Subliminal messages?

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador raised a few more eyebrows last week by alleging several Mexican companies ran ads, containing subliminal messages, that subtly encouraged voters to back the National Action Party (PAN).

The proof: Sabritas, a unit of Pepsi, placed an ad with a character boasting of "clean hands." The PAN campaign coined the expression: "Manos Limpias," and candidate Felipe Calderon would press his hands, palms outward, towards audiences at rallies - an act that inferred he had nothing to hide.

Jumex also caught flack for using a blue background in an ad. (Blue is associated with the PAN.)

More than a few advertisers had fun with the election campaign. A sports balm manufacturer pitched a pain rub with the slogan: "Pinche Madrazo." Roberto Madrazo, a man with a sordid reputation for hardball politics, headed the disastrous PRI campaign. In Spanish, a madrazo is a jolt or bruise. (The word comes from "madre," which signifies a lot of rotten things in Spanish when used colloquially.) Pinche is a cuss word akin to damn.

Perhaps Lopez Obrador should step back from this allegation. It risks making him look foolish.

Lopez Obrador calls himself, "President"

By DAVID AGREN

Although he fell short in the official count by some 240,000 votes and garnered the support of just 35 percent of the electorate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador crowned himself the election victor anyway, saying in television interviews last Wednesday, “I am the president of Mexico by the will of the majority.

“I have absolute certainty that we triumphed.”

Taking a firm stance, the left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) candidate continued calling the July 2 election fraudulent and demanding a vote-by-vote recount. He also voiced support for annuling the results, saying, “It would be the most viable and convenient outcome for Mexico,” and added that he wouldn’t step back and try running again in 2012, telling U.S. network Univision, “I couldn’t do that. I’m already president ... I won the presidential election.”

National Action Party (PAN) officials immediately rebuked the remarks. Party General Secretary Cesar Nava described Lopez Obrador’s announcements as “messianic ... of the old style of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.” (Santa Anna governed Mexico 11 times in the 1800s and kept returning to power despite calamitous tenures in office.)

The former Mexico City mayor “is not behaving like a democrat,” Nava added.

“[He] is not a democrat and does not respect laws made by elected officials,” commented George Grayson, a government professor at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, who has written a book on Lopez Obrador.

The PRD planned a massive rally in Mexico City for Sunday to press their case for a vote-by-vote recount, a provision not included in Mexican election law. Grayson said the law excludes the possibility of a recount due to fears of vote tampering. He also pointed out that many members of Lopez Obrador’s inner circle were once Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) figures, who were involved in the contested 1988 election, which Cuauhtemoc Cardenas (the PRD’s founder) might have won.
Somewhat ironically, Lopez Obrador accused his opponent of engaging in unseemly tactics from the presidency of Carlos Salinas, the 1988 winner. Lopez Obrador’s senior advisor Manuel Camacho Solis served in Salinas’ cabinet and was allegedly involved in the 1988 election scandal, working against the PRD’s predecessor.

Felipe Calderon, having won the vote count by a slim margin, proposed forming a coalition government. The PRD, however, rejected the idea. Party demonstrators have protested outside the election tribunal offices and numerous businesses – part of the establishment Lopez Obrador, who casts himself as an outsider and champion of the poor and downtrodden, railed against during his campaign.

Lopez Obrador has said the protests would end if a recount is announced. Camacho told the Washington Times earlier this week, “We think that destabilization of the country will be the outcome if there is not a recount.”

Several analysts called that kind of talk “blackmail.” A Grupo Reforma survey taken on July 13 found that 60 percent of respondents opposed a vote-by-vote recount. An equal number believed the election results were trustworthy.
Writing in Publico, Guillermo Valdes described Lopez Obrador’s posturing as “accede to my demand or the country goes up in flames.”

The lack of proof presented by Lopez Obrador disturbed others, including Publico editor Diego Petersen Farah, who commented, “The fraud of July 2 is now believed. No one saw it. No one can explain it, but it’s there. There aren’t two perredistas that can explain it in the same way.”

George Grayson sees the post-election unrest continuing for some time to come.

“(Lopez Obrador) believes the system to be illegitimate ... (and) will not accept the results unless the seven magistrates [of the election tribunal] decide that he is president-elect.”

From the Guadalajara Reporter

Mas Corona

Grupo Modelo, the maker of Corona beer, recently formed a new distribution deal in the United States. According to an article in El Economista, Modelo's U.S. distributor imported only 150,000 boxes of beer back in 1978. This year it brought in more than 70 million boxes.

