Zihuatanejo-Ixtapa Message Board - AMLO to down size National Electoral Institute [INE]

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Rob - is this something for tourists & ex-pats to be concerned about ?

https://ca.yahoo.com/news/while-world-looking-elsewhere-mexico-232712157.html

1026 views

Rob - is this something for tourists & ex-pats to be concerned about ?

https://ca.yahoo.com/news/while-world-looking-elsewhere-mexico-232712157.html

Another hit piece by a conservative neoliberal. The INE is too large and consumes way too much money for what it produces, sort of like the US military. The Presidente is doing the right thing by looking to downsize it. Mexico's elections have been exemplary, but the performance of the INE and the parties that live from its funding not so much.

You can tell the "story" is a hit piece when it compares AMLO to Bolsonaro and the Seditionist Racist Grifting Traitor aka TFG.

1056 views

It is curious to me that one can say that the organization responsible for running "exemplary elections" has somehow not performed well. I have no doubt that there is room for improvement but it seems like an odd priority to be tackling if one is interested in strengthening our democracy. It seems to be more in line with a president who is unhappy with an organization that has not bowed to his every whim. While it isn't something for tourists to necessarily be concerned about, as a Mexican citizen I am quite worried about another independent branch of the federal government being downsized while the military continues to be expanded. I am not impressed with this move by the president.

--
Humberto Romero
www.casaarcoiriszihuatanejo.com

847 views

It is curious to me that one can say that the organization responsible for running "exemplary elections" has somehow not performed well. I have no doubt that there is room for improvement but it seems like an odd priority to be tackling if one is interested in strengthening our democracy. It seems to be more in line with a president who is unhappy with an organization that has not bowed to his every whim. While it isn't something for tourists to necessarily be concerned about, as a Mexican citizen I am quite worried about another independent branch of the federal government being downsized while the military continues to be expanded. I am not impressed with this move by the president.

Want to know what "whim" INE didn't bow to? When AMLO became president, one of his first proposals sent to el Congreso and part of his mandate was to reduce the salaries of all government officials so that no one earned more than the president. A reasonable and admirable goal. There were two points of resistance: The Corte Suprema de la Nación and the head of INE. Seeing as the Corte Suprema is one of the checks and balances and a separate arm of the government, their resistance was understandable and allowed. But INE had no such excuse and cannot justify the money it administers, and if I recall accurately, at the time this law was being discussed the head of INE was on some worldwide tour at the expense of the taxpayers. His justification was lame as is the justification for most of the money spent on political campaigns, which as we all know, either ends up as campaign trash or on commercials including practically subsidizing many newspapers and other mediums. There is no need for INE money to be keeping failing mediums afloat. If it weren't for politicians spending fortunes of the taxpayers' money on their political image, many newspapers simply wouldn't exist, and since they DO receive so much of their funding from INE and politicians, that is why there is very little true investigative journalism (none locally since the founder of Despertar de la Costa was murdered during the administration of Silvano Blanco: his murderer was recently honored by the current municipal government).

The point being elections don't need to waste so many millions of pesos. It should be easy to find and cut the waste, starting with the bloated salary of the INE's director. Our electoral system worked just fine before the current INE director came along. What works about the electoral process itself is not what is threatened by cutting its budget. The director shouldn't have opposed the president on the salary matter.

792 views

What whim didn't they bow to that the president holds against them. Lets start with how INE didn't declare him the winner in his first two runs at the presidency and particularly his first run? His first run ended in a very close race where it was determined that he lost in what was generally accepted by independent organizations from around the world to have been a fair election. Instead of accepting the results he incited his followers to occupy the Zocalo and declare himself the rightful president. Or how about his public opposition to INE disqualifying the candidate Salgado Macedonia of his party while be silent about disqualifications of other candidates from other parties? How about his decisions to circumvent INE to run national advisory elections through his party organization without checks?

I am not here to claim that all officials within INE are saints or that the organization doesn't need some reforms. I will point out that AMLO himself benefitted from those funds in building his party before being in power and now that he is in power he seems to want to eliminate those mechanisms that might help foster other competition. My concern is that this president seems intent on dismantling government organizations that are independent from his office and that he can't control directly rather than doing the hard work of actually building them up and rooting out the corruption. To suggest that the judicial system in Mexico is independent and without corruption is not believable to me. He has built up the military and used its status to circumvent judicial review of his pet projects by claiming that they are of "national security". Meanwhile tens of thousands of poor Mexicans continue to languish in prisons awaiting a trial while criminal organizations seem to grow ever emboldened and in some cases seemingly abetted by the military.

