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CHILLIN

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Here is another well written article by the Washington Post about who is this candidate and what is  his campaign agenda. It should make English speakers more calm, in no way is he the Socialist Hugo Chavez of Mexico. In many other countries of the world he would be identified as a Social Democrat.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/if-he-becomes-president-this-man-will-turn-mexicos-white-house-into-a-public-park/2018/06/04/750e4d4a-169e-11e8-930c-45838ad0d77a_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.d9be0244b0a7

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3 hours ago, CHILLIN said:

Here is another well written article by the Washington Post about who is this candidate and what is  his campaign agenda. It should make English speakers more calm, in no way is he the Socialist Hugo Chavez of Mexico. In many other countries of the world he would be identified as a Social Democrat.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/if-he-becomes-president-this-man-will-turn-mexicos-white-house-into-a-public-park/2018/06/04/750e4d4a-169e-11e8-930c-45838ad0d77a_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.d9be0244b0a7

To read this, one must pay.

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23 minutes ago, gringal said:

Some have serious financial concerns.

Everyone I talk to doesn´t want him to win. Financial concerns and he not being connected with anyone really running the business community in Mexico or abroad. Ask Carlos Slim what he thinks of him becoming President. His corruption policy - which isn´t clearly definded - is nieve and will most likely will not go anywhere. IMO

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17 minutes ago, AlanMexicali said:

Everyone I talk to doesn´t want him to win. Financial concerns and he not being connected with anyone really running the business community in Mexico or abroad. Ask Carlos Slim what he thinks of him becoming President. His corruption policy - which isn´t clearly definded - is nieve and will most likely will not go anywhere. IMO

For a country that has been run "forever " by corrupt parties that is fear talking  so lets spread fear on what could happen

  Regardless of titles the PAN, and PRI only resource now that Amlo has such a drematic lead in  the polls ,is not to reflect on their past performancdes but to say Amlo is a boggy man   ,and will lead Mexico down the same path, god forbid, as Venezuela 

Seriously how long can you tolerate a party(s)  that continues to  to lie,steal and cheat their  follow human beings 

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In Chiapas  AMLO allied with people from the party Verde and in reality Verde is running  under the name of MORENA and probaby will govern the State. will probably govern the State.. Meanwhile Verde name the maire of Tuxtla its  candidate and pulled him away from an alliance with PRI.. It shoud put a nail on the verde  candidate and help MORENA to win.. but they are nothing but the Verde with a MORENA skin.. so the more it changes and the more it remains the same...

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4 hours ago, AlanMexicali said:

Everyone I talk to doesn´t want him to win. Financial concerns and he not being connected with anyone really running the business community in Mexico or abroad. Ask Carlos Slim what he thinks of him becoming President. His corruption policy - which isn´t clearly definded - is nieve and will most likely will not go anywhere. IMO

I talk to many, many people during the course of any week: taxi drivers, market vendors, the person next to me on the Metrobús, the man-or-woman on the street.  Ordinary working people all. 

I always ask them, "Y qué tal las elecciones?"  All but two of the dozens and dozens of people I've talked with plan to vote for "tú sabes quien..." i.e., the way we refer to AMLO.  Everybody is sick to death of both PRI and PAN and would rather take their chances with him.

Looks like you and I must talk with different people, AlanMexicali.

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Just now, More Liana said:

I talk to many, many people during the course of any week: taxi drivers, market vendors, the person next to me on the Metrobús, the man-or-woman on the street.  Ordinary working people all. 

I always ask them, "Y qué tal las elecciones?"  All but two of the dozens and dozens of people I've talked with plan to vote for "tú sabes quien..." i.e., the way we refer to AMLO.  Everybody is sick to death of both PRI and PAN and would rather take their chances with him.

Looks like you and I must talk with different people, AlanMexicali.

We do talk to different people than you do. People on the other end of the spectrum concerned about their positions and investments and would not like to see Mexico decline instead of keep advancing economically. Would rather have someone as President who has connections and support in the business sector and understands economics, the importance of foreign investment and why and how the current administration's reforms helped not hindered the economy, education system, tax collecting, energy sector, telecommunications, Judical system, etc..

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What I think ordinary people see is a county given over to narcos, corruption and graft to the point where those things can no longer be ignored and a radical change is needed.  Getting rid of corruption just might be good for business rather than otherwise.

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1 hour ago, gringal said:

What I think ordinary people see is a county given over to narcos, corruption and graft to the point where those things can no longer be ignored and a radical change is needed.  Getting rid of corruption just might be good for business rather than otherwise.