In related news, Grupo Modelo also announced plans to double the number of convenience stores it operates. FEMSA, Mexico's biggest Coca-Cola bottler and the brewer of Sol, already has more than 4,000 Oxxo locations, which exclusively sell FEMSA products. Oxxo doesn't stock Pepsi or Corona. 7-11, although a bit pricier, sells everything. Wal-Mart receives a lot of flack for supposedly hurting small comerciantes in Mexico, but the country's beer duopoly has probably put the squeeze on mom-and-pop shops more effectively than any big-box retailer.

Voters divided their ballots

Story by DAVID AGREN

Luis Ibarra wore blue jeans and an orange T-shirt to identify his observer status for the Convergencia Socialista party (Convergence) at a polling station in Guadalajara’s Providencia neighborhood on July 2. As expected, he opted for the Convergence’s mayoral and gubernatorial candidates. But despite representing a left-wing outfit, he voted for presidential candidate Felipe Calderon of the conservative National Action Party (PAN) instead of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the Convergence’s ally in a coalition dubbed, “For the good of all.”

“I’m voting for Felipe Calderon, though I’m not that fond of the right-wing,” the UNIVA law professor said, citing his disapproval of Lopez Obrador’s proposed social-welfare schemes as the main reason for going against the left-wing candidate.

In past decades, Mexicans elected the PRI for everything, but with the country’s burgeoning democratic tendencies and wide-open races for public office, voters are increasingly spliting their ballots.

“People no longer vote for a party, they vote for a candidate,” said Rene Hermosillo, who worked as a PRI observer at a polling station in Guadalajara’s Ladron de Guevara neighborhood.

Many traditional PRI voters rebelled against the national campaign, including Hermosillo, a Harley Davidson-riding gym teacher, who went for another party’s presidential candidate.

“I normally vote for the PRI, but I’m voting for the (Democratic Revolution Party) PRD on the presidential level,” he said.

Luz Elena Ramirez, a coffee shop employee, concurred. She backed Calderon for president, but also voted for Jalisco PRI gubernatorial candidate Arturo Zamora Jimenez.

“Everyone now votes for the candidate instead of the party,” Ramirez explained.
The PRI ran a miserable presidential campaign, but Zamora outpaced his federal counterparts, finishing a close second, drawing voters that backed different parties on the presidential and municipal level.

“A lot of people identify with Arturo Zamora, who don’t identify with the PRI,” said Alberto Mora, the PRI president in Guadalajara. (Several PAN supporters interviewed opted for minor-party candidates to protest their party’s lackluster performance on the state level, but wouldn't support Zamora.)

The PRD, in contrast, gained nearly 20 percent of the presidential vote in Jalisco — an all-time high — but its gubernatorial and mayoral candidates received around half as much support.

“A lot of people will vote for (Lopez Obrador), but for another party locally,” said Francisco Moya, a photographer in Guadalajara, who planned on marking ballots for both Lopez Obrador and Zamora.

According to Dan Lund, president of Mexico City market research firm Mund Americas, the ballot-splitting trend only started with the advent of competitive elections in the late 1990s.

“There have been split votes or divided ballots ever since competitive elections started about 10 years ago,” he said in a phone interview.

“In a number of states where the PAN and the PRI have been strong ... alternancy in power, that is, throw the bum out, give the other guy a chance, was almost immediately established”

Regardless of whom they selected, most voters tempered their enthusiasm when explaining their choices, often saying, “It was the least worst option.”

From the Guadalajara Reporter

VIEWPOINT: They call this a Green Party?

Analysis from the Guadalajara Reporter



Due to a proportional representation system known as plurinominal, the recent Mexican elections ushered another loathsome batch of politicians into the federal Congress and Senate. And perhaps no politician in the group is more loathsome than Jorge Emilio Gonzalez Martinez, a.k.a Niño Verde (Green Child), flag bearer for the PVEM (Green Party), a small political player that at times shows an appalling disregard for the environment.

Niño Verde returned to Congress after a six-year stint in the Senate and will now occupy a seat set aside for the PVEM, which the party won by forging a calamitous partnership with the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The PRI stumbled badly this time around, but through a coalition dubbed, "The Alliance for Mexico," the Green Party claimed a portion of the PRI's 122 Congress seats and 39 Senate seats. The Greens previously allied with President Vicente Fox and his National Action Party (PAN), but later parted company.

As the son of the PVEM founder, Niño Verde has represented the party in various legislative bodies since 1994, leading critics to accuse the PVEM of being a money-making enterprise, instead of an environmental advocate or political party. Two years ago, Niño Verde was caught on film being offered a bribe in exchange for supporting a controversial development in the Cancun area. (On the tape, Niño Verde was apparently never seen strenuously objecting to the offer; some viewers interpreted his behaviour as negotiating.)