--
Humberto Romero
www.casaarcoiriszihuatanejo.com

745 views

What whim didn't they bow to that the president holds against them. Lets start with how INE didn't declare him the winner in his first two runs at the presidency and particularly his first run? His first run ended in a very close race where it was determined that he lost in what was generally accepted by independent organizations from around the world to have been a fair election. Instead of accepting the results he incited his followers to occupy the Zocalo and declare himself the rightful president. Or how about his public opposition to INE disqualifying the candidate Salgado Macedonia of his party while be silent about disqualifications of other candidates from other parties? How about his decisions to circumvent INE to run national advisory elections through his party organization without checks?

I am not here to claim that all officials within INE are saints or that the organization doesn't need some reforms. I will point out that AMLO himself benefitted from those funds in building his party before being in power and now that he is in power he seems to want to eliminate those mechanisms that might help foster other competition. My concern is that this president seems intent on dismantling government organizations that are independent from his office and that he can't control directly rather than doing the hard work of actually building them up and rooting out the corruption. To suggest that the judicial system in Mexico is independent and without corruption is not believable to me. He has built up the military and used its status to circumvent judicial review of his pet projects by claiming that they are of "national security". Meanwhile tens of thousands of poor Mexicans continue to languish in prisons awaiting a trial while criminal organizations seem to grow ever emboldened and in some cases seemingly abetted by the military.

I'm afraid you're confused amigo. That was the IFE, and it has been "reformed" a couple of times since then, not by AMLO.

You're blaming AMLO for distrusting the election results? While I disagreed with him, I can't blame him. Most of us agree the '88 election was a sham. While I disagreed with his methods since I was one of the poll workers and I believe in the system we use, corruption is more than just burning or stuffing ballot boxes. The voting process can be exemplary while the process to nominate candidates is rotten with corruption. As it turns out, Peña Nieto WAS corrupt, Televisa played kingmaker for a price, and Felipe Calderón had a government full of narcos while he was fighting a war against narcos. People from both administrations are either in jails here and in the USA or pending trial. See the movie "Una Dictadura Perfecta".

He's entitled to his opinions, which I often disagree with. That doesn't mean he is wrong in trying to downsize the INE and make them operate more transparently and efficiently. I don't know what other institutions you're referring to. I don't see him trying to sabotage any.

Each Consulta Popular, a procedure that should have been simple, was carried out with a very poor performance by the INE, as if they were intentionally trying to sabotage the procedure by placing extremely few polling sites including some so far from the population centers as to make them useless. This is well documented. They dug their own grave on this matter and I agree they need a thorough review, which is what Congreso is doing

I happen to agree 100% with his use of the military to punish corrupt corporations and their owners by using them for building his public projects. Though I'm not thrilled about what he's doing to the jungle in the Yucatán peninsula, his projects are being completed on time instead of being drowned in legal morass by his detractors who want him to fail, something similar to what is undermining Biden's administration (i.e. corporations enjoying the highest profits in 50 years while the dumbed down voters blame Biden for inflation and the price of gasoline).

It sounds like you're getting your news from media funded by his opponents.

What do poor Mexicans in prison have to do with the INE? That a judicial problem, and that's a different reform being worked on.

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I am not confused amigo. I understand that the name of the institution changed from IFE to INE but they are both part of the evolution of the same organization that has been in place since the 90's that has been highly praised for conducting free and fair elections. That is what AMLO appears to be attacking here rather than doing the hard work of creating an independent and strong judiciary that can root out the type of corruption you are highlighting in your justified criticism of certain people within INE.

