By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas |...The campaigning and gunfire is over. How many local candidates were assassinated? Too many. But Mexicans go to the polls today to cast votes for their next president.
It's been a wild ride, again full of pride and murder.
Well, how many? Try picturing 37 candidates dead and gone. Most of them were seeking mayoral jobs, some killed at their own rallies. Jose Alfredo Cabrera, candidate for mayor of Coyuca de Benitez in the state of Guerrero, was gunned down as he approached a podium to give his closing speech.
Ricardo Arizmendi, candidate for mayor of Cuautla, Morelos, was shot in the head five times while in his office. No arrests as yet for either shooting. The brazen killings also led to campaign withdrawals by 515 candidates. And, according to a news release issued by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), 3,000 military troops are guarding at least 500 candidates across the country.
Many Mexicans readily blame the drug cartels for the violence. Others blame the Mexican military.
But Mexico will buck-up and vote.
This from MexicoNewsDaily.com: [ . . . .Mexico’s three presidential candidates held their final campaign events on Wednesday, four days before millions of Mexicans go to the polls to elect a successor to President López Obrador.
Claudia Sheinbaum, 61, the ruling Morena party candidate and the clear frontrunner, drew more than half a million people to Mexico City’s main square, the Zócalo, for her cierre de campaña, or campaign closure, according to the Mexico City government.
Her main rival, Xóchitl Gálvez of the three-party Strength and Heart for Mexico opposition bloc, made her final campaign address in her hometown of Tepatepec, Hidalgo, but before that she spoke in front of more than 20,000 people at a packed Arena Monterrey in the capital of the northern border state of Nuevo León.
The third candidate, Jorge Álvarez Máynez of the Citizens Movement party, closed his campaign with a music festival-style event at a Mexico City concert venue. ]
In Mexico, a president serves a single 6-year term...
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ReplyDeleteI'd be afraid to run for any government office in Mexico, about half of them are murdered right around election time. That place is muy loco.
ReplyDeleteYou said it.
DeleteSi no votas por Claudia - ¡NO ERES MAY HEE KAHN O!
ReplyDeleteIt will all come down to who the Cartels can control. With a large portion of the population not very educated, you have only about 3 or 4 families who have any corporate wealth who handle industry, leaving the cartels who will control the President and pay better. So, in short, they control the federal police, the military and the oil and leaving the population to still live in fear.
ReplyDeleteSheinbaum will continue to protect Mexico’s sovereignty from the historically hostile neighbor that stole 55% of its territory, that now destabilizes its government by funding and arming the (CIA created) cartels.
ReplyDeleteIs that so difficult to understand?
Knowing how chauvinistic and macho Mexican men are, this will not bode well for a female president. The drug cartels will walk all over her and make her nothing but a mere figurehead with no power. In the end, it really doesn't matter who is the president. The cartels pull the strings, and everyone follows.
ReplyDeleteMexico today is a democracy with a peaceful transfer of power between parties and broadly successful elections. And the U.S.? ha ha ha ha ha
ReplyDeleteI recently saw a post from a person from Scotland who said the best thing about Trump now being a convicted felon is that Trump can no longer come to his country. Wish we could remove him from ours, too.
ReplyDeleteCBS NEWS: The U.S. doesn't allow foreigners with felony convictions to enter the country, and neither do a number of other countries. Allies including the U.K. and Australia have strict restrictions on traveling there as a convicted felon, according to the European Travel Information and Authorization System. Canada, which will be hosing the G7 summit of world leaders in 2025, also has strict requirements for visitors with a criminal history. And felons are banned from entering China.
ReplyDeleteMayra Flores would be perfect for the Morena Party. heh heh
ReplyDeleteShe is "morenita." no blondie - yet!!!
DeleteAbout 675,000 Mexicans living abroad are registered to vote, but in the past only a small percentage have done so.
ReplyDeleteNew poll finds 49% of independents and 15% of Republicans think Trump should end campaign after conviction
ReplyDeleteAdelante, Mejico!!!
ReplyDeleteSupport our great President Biden and vice president Kamala Harris Now more than ever.......Vote blue 2024
ReplyDeleteWhat - no convicted felon running in Mexico?
ReplyDeleteGood one!
DeleteJudge Merchan isn't being fair to the people for not locking the convicted criminal up. Anyone of us would be in handcuffs and sent to prison immediately after the sentencing.
ReplyDeleteI think the problems in Mexico are obvious. I believe the remedy is as well. At this point, it doesn't matter who does it, but making Mexico safe, should be a priority, a collective effort. People will return home, Mexico, and its industry will thrive. Win-win.
ReplyDeleteit's amazing how the U.S. has fallen with the MAGA Republican Party. Criminals running for president? My, my. And we used to criticize Mexico. Mexico will build the wall!!!
ReplyDeleteYeah, on their side!!!
DeleteBut more often Mexicans are staying put. They're finding jobs in the hundreds of assembly plants that send car parts, pacemakers, respirators, computers and Christmas lights to the U.S., or they're working in the booming tourist ports from Puerto Vallarta to Cancun.
ReplyDeleteIn Mexico, the hundreds of thousands of migrants pushing north to the U.S. border are increasingly from somewhere else.