid a criminal trial...)

++ The Federal District Attorney General’s Office confirmed the death of four people in a botched operation to rescue a woman who had been kidnapped in Xochimilco, in Mexico City. The victims were the worman, two special agents with the anti-kidnapping force and one of the kidnappers.

++ Zacatecas state judicial authorities said that Manuel Batres Miranda, one of 53 inmates who broke out of the Cieneguillas prison, was killed during a shootout between armed groups in the town of Guadalupe last Wednesday.