It saddens me to see you be so in favor of the military becoming more and more involved in the daily lives of Mexicans. I know you and I share some very common goals and so I am not sure why we differ so much on this point. The military should have one purpose and one purpose only and that is to defend the country from foreign invaders. The military is not immune to corruption and they are not as effective as you would like to suggest. They are not on schedule for the maya train and the costs have ballooned to over twice the initial cost estimates. The new airport in Mexico city was neither completed on time or under budget. Regardless of those points the military should not be being given alternate sources of income, i.e. income from running the train, airports, possibly an airline. History has shown us time and time again that it leads to the end of people having a voice in their government (i.e. Egypt, Argentina in the 80's, etc.) The solution to corrupt private companies is to create a strong judiciary that can prosecute and enforce bad actors. Not interject the military into it. I know of no example in history that having the military carry out civilian functions has been good for a country and its people in the long run. This president seemed to agree with that before he assumed the reigns of power, funny how that has changed now that he holds them.

I read many different sources of news, including those that support AMLO and his party, because I know that no one source can be objective. I don't need to read those sources to know that I don't like the environmental record of this administration (i.e. destroying mayan jungle, promoting fossil fuels, destroying wetlands to build a refinery, etc.). I don't need anyone to tell me how disastrous the education policies of this administration has been because I can see it in my nieces and nephews here in Mexico who are way behind in their education and seemingly no efforts being made to improve that (instead cancelling classes at the smallest hint of inclement weather). I don't need the news to tell me that gangs are getting ever more bold in their extortion business because the security efforts are inadequate because I have family members here who are forced to pay in order to have their small business be able to operate safely. It isn't about my media consumption bias that I have a poor estimation of the president, but my own lived experience.

--
Humberto Romero
www.casaarcoiriszihuatanejo.com

629 views

I am not confused amigo. I understand that the name of the institution changed from IFE to INE but they are both part of the evolution of the same organization that has been in place since the 90's that has been highly praised for conducting free and fair elections. That is what AMLO appears to be attacking here rather than doing the hard work of creating an independent and strong judiciary that can root out the type of corruption you are highlighting in your justified criticism of certain people within INE.

It saddens me to see you be so in favor of the military becoming more and more involved in the daily lives of Mexicans. I know you and I share some very common goals and so I am not sure why we differ so much on this point. The military should have one purpose and one purpose only and that is to defend the country from foreign invaders. The military is not immune to corruption and they are not as effective as you would like to suggest. They are not on schedule for the maya train and the costs have ballooned to over twice the initial cost estimates. The new airport in Mexico city was neither completed on time or under budget. Regardless of those points the military should not be being given alternate sources of income, i.e. income from running the train, airports, possibly an airline. History has shown us time and time again that it leads to the end of people having a voice in their government (i.e. Egypt, Argentina in the 80's, etc.) The solution to corrupt private companies is to create a strong judiciary that can prosecute and enforce bad actors. Not interject the military into it. I know of no example in history that having the military carry out civilian functions has been good for a country and its people in the long run. This president seemed to agree with that before he assumed the reigns of power, funny how that has changed now that he holds them.

I read many different sources of news, including those that support AMLO and his party, because I know that no one source can be objective. I don't need to read those sources to know that I don't like the environmental record of this administration (i.e. destroying mayan jungle, promoting fossil fuels, destroying wetlands to build a refinery, etc.). I don't need anyone to tell me how disastrous the education policies of this administration has been because I can see it in my nieces and nephews here in Mexico who are way behind in their education and seemingly no efforts being made to improve that (instead cancelling classes at the smallest hint of inclement weather). I don't need the news to tell me that gangs are getting ever more bold in their extortion business because the security efforts are inadequate because I have family members here who are forced to pay in order to have their small business be able to operate safely. It isn't about my media consumption bias that I have a poor estimation of the president, but my own lived experience.

You keep saying things that appear right out of a Carlos Loret de Mola article. The election process is not under attack. Democracy in Mexico is not currently under attack from the president or any political party, though it had been stunted under the 70-year dictatorship of the PRI.

I'm sorry you don't appreciate the popular support for the military in the streets, but that is the result of 70 years of PRI rule with no professional police force and the stupid "war on drugs" policy that Calderón succumbed to. They are Mexico's best hope for restoring law and order. One of my favorite family members used to be a Mexican general. I don't see the Mexican military as a threat to Mexico's democracy as you apparently do. I don't fault them for any cost overruns on any of the Presidente's projects. Why shouldn't they be able to generate their own legal funding?

You're jumping around so much on so many unrelated topics that I simply don't have the time to offer a proper response to your comments. I get it. You don't like AMLO. Neither do my in-laws in Mexico City or Mérida.

