AMLO wants his own Front too
It's a season of cold fronts and electoral coalitions. After the complicated birth of the ambidextrous coalition PAN-PRD-MC, the center-right bloc of the Institutional Revolutionary Party ( PRI ), the Green Party ( PVEM ), and the New Alliance Party ( PANAL ) are working on their own alliance with José Antonio Meade . And not to be left behind, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) , his party, the left National Regeneration Party ( MORENA ) and the far-left Labour Party ( PT ) are about to reach an agreement with the conservative Social Encounter Party ( PES ), after the national leader of the latter, Federal Deputy Hugo Eric Flores handed out to Mr. AMLO a proposal for the distribution of candidacies, which our sources say was well received by the national leader of MORENA. So, if things go as planned, in the next few days we will be seeing the birth of AMLO's coalition. Fasten your seat belts!
Do you believe “El Bronco”?
It's too good to be true. Everyone was surprised by the way in which Jaime Rodríguez Calderón, El Bronco , gathered signatures to support his independent presidential candidacy but now we know he had a mechanism of at least 200 officials of his government working on gathering them all. Mr. Jaime claims the officials are doing it voluntarily, outside of their working hours, without using public resources and, as such, the practice isn't illegal. If we resort to the collection of political anecdotes of the Institutional Revolutionary Party ( PRI ) – party where Mr. Jaime comes from – we could very well apply the phrase once used for Roberto Madrazo and ask: Do you believe El Bronco?
The “priorities” of the Senate
It's the final stretch of the ordinary meeting term and according to our sources, the Senate only has three issues in mind: the Law on Internal Security , the appointment of the new Prosecutor for the Specialized Attorney's Office against Electoral Crimes ( FEPADE ), and the removal of the automatic transition from Prosecutor to Attorney General of the Mexican Office of the Attorney General ( PGR ). To do this, the president of the Senate, conservative National Action Party (PAN) member Ernesto Cordero , and the chairwoman of the Political Coordination Board, member of the center-right Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Ana Lilia Herrera , have agreed to close the period with those three priorities. This Tuesday, the work in the commissions will begin to approve the minutes of the Chamber of Deputies to eliminate the automatic appointment of the Prosecutor as Attorney General. No one doubts the good intentions of the legislators, yet no much progress will be made on these “priorities” given the ordinary period ends this Friday and today begins the Guadalupe-Reyes marathon...
Mexican reforms at the OECD
A month before he became the President of Mexico, way back in October 2012, Enrique Peña Nieto visited the headquarters of the Organisation for Economic Co-operaiton and Development ( OECD ) in Paris to seek the support of the multilateral organization for structural reforms. Peña Nieto traveled once more to the French capital to stand beside José Ángel Gurría , Secretary-General of the OECD. Just like that Autumn long ago, Peña Nieto was joined by Luis Videgaray . Both, according to our sources, left the venue with a smile on their faces after receiving the document Towards a Stronger and More Inclusive Mexico. Progress and Challenges of the Reforms , prepared by the OECD – a study that recognizes Mexico for the number of reforms devised as the “most ambitious plan ever drafted in recent times by any member country of the OECD” for addressing challenges in public policy, education, employment, taxes, healthcare, telecommunications, energy, and law enforcement. At the end of the day, OECD officials declared they were in favor of continuing with this process, given the presidential succession in 2018, our sources said.
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