Left-wing newspaper La Jornada branded the PVEM, "A profitable family business disguised as a political party."

Mexico's election authority (IFE) funds political parties. According to columnist Barnard Thompson, the PVEM raked in 1.3 billion pesos ($130 million) of federal money from 1997 – 2004.

The plurinominal system is responsible for assigning 40 percent of the 500 congress seats and guarantees spots for minor parties reaching a certain vote threshold. The parties put forward lists of aspirants, who are accountable to their political handlers and never constituents. Niño Verde's name always ranks high on his party's list of congressional choices.

Other PVEM candidates received even less acclaim than Niño Verde. PVEM congressman Jorge Kahwagi, moonlighted as a professional boxer and skipped work for a month several years back to participate in the Mexican version of the television series Big Brother. He reportedly collected his usual congressional pay cheque while appearing on TV. Congress members earn lavish annual salaries of approximately $150,000 for working two three-month sessions in addition to receiving lavish aguinaldos (Christmas bonuses). Attendance records are generally poor.

Congress has been badly split since 1997 – no thanks to the plurinominal – as legislators indulged personal and partisan feuds instead of working cooperatively. Reelection is forbidden, meaning allegiances lie with party bosses.

Whoever is finally declared winner in the presidential race must untangle the legislative gridlock. The odds of success are poor, meaning the country will most likely languish in mediocrity for another six years instead of passing necessary labour, tax and judicial reforms.

The plurinominal's hideous outcomes might give pause to advocates of proportional representation. As for the PVEM, the miserable status quo bodes well for it – and poorly for the environment.

Dr. Simi strikes out - again

The Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federacion (TEPJF) rejected discount drug baron and want-to-be presidential candidate Victor Gonzalez Torres' bid for a vote-by-vote recount. Best known for his chain of discount drug stores, which sell generic pharmaceuticals dubbed: similares, Torres - a.k.a. Dr. Simi - ran as an unregistered independent candidate, who pleaded with voters to write his name on the ballot. For more than a year, he plastered his image on billboards along with campy slogans like, "Simi and the people will never be defeated," and, "To serve God and the people." He garnered little attention, except when he tried to crash the presidential debates.

Mexican electoral law requires all candidates to affiliate with a political party. Along with keeping Torres out of the race, the Federal Electoral Institute mandate also sidelined former foreign relations secretary Jorge Casteñeda's independent bid.

The campesino wing of the Alternativa party advanced Torres, a playboy millionaire, as their nominee. The majority of party members, however, opted for Patricia Mercado. After a calamitous feud, the IFE iced Dr. Simi's presidential aspirations. Dr. Simi rebuked the ruling, blaming, among others, big pharmaceutical companies and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who championed the cause of the poor during the campaign, a constituency Dr. Simi also courted. Torres had offered to fund the Alternativa campaign with his own money - something unusual in Mexico, where the IFE often doles out generous subsidies to registered parties.

The Alternativa's campesino wing eventually backed Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate Roberto Madrazo, while Mercado, who raised contentious social issues like drug legalization and gay rights in her low-budget campaign, led her party to a respectable fourth-place finish that guaranteed seats in the federal Congress and continued registration with the IFE.

If nothing else, Torres would have added color and comic relief to a far-too-long election campaign. The current aftermath, though, with its protests and clumsy vote-rigging allegations, tops anything Dr. Simi might have brought to the race.

Taco trucks targeted in anti-immigrant backlash

I've been eating a straight-taco diet ever since arriving in Guadalajara 18 months ago. The taco stands I frequent serve up cheap fare for ridiculously-low prices. And I can't seem to remember ever falling ill afterwards. (Actually, the worst illness came after eating a can of tuna at home.) Some of these businesses rake in lots of lana (cash). In fact, a good taco stand is a gold mine and Mexicans generally like to patronize places with long lines. (As a friend explained, when he first saw a crowd at a taco stand he now frequents: "I figured it was either really good or really cheap.")

Now anti-immigrant politicians are cracking down on taco trucks north of the border. This is completely underhanded - and dare I say racist. Gwinnett County, Georgia outlawed mobile taco vendors, a move a local politician said would curb "Gypsy-fication" in the region. Politicians in Nashville apparently passed a similar motion, but it at least grandfathered existing trucks.

As my buddy Drew Johnson, director of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research in Nashville, observed, "All of the racist (idiots) complain about Mexicans coming to Nashville and not working.

"And then the same (people) restrict opportunities for entrepreneurship in the Hispanic community."