Gangs are getting bolder not because of anything THIS president has done beyond NOT legalizing all popular recreational substances, because THAT is the ONLY measure that will at least help level the playing field. Take into account how powerful the alcohol-funded mafia smugglers in the USA became, because in just 24 years those mafias grew so powerful that it took another 50 years to get them under control. The cartels have been operating much longer, with the consequential results that one of their leaders was listed for a while as the richest man in the world. It may be too late to put the lid back on that pandora's box, but it doesn't change the basic reality of why they even exist: because Big Alcohol & Big Pharma don't want their competition, and it's much easier to play the phony Puritan Society card than do what needs doing to attack the problem. That beast is created by politicians around the world. Not by the users of popular but stupidly banned substances. And AMLO's Corte Suprema have done their part to at least get pot legalized, though neither congressional legislators nor the Presidente have done theirs because the public has been too long brainwashed with the Reefer Madness tack. The USA's government still lists pot right up there with heroin, and they sentence dealers to death in Indonesia and lock up users for a decade in Russia.

I blame LOCAL politicians for the lack of a police force that can deal with LOCAL crime. Not the Presidente. He's done his part with the Guardia Nacional.

But isn't this about the INE? They've abused their privileges and aligned themselves with the interests of the partidocracy. And that is what needs correcting so that non-aligned politicians such as Pedro Kumamoto have equal footing in public elections.

The judiciary is a huge problem that will not be fixed in our lifetime. Too much hubris. Too many long-ingrained bad practices. Especially here in Guerrero. Especially here in REMOTE Zihuatanejo. That's one reason why I'm very careful about any lawyers or legal services that I recommend.

The STATE education authorities cancelled classes recently, not AMLO.

Someone appears to be selling you a lot of fear, and that's typical of what I see coming from the media manipulated by corrupt power moguls who feel their power slipping away. You should trust and respect the decision of the 70% of the Mexicans who support AMLO. Isn't that what democracy is all about? He's one of the most popular leaders in the world for a reason. He was certainly better than any of the alternatives during the last presidential election.

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Here is my point and concern about INE/IFE. It has been a successful organization since the 90's and played an important role in ending the monopoly of the PRI in Mexican politics and created a true, if still young, democracy in Mexico. As well as running what are widely considered to be free and fair elections, including the ones that elected this current president, it is in charge of giving free voting ID's to all Mexican and maintaining that system. It provides funding to all political parties so that they do not have to depend on private funding to get their message to voters. That system is not perfect and it definitely is being abused by some. Those who abuse it should be being prosecuted via the justice system. Instead this president and his party have repeatedly cut the budget of INE by not insignificant amounts per year for the last 3 years for an organization that represents about .2% of the national budget. A small price to pay in my book for free and fair elections.

Meanwhile the budget of the military has increased over the term of this president, particularly when considering the addition of the National guard, but crime has continued to increase NATIONWIDE. You say that the National Guard has been a success but I ask you in what manner has it been successful? The vast majority of its personnel who staff it were moved from the military and continue to draw their salary from the military. Security overall has declined nationally while the budgets for the organizations that were tasked with improving that situation has increased with no measurable improvement. When a problem is nationwide it is hard for me to accept that the root of the problem is purely a local one. It is indicative of a national strategy that is failing.

So you state your justification for reducing the budget of INE is because some people abuse it and get rich off of it. Are you claiming that there are not similar people within the military? Have you read some of the information exposed by the recent hack of the military? How some in the military use software like Pegasus to spy on its own citizens? How they use their power to circumvent oversight by the civilian government? Unfortunately the Mexican military has a long history of corruption and even turning against innocent citizens. That doesn't mean that I think the military is all bad but it does mean that I am skeptical that they are going to somehow be able to fix corruption on their own especially in areas of our society that they are not designed to address.

I am not sure what your point is of repeatedly bringing up that my viewpoints seem to be parroting opposition figures or media. It is hard for me not to take those comments as indicating that you perceive me to be incapable of forming my own conclusions. I have never listened to Carlos de Loret nor heard of him prior to your mention of him here. While you seem to take your talking points directly from AMLO's mañaneras I respect you enough to know that you have come to your own conclusions.