That's what is driving this whole thing and unless this is wildly wrong AMLO is the next Presidente of Mexico slam dunk:

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/electoral-model-indicates-92-probability-that-amlo-will-win-election/

As we've seen in other places nearby, the losers have six million reasons other than themselves as to why this is happening.  The PRI is hopelessly corrupt at all levels, the PAN is hopelessly inept even at corruption and made nothing of the two opportunities they've had to make real change, the narcos and other criminals are out of control and the people have had it. 

Their only weapon to fight back is the ballot box and all indications are they are going to use it.

There are credible estimates this country is losing up to 10% of its GNP to corruption.  As has been noted and referenced here previously, Mexico is now #1 on the Corruption Hit Parade in Latin America.

No mystery here, that's what this election is all about.  My personal feeling is AMLO isn't a stupid guy and I think these predictions of another Venezuela are just so much self serving hog wash from the grossly failed political and business establishments here.  I think tossing out the PRI/PAN thieves is a decent gamble starting right here at the local level and going all the way to the top.

 

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3 hours ago, AlanMexicali said:

We do talk to different people than you do. People on the other end of the spectrum concerned about their positions and investments and would not like to see Mexico decline instead of keep advancing economically. Would rather have someone as President who has connections and support in the business sector and understands economics, the importance of foreign investment and why and how the current administration's reforms helped not hindered the economy, education system, tax collecting, energy sector, telecommunications, Judical system, etc..

Why doesn't the "business sector" start by paying living wages?  If they understand economics as well as you think it should be obvious that a population with money to spend is good for society and their business.  That is the indisputable lesson of the success of the U.S., Canada and Europe, a large and prosperous middle class creates stability and prosperity for everyone from the top down.

An economy built on bare subsistence wages in sweat shops isn't advancing anywhere.

There's a stock market saying about pigs getting fat but hogs get slaughtered.  There's a lot of hogs running around in business and government these days that seem to have forgotten this basic truism.

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Well put, MC.  Any time there's no prospering middle class in a country, it goes downhill.  Perhaps the narcos could be considered "middle class" in a country where it's one of the few alternatives to being among the poor.  Sadly.😪

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1 hour ago, gringal said:

Well put, MC.  Any time there's no prospering middle class in a country, it goes downhill.  Perhaps the narcos could be considered "middle class" in a country where it's one of the few alternatives to being among the poor.  Sadly.😪

Well, gringal, people here in every class think the narcos have more money and more power than the government.  IMHO and in the opinions of many others, the narcos run the government.  Tú sabes quien will be a strong change. 

I can't stop thinking of Donaldo Colosio, though--and given that that party (and the leader of that party) still head up the country, I believe that there is reason for concern.  On Saturday June 2, four political candidates--all women--were assassinated in various parts of Mexico.  Earlier this spring, several male candidates were assassinated.  

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Just now, More Liana said:

Well, gringal, people here in every class think the narcos have more money and more power than the government.  IMHO and in the opinions of many others, the narcos run the government.  Tú sabes quien will be a strong change. 

I can't stop thinking of Donaldo Colosio, though--and given that that party (and the leader of that party) still head up the country, I believe that there is reason for concern.  On Saturday June 2, four political candidates--all women--were assassinated in various parts of Mexico.  Earlier this spring, several male candidates were assassinated.  

I wouldn't bet on AMLO reaching a ripe old age. 

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sorry Gringal - I am trying to paste, it's an important story, written the Washington Post bureau chief in Mexico city (CDMX)

Quote

 

If he becomes president, this man will turn Mexico’s White House into a public park

 
 
 
by Joshua Partlow June 4 at 4:32 PM Email the author
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Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the front-runner in Mexico’s presidential race, speaks at a campaign event on April 20 in Mexico City. (Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

MEXICO CITY — If Andrés Manuel López Obrador has his way, Mexican political life will soon get a whole lot stingier.

The front-runner to be the next president of Mexico says he will not live in Los Pinos, the lush and landscaped presidential palace, but turn the grounds into a public park.

He says he will not set foot on the $218 million presidential airplane — calling it an offensive “palace for the skies”— but sell the entire fleet of government planes and helicopters.

His salary will be less than half that of the current president, ­Enrique Peña Nieto. And the “luxurious” pensions of former presidents and their teams? López Obrador will slash them.

“Not even Obama gets that kind of pension,” he has said.

In Mexico, a country famously stained by corruption, López Obrador is running as Mr. Clean. This year, the political stars have aligned to his benefit — he has a commanding lead in the polls ahead of the July 1 vote — primarily because of outrage over corruption.

López Obrador has been a fixture on the Mexican left for decades, mostly as an agitator against the dominant parties and political elites, who fear his economic agenda and his tendency to rally the masses for his causes. López Obrador burnished his reputation for austerity during a stint as Mexico City mayor more than a decade ago, living in a modest apartment and driving a Nissan sedan — a stark contrast to many top Mexican politicians who live in mansions. His strategy for fighting corruption now, as then, is essentially to lead by example.

