Mexico’s former ruling party stumbles in struggle to find new leader
Mexico’s largest party struggled on Wednesday to find a compromise choice for its top leadership post following a bitter falling-out between the two highest-ranking officials of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.
The confusion reflected internal disputes within the once-monolithic party, in which current party president Roberto Madrazo appears poised to roll over the competition for the 2006 presidential nomination.
As nearly 1,000 delegates chanted “Unity! Unity!” at the PRI’s cavernous Mexico City headquarters, Madrazo clasped hands with Arturo Montiel, the only other major contender for the 2006 nomination, and claimed the party was “on the verge of returning” to the presidency it held without interruption from 1929 to 2000.
“Today, we have a clear chance at winning back what we are all interested in, what belongs to us – the presidency,” Montiel told the crowd.
But the choreographed show of unity could not cover the bitter divisions that have forced the PRI to veer away from its normal chain of command.
Second-in-charge Elba Esther Gordillo publicly broke earlier this week with Madrazo, who must step down as party president because he is running for the nomination; party members have said they want an impartial leadership to oversee the primary elections.
Gordillo said Madrazo had no respect for democracy, wanted to assure himself of the nomination and was breaking party rules to impose a party leader of his own choosing.
Gordillo did not attend the Wednesday leadership meeting and some of her followers in the national teacher’s union have founded a new party.
Mexicos Calderon marked by struggle for religious freedom
The roots of Felipe Calderons likely ascent to Mexicos presidency lie in one of the darkest periods of the countrys history, when the public expression of religion was banned, Roman Catholic churches and chapels were closed and priests were forbidden to wear clerical garb or voice opinions on public affairs.
Calderons father was among the many who took up arms in defense of the church, and it was that sense of persecution that led him in 1939 to join with other conservative Catholics to found the National Action Party, or PAN in its
Mexico’s PRI faces a bitter battle over leadership
A bitter battle for succession is threatening to split Mexico's former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) as its governing council meets on Wednesday to vote on a new leader.
The party, which ruled Mexico for 71 years before the victory of Vicente Fox, the president, in 2000, still has more members of Congress and more state governors than any other, and the rupture could possibly affect its chances of regaining the presidency next year.
The next party president will have the power to set the rules for the PRI primary, which could affect Roberto
Mexico's Former Ruling Party Leads Vote
Mexico's former ruling party Sunday had a strong lead in northern Coahuila state's gubernatorial race, the last state election before next summer's presidential poll.
With nearly 20 percent of the vote counted late Sunday, Humberto Moreira had 57 percent, compared to 35 percent for Jorge Zermeno, a 56-year-old lawyer and senator running with President Vicente Fox's National Action Party.
A victory by Moreira would serve as another boost for his Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which controlled Mexico's presidency from 1929 until losing to Fox in 2000.
The PRI has already shown resilience this year,
Leader of largest Mexican labor union coalition dies
Leonardo Rodriguez Alcaine, the leader of Mexico's largest and most politically influential labor organization, died today at a hospital in Mexico City from a heart illness, union officials said. He was 86.
Rodriguez Alcaine served as secretary-general of the Mexican Workers' Confederation since the death in 1997 of Fidel Vazquez, the iron-fisted boss who dominated Mexico's union movement since the late 1930s.
Under Rodriguez Alcaine, the confederation maintained close ties to Mexico's former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which held the presidency from 1929 until President Vicente Fox's election in 2000.
When Fox addressed
Mexico: Lopez Obrador Will Not Accept Election Ruling Favoring Calderón
Mexicos top electoral court has thrown out allegations of massive fraud in last months presidential election, handing almost certain victory to conservative Felipe Calderón.
Leftist challenger Andrés Manuel López Obrador says the judges unanimous rejection of his complaints is offensive and unacceptable for millions of Mexicans. He vowed not to recognize a government led by Calderón and the ruling National Action Party.
The seven-judge Federal Electoral Tribunal reported it examined 375 challenges to the July 2 election, and discarded about one-half of one percent of the 41 million ballots, due to irregularities. The
Venezuelas Chavez says normal relations with Mexico impossible
CARACAS, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said Sunday it was impossible for Venezuela to maintain normal diplomatic relations with Mexico because president-elect Felipe Calderon led a smear campaign against Venezuela.
The Venezuelan leader also called Calderons election victory doubtful, suggesting the candidate belonging to Mexicos ruling National Action Party defeated leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador by resorting to fraud.
How is the Mexican president going to hope that we have good personal (and) political relations? Its impossible, said Chavez, speaking during a television interview.
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Mexicos sore loser
If the turmoil following Mexicos July 2 presidential election has shown anything, it is that Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the leftist candidate who narrowly lost, cares little about his nations fragile democracy.
What other explanation is there for his claims of widespread voter fraud, refuted by Tuesdays unanimous ruling from Mexicos respected election court? How else should one interpret his current status as commander of a ragtag army of protesters intent on blocking streets and disrupting commerce, government and daily life?
López Obradors protests have cost him dearly. A poll in late August by the Reforma newspaper showed that his
Mexico's Madrazo Wins Court Battle Against Party Foe Gordillo
Mexican presidential hopeful Roberto Madrazo won a legal battle against a party foe as the nation's electoral court confirmed one of his allies as president of his Institutional Revolutionary Party, Mexico's biggest.
The electoral court yesterday dismissed a motion by Elba Esther Gordillo, the party's executive secretary, to oust Madrazo's ally from the party's presidency, according to a statement on the court's Web site. The decision is final.
Gordillo had argued before the court that by party statutes she should be made party president, succeeding Madrazo after he stepped down to
MEXICO CITY - Five years after a historic election triumph, Mexican President Vicente Fox remains popular despite a slow economy and his failure to beat violent drug gangs on the U.S. border.
A poll by the Reforma newspaper released on Thursday gave Fox a 61 percent approval rating, his highest in more than two years.
Fox has fallen short of promises to create millions more jobs and spur economic growth since he ended 71 years of one-party rule in 2000.
And while Fox claims to be winning the war on narcotics traffickers, drug-related killings have blighted northern Mexican cities.
But the former Coca-Cola executive
Factions fighting over Mexico presidency candidates
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who left his job as Mexico City’s mayor in July to run for president, is currently favored to win the nomination of the Party of Democratic Revolution (PRD). But the party, originally formed through the alliance of several small leftist parties and dissidents who split from the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), as well as the candidate himself, have been charged with corruption by Subcomandante Marcos, leader of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN).
According to Mexico Labor News, Marcos said that a vote for López Obrador would be little