With regards to the popularity of AMLO and its relation to democracy I find your logic flawed. While I accept AMLO as the rightfully elected president of Mexico and support his right to exercise his vision for the country within the bounds of the constitution and law, it does not mean that I agree with those policies or will vote with him. The popularity of position does not make it right or wrong. There are many examples of dictators who entered their office via their popularity who I think we can all agree ended up being bad for their country(i.e. Pol Pot, Hitler, Ferdinand Marcos, etc.) Slavery, homophobia, misogyny and many other ideas have all had their turns of being the popular ideology but that didn't make them correct.

I respect you amigo and support much of what you do in our community and appreciate the help that you provide via this website. I just respectfully think that your support of this president and many of his positions is wrong. I am sure you think the same of my position. ;-)

--
Humberto Romero
www.casaarcoiriszihuatanejo.com

556 views

Here is my point and concern about INE/IFE. It has been a successful organization since the 90's and played an important role in ending the monopoly of the PRI in Mexican politics and created a true, if still young, democracy in Mexico. As well as running what are widely considered to be free and fair elections, including the ones that elected this current president, it is in charge of giving free voting ID's to all Mexican and maintaining that system. It provides funding to all political parties so that they do not have to depend on private funding to get their message to voters. That system is not perfect and it definitely is being abused by some. Those who abuse it should be being prosecuted via the justice system. Instead this president and his party have repeatedly cut the budget of INE by not insignificant amounts per year for the last 3 years for an organization that represents about .2% of the national budget. A small price to pay in my book for free and fair elections.

Meanwhile the budget of the military has increased over the term of this president, particularly when considering the addition of the National guard, but crime has continued to increase NATIONWIDE. You say that the National Guard has been a success but I ask you in what manner has it been successful? The vast majority of its personnel who staff it were moved from the military and continue to draw their salary from the military. Security overall has declined nationally while the budgets for the organizations that were tasked with improving that situation has increased with no measurable improvement. When a problem is nationwide it is hard for me to accept that the root of the problem is purely a local one. It is indicative of a national strategy that is failing.

So you state your justification for reducing the budget of INE is because some people abuse it and get rich off of it. Are you claiming that there are not similar people within the military? Have you read some of the information exposed by the recent hack of the military? How some in the military use software like Pegasus to spy on its own citizens? How they use their power to circumvent oversight by the civilian government? Unfortunately the Mexican military has a long history of corruption and even turning against innocent citizens. That doesn't mean that I think the military is all bad but it does mean that I am skeptical that they are going to somehow be able to fix corruption on their own especially in areas of our society that they are not designed to address.

I am not sure what your point is of repeatedly bringing up that my viewpoints seem to be parroting opposition figures or media. It is hard for me not to take those comments as indicating that you perceive me to be incapable of forming my own conclusions. I have never listened to Carlos de Loret nor heard of him prior to your mention of him here. While you seem to take your talking points directly from AMLO's mañaneras I respect you enough to know that you have come to your own conclusions.

With regards to the popularity of AMLO and its relation to democracy I find your logic flawed. While I accept AMLO as the rightfully elected president of Mexico and support his right to exercise his vision for the country within the bounds of the constitution and law, it does not mean that I agree with those policies or will vote with him. The popularity of position does not make it right or wrong. There are many examples of dictators who entered their office via their popularity who I think we can all agree ended up being bad for their country(i.e. Pol Pot, Hitler, Ferdinand Marcos, etc.) Slavery, homophobia, misogyny and many other ideas have all had their turns of being the popular ideology but that didn't make them correct.

I respect you amigo and support much of what you do in our community and appreciate the help that you provide via this website. I just respectfully think that your support of this president and many of his positions is wrong. I am sure you think the same of my position.

The INE continues playing the part of partidocracy protector. NOT ITS ROLE. The INE sabotaged the presidente's Consultas Públicas. NOT ITS ROLE. The INE refused to reduce the salary of its director after a mandate by the voters and a call by the presidente to do so. NOT ITS ROLE. The INE prohibits political free speech. NOT ITS ROLE.

Carlos Loret de Mola writes articles for U.S. newspapers and now lives in the USA because he got caught STAGING an arrest of a French citizen in Mexico for kidnapping (who was later exonerated) with corrupt police and Televisa, and his reputation was ruined. I can see his same comments in some of yours, thus my references to him.