His administration, he says, will punish the fraudulent, slash perks of power and recoup the $25 billion in government funds he estimates is stolen every year, funneling it into development projects and social programs for the poor.

In a speech earlier this year, López Obrador said he wanted to “moralize public life.”

“We are going to get rid of the luxuries of government,” he said.

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Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador, center, attends a rally in Tijuana on Jan. 30. (Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty Images)

This approach, however, strikes many corruption experts as naive and misguided. When he promises to cut salaries of top officials, they see a policy that would encourage bureaucrats to supplement lost income in illicit ways. Civil society leaders say Mexico needs structural reforms to root out corruption, such as establishing an independent attorney general.

“López Obrador has not made any serious proposals about corruption,” said María Amparo Casar, executive president of Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, a nonprofit group. “To think that an individual at the top of the pyramid, the president, says by decree that this is going to disappear, when it’s a phenomenon that permeates the entire public administration, it’s difficult to believe.”

Even worse, some opponents see the candidate as a messianic strongman in the making, who would use the anti-corruption campaign to consolidate power or prosecute political enemies.

[‘You can’t appease tyrants and bullies’: Mexican candidates take hard line on Trump]

But López Obrador is riding a wave of discontent. Before the last election, many voters had hoped that by bringing back the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) — which ruled Mexico from 1929 to 2000 — the government would restore order amid a raging drug war. Not only has violence gotten worse, but there has been a resurgence of the type of cronyism and graft that defined the party before Mexico’s transition to democracy.

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Angélica Rivera, left, the wife of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, arrives at the Zarzuela Palace on April 25 in Madrid. (Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images)

Peña Nieto’s wife purchased a multimillion-dollar mansion from a government contractor. Emilio Lozoya, who helped run Peña Nieto’s campaign and then led Pemex, the state-owned oil company, has fought allegations that he received millions of dollars in bribes from a Brazilian construction giant. Several former PRI governors are facing corruption charges.

These scandals have hurt the chances of the PRI candidate, José Antonio Meade, who is running in third place in recent polls. Ricardo Anaya, who represents a right-left alliance, is second.

During Peña Nieto’s term, Mexico has fallen 30 rungs in Transparency International’s world corruption ranking, plummeting past countries such as Sierra Leone, Burma and Azerbaijan into the murky bottom quarter of the world’s most corrupt governments.

López Obrador insists that he is the man to change that.

“His primary achievement is that there is no one who can call him corrupt,” said Ricardo Monreal, one of his top campaign advisers. “They can call him crazy, a messiah, but nobody can say he is a thief.”

Window into leadership style

As a young man, López Obrador worked as an advocate for the indigenous in his home state of Tabasco, along Mexico’s gulf coast. He lived in a dirt-floored shack in a rural village with no electricity and helped oversee public works. He later worked with a federal consumer rights agency.

He joined the PRI but broke away to join a leftist party in the 1980s. He won the mayoralty of Mexico City in 2000, his only electoral victory.

This mayoral period offers a window into how he might put into practice his oratory about fighting the “mafias of power” in Mexico.

The municipal government that he inherited was riddled with corruption, according to several former members of his administration, who blamed years of PRI dominance. One of his top aides, José Agustín Ortiz Pinchetti, recalled touring vast warehouses filled with government-purchased chairs, apparently acquired only to provide kickbacks. He said that bureaucrats in the tax collection offices routinely siphoned off money.

“I saw unbelievable things,” Ortiz Pinchetti recalled.

Whether it was backroom deals with governors or payoffs to union bosses, corruption had been built into the way the PRI ruled Mexico for decades, a system intended to co-opt segments of society with benefits and perpetuate the ruling class. López Obrador’s message has long focused on breaking that system.

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Mexico City Mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, right, shakes hands with then-President Vicente Fox, left, during a ceremony in Los Pinos in Mexico City on Feb. 5, 2002. (Ismael Rojas/AP)

During his five-year tenure as mayor, López Obrador eliminated hundreds of jobs from the bureaucracy. He cut the salaries of his top aides and raised the pay of lower-ranking employees.

As part of his austerity push, city aides lost bodyguards, personal secretaries and government-issued cellphones. International trips and expense-account meals were cut back, former officials said.

“I had 65 advisers, and he reduced them to five,” said Ortiz Pinchetti, who served as government affairs minister for three years.

Aides described these measures as a way to free up money for social programs but also to present to the working-class poor — the backbone of López Obrador’s political support — an image of thrift. Those who have worked alongside López Obrador compare him to José Mujica, the former Uruguayan president, who lived on a ramshackle farm and donated most of his salary to charity.

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López Obrador now lives in a middle-class neighborhood in southern Mexico City, next to a doctor’s office. On the campaign trail, he flies commercial.

