1. A look at local numbers reveals the breadth of #MORENA's victory in last Sunday's #Mexican midterms. Of the 19 state legislatures won, in 5 of them it swept *every single seat*; in 7 more it won between 70-80%.
2. These super-majorities will give #MORENA the power to amend state constitutions, enshrining labor, women's & social rights. As most crimes are state level, it'll also allow legislatures to pass amnesty measures for non-violent "offenses" such as drug possession and abortion.
3. In 2019, the #MORENA-majority legislature in #Oaxaca surprised the nation by legalizing abortion. With the party now set to govern 19 states, it can take the lead on key issues at the state level, pushing the federal party to act where it won't alone.
4. In #Tamaulipas, meanwhile, the new MORENA majority will strip Governor Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca of his political immunity in order for him to face justice for charges of fraud. The previous PAN-dominated legislature had been protecting him.
After suffering through various forms of fraud in election after election, #Mexican voters are fighting back: here, in Nacozari de García, Sonora, citizens stopped municipal employees from the conservative PAN from attempting to buy votes with foodstuffs.
Unfortunately, in other parts of the country, these practices continue unabated.
Here, Cándido Coheto, legislative candidate for the #PRI-#PAN coalition in Villa Alta, #Oaxaca, demands a helicopter come to deliver money to buy votes or "we're screwed."
Still in #Oaxaca, a truck and warehouse were discovered with more foodstuffs allegedly for vote-buying by the #PRI in the Colonia Jardín neighborhood.
While thousands of #Mexican poor languish in prisons for months or years before ever getting to a trial, a judge in #Tamaulipas grants Governor Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca an injunction against the federal arrest warrant out for him.
Cabeza de Vaca, of the conservative #PAN party, is accused of some $6.5 million pesos' worth of fraud and diversion of resources, purportedly used to rack up a series of luxury properties. He is also suspected of ties with the Sinaloa Cartel.
The Federal Congress stripped him of his political immunity in order to clear the way for a trial. But the state legislature in Tamaulipas has refused to recognize the order and is protecting him, even sending armed vehicles to guard his residence.
1. #PRI's gonna PRI: the candidate for governor of the State of Nuevo León, Mexico is trying to buy votes.
Adrián de la Garza's campaign has distributed pink debit cards, promising women a bimonthly stipend will be deposited into it if he wins.
2. Electoral law is crystal clear in this respect. Article 7 imposes fines and a sentence of six months to three years in prison for those who (Section VI) "seek votes through payment, promise of money or other compensation."
(*Click on image to see full page.*)
3. At his press conference denouncing the act, AMLO asked, "Where's the INE?"
Answer: busy contradicting itself. Here's @CiroMurayamaINE saying one thing in 2017 and the exact opposite in 2021, even though the law on this is even clearer now than then.
1. *BREAKING* #Mexico has sent a diplomatic note to the #UnitedStates asking it to clarify its financing of the political opposition by means of donations from @USAID and @NEDemocracy to the organization "Mexicanos contra la Corrupción y la impunidad."
2. At #AMLO's morning press conference, he laid out a graphic detailing some $36,344,384 pesos ($1.8 million US) in donations since 2018.
3. The note was prompted by the following investigation by the magazine @contralinea, whose correspondent raised the subject at yesterday's press conference.
3. US agencies & #Monsanto did a full-court press to stop Mexico from taking action. Leaked #USTR emails complain of “vocal anti-biotechnology activists” in the administration, and that Mexico’s health agency (Cofepris) is “becoming a big-time problem”.
1.) Yesterday, former Mexican president @FelipeCalderon came out complaining that he's being "persecuted."
Today it became clear why: Calderón has been implicated in the massive diversion of public funds to develop Mexico's prison-industrial complex.
2.) Through his then-Security Secretary Genaro García Luna -currently on trial in the US for drug trafficking-, the Calderón administration allegedly diverted some $300 billion pesos ($15 billion US today) into no-bid crony contracts for private prisons.
3.) As I explained here, these long-term, sweetheart contracts (some possessed today by Black Rock) required the government to pay the companies as if they were at full capacity, regardless of whether a single person was in them.