AMLO has made the lives better for millions of Mexicans, though if you aren't poor you may not have noticed. He's tackled some historical wrongs that no one else has. You complain about public security then claim there is no strategy to combat it even though there is and it's working. Since I've lived in Guerrero during and after La Guerra Sucia, I've seen the change among the people who before would never have trusted the military but for over 20 years have been calling for the military to do what it's now doing, especially because in Zihuatanejo only the Marina has ever truly provided security for us. One thing we never called for was what Felipe Calderón did as presidente when he committed to fight the USA's proxy "war on drugs" here while having narcos working at the highest levels of his government, meaning that they played favorites, took sides, and only went afer the opposition. He's the main one to blame for the out-of-control violence that continues along with Peña Nieto who not only STOPPED the autodefensas from cleaning up Michoacán, but who arrested and imprisoned them and their leaders on phony charges, obviously taking the side of the narcos.

Sorry to see you not trust the wisdom of the great majority of Mexicans. No one expected AMLO to be perfect. But his flaws are minor compared to those who were alternatives in the last presidential election. For the first time in a long time Mexico has a president who loves Mexico more than he loves money.

Perhaps you didn't notice that AMLO welcomed making public the leaked hack of the military. At no point did he try to minimize it or cover it up. His comment was something to the effect "we have nothing to hide".

All crime is local. Without a serious professional local force, the problem only worsens. Yet as almost everyone except the political ass-kissers in Zihuatanejo have commented, the local government spends more on pouring concrete and on propaganda for its public image than on public security. Under a previous municipal administration I even sat in on one of the sham commissions set up by a terrible former mayor and witnessed for myself the total absence of seriousness regarding local public security. Si digo que el burro es pardo es porque tengo los pelos en la mano.

Un saludo y un abrazo, mi muy estimado amigo.

548 views

You say that security is improving over the last 4 years? What facts do you point to that support that?

--
Humberto Romero
www.casaarcoiriszihuatanejo.com

515 views

You say that security is improving over the last 4 years? What facts do you point to that support that?

Because there are at least security forces in the streets where there weren't before. Five years ago local businesses were closing left and right due to extortions. We had no police forces at all then standing between us and the criminals migrating here and extorting. Now there are. I call that progress.

Five years ago when I called 911 to report a person standing in the middle of the street in front of my home at 4 in the morning beating some poor kid (who was later found dead in La Majahua the next morning) with a pistol for over TWO HOURS and no police ever came. I can call the police now and they show up usually within a few minutes, though I haven't had a reason to for quite some time since the Guardia Nacional has been here. I call that progress.

Recently local extortionists who were causing the price of cement to skyrocket, if it was available at all, were caught and the price has come back down and availability has increased. I don't recall local extortionists ever being caught before. I call that progress.

I could go on but I don't have time.

548 views

It is so refreshing to see this dialogue, devoid of name calling and chock full of ideas and insights. Rob and HRomero, you two would be welcome on any debate time! I applaud the both of you. Thank you! Now, true to debate time form, you two should swap positions and argue the other side of the debate.

Personally, unless there is a U.S. or North American angle to the political debate, I steer clear of any Mexican politics. I find it hard to penetrate the local and national issues with any success. For what it is worth, two good friends here in Tijuana / Rosarito have diametrically opposing views on AMLO. One believes he is an erratic crackpot with delusions of grandeur. The other believes he is Mexico's best and last chance to build a stable democracy. In any event, I wish him the best of success in his stated efforts of reducing violence and corruption. But of course, any and all efforts will be all for naught if the U.S. doesn't stop Prohibition II first.

555 views

It is so refreshing to see this dialogue, devoid of name calling and chock full of ideas and insights. Rob and HRomero, you two would be welcome on any debate time! I applaud the both of you. Thank you! Now, true to debate time form, you two should swap positions and argue the other side of the debate.

Personally, unless there is a U.S. or North American angle to the political debate, I steer clear of any Mexican politics. I find it hard to penetrate the local and national issues with any success. For what it is worth, two good friends here in Tijuana / Rosarito have diametrically opposing views on AMLO. One believes he is an erratic crackpot with delusions of grandeur. The other believes he is Mexico's best and last chance to build a stable democracy. In any event, I wish him the best of success in his stated efforts of reducing violence and corruption. But of course, any and all efforts will be all for naught if the U.S. doesn't stop Prohibition II first.