“He’s very frugal,” said Marcelo Ebrard, who served as López Obrador’s police chief and later became Mexico City mayor. “He doesn’t like cars, watches.”

But López Obrador’s zeal to clean up government was also about establishing command, said Ignacio Marvan, an aide during his mayoral term.

“It’s not just morality. You can’t be an efficient and respectable government with these levels of corruption,” said Marvan, now a professor at CIDE, a research university in Mexico City. “You lose authority.”

López Obrador’s municipal administration was perhaps best known for popular social programs, including stipends for single mothers, the elderly and the disabled. These increased government debt, as critics often point out. But by the time he left office, he had balanced the budget.

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Supporters of Andrés Manuel López Obrador attend a rally in Tijuana on Jan. 30. (Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty Images)

López Obrador’s critics see him as an authoritarian who does not tolerate criticism by the media or civic groups. He has said he wants a plebiscite on his rule halfway through his term; critics note how such votes have been used elsewhere in Latin America to abolish term limits and undermine democratic institutions.

López Obrador’s anti-corruption proposals include establishing stricter penalties for conflicts of interest and corruption violations, and providing greater transparency into government contracting and finances. But on the stump, he mostly focuses on how he can battle corruption by example.

José Octavio López, who is on a citizens’ committee overseeing the Mexican government’s National Anti-Corruption System, said the idea that López Obrador is a “clean person and automatically things are going to change” is “total BS.”

What is important, he said, are structural changes — like creating an attorney general’s office outside the executive branch.

“What we need are institutions that really are independent,” he said.

Scandals in his own ranks

As mayor, López Obrador was not able to eradicate corruption in city government.

In early 2004, his finance secretary, Gustavo Ponce, was accused of being involved in the disappearance of $3 million in government funds. López Obrador fired Ponce, who was later sentenced to eight years in prison but was released early after a judge ruled that there was a lack of evidence.

In another case, René Bejarano, a member of the city’s legislative assembly and former personal secretary to López Obrador, was caught on video taking $45,000 from a businessman who had won city construction contracts. López Obrador was criticized for blaming the scandal on a conspiracy by political rivals. Bejarano spent eight months in prison before a judge threw out the corruption charges against him.

While López Obrador was not implicated personally in wrongdoing, the scandals tarnished his government’s image.

“He has a reputation as an honest man, but his administration was marked by corruption scandals,” Casar said.

During the campaign, López Obrador has been criticized for naming people dogged by corruption scandals to his team, including a former mining union leader accused of embezzlement. The candidate has responded that he is seeking reconciliation and national unity.

Many López Obrador supporters acknowledge that it will be next to impossible for him to eradicate corruption in Mexico. But they hope he will mark the beginning of a real change.

“How much time is it going to take? Many years. One or two generations,” said Marcos Fastlitch, a prominent businessman who supports López Obrador. “But the longer we wait to start, the longer it will take to clean up.”

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Andrés Manuel López Obrador speaks at an April 20 campaign event in Mexico City. (Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

Gabriela Martinez contributed to this report.

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Unless and until the American and Canadian "customers" of all the s%^t drugs the cartels send north decide sobriety is a better way of life, the cartels will continue to rake in billions of dollars. That money seems to buy sufficient influence among the White Males that run Mexico, regardless of what party label they hide behind.

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59 minutes ago, pappysmarket said:

Unless and until the American and Canadian "customers" of all the s%^t drugs the cartels send north decide sobriety is a better way of life, the cartels will continue to rake in billions of dollars. That money seems to buy sufficient influence among the White Males that run Mexico, regardless of what party label they hide behind.

I doubt that is going to happen.  Another solution has been proposed, but the pedagogues and moralistas can't get behind it:  Make all drugs as legal as the most common mind-altering substance (liquor) and at the same time, fund rehab facilities.  In other words, kill the profit motive that drives the cartel trade.  Right now, anyone who wants drugs can get them, regardless of legality.  Most people know better.  At least, I'd like to think "most".😎

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I'm all for legalizing the use of drugs in one's own home. I am 100% against anyone being taxed to provide rehab facilities for voluntary users of drugs. Take responsibility for your choices and take the consequences. Seeing or hearing about John or Jane passing away due to drug use and no publicly funded treatment help might make some think twice about using. Perhaps not but at least no public money would be wasted on people who make choices that don't turn out so well. I can feel sorry for them without thinking we need to take care of them. If someone can show that they became addicted through nefarious means then fine, that's a health issue. Life is about choices and why should folks who make safer choices have to chip in for those who choose to live dangerously? It's bad enough everyone's health insurance premium is inflated because we call drug addiction, alcoholism, birth control, impotence, sex change operations, abortion and a multitude of other things items that insurance companies have to cover.

YMMV

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