I used to detest AMLO. I didn't vote for him. I booed him when he campaigned in Zihuatanejo. Then after he won and his support continued to maintain itself if not improve, I made an effort to give him a chance. I simply kept my mind open and watched what happened. I wasn't crazy about a new oil refinery in the mangrove estuaries of Tabasco, but we had a similar thing happen in St. Croix, USVI when I lived there. Hess Oil. It kept St. Croix going when the tourists stopped coming after the Fountain Valley Massacre. Between the Dos Costas and the Deer Park refinery he purchased controlling shares of in Texas, Mexico is making itself much less dependent on overseas refineries. A necessary evil considering Mexico's own oil reserves. He got his airport built for hundreds of millions less than the Texcoco version would've cost. Maybe not as snazzy, but he had a mandate to cut costs to make his social programs viable, so I'll settle for a less elegant airport and I believe most Mexicans will also. The Tren Maya seems to be a product of a demand for economic opportunity in that entire region of long forgotten people, so I'll defer to their wishes. Apparently there is local support for the project. I wish it had been an elevated train so as not to cross the natural pathways used by inhabitants of the jungles or interrupt the flow of water and the harmony of the natural habitat, but the presidente's a politician, not Sir David Attenborough. He's keeping his promise to those people.

So I criticize a lot of what he does, but I also have to applaud the efforts he's making across the country to improve the lives of Mexico's forgotten people to whom the politicians promise everything for their votes but then deliver almost nothing.

Security was always going to be the toughest job, but the only remedy that will work is what neither he nor the United States are currently prepared politically or socially to do: legalize all popular recreational substances and remove the multi-billion dollar a year black market from the hands of violent organized criminals. Alcohol is by far one of the absolute worst drugs, yet we live with it and have an entire alcohol culture which most people accept (oddly) as "normal". So in the absence of a mass epiphany, the long-failed and utterly counterproductive "war on drugs" will likely continue here and around the world for decades to come and abominations like private prisons will continue being traded on the friggin stock market, which we must all support, right?
:grrr:

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:megusta:

I completely agree about the U.S. needing to end "prohibition II". The only people who seem to benefit from it are those who sell armaments. It certainly hasn't reduced drug use or overdoses in the USA or anywhere else.

--
Humberto Romero
www.casaarcoiriszihuatanejo.com

474 views

I completely agree about the U.S. needing to end "prohibition II". The only people who seem to benefit from it are those who sell armaments. It certainly hasn't reduced drug use or overdoses in the USA or anywhere else.

Amen.

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Right on.

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Although I don’t know anything about the commission, I’m not sure a financial argument holds much water. Mexico spent 6.1 trillion last year. The INE budget is a tiny fraction of total spending.

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Although I don’t know anything about the commission, I’m not sure a financial argument holds much water. Mexico spent 6.1 trillion last year. The INE budget is a tiny fraction of total spending.

Yes, the current Mexican presidency is attending to matters ignored for decades that have created tens of millions of impoverished Mexicans and dysfunctional institutions. Still awaiting the stock market and peso crash every AMLO detractor predicted before his election. Still waiting to see Mexico take the path of Venezuela, another false warning. Still waiting for the Presidente to succeed himself in violation of the Constitution, another dire prediction by his detractors.

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I am now a naturalized citizen. In voting in this country I have seen quite good things from INE and this seems unnecessary. I like that there is federal funding of candidates and that there is a fixed time for political ads. There does seem to be a pattern of going after organizations that he considers to have wronged him in the past some how, I.E. UNAM. I am not anti AMLO and I do understand his anti-corruption stance. But I do think people are within the realm of reason to question his motives.

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...if only defunding the INE were the least problem.

AMLO, totally popular but also incompetent, is the result of an apparent world wide tendency towards populism....as we have seen it has not gone well in other countries and Mexico is not and will not be the exception. president lopez considers the press to be controlled by his "adversaries"..in fact anyone who takes an opposing stance, in many cases inconsequential, is labelled an enemy.

the INE was designed to be autonomous...by defunding the INE and attempting to control the media amlo is trying to achieve an autocracy..sound familiar?

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