On politics, elections and illegal immigration

As I write this article Rick Santorum has just beaten Mitt Romney (we wrote about his family a while back) in both Missouri as well as Minnesota. Although no delegates were at stake there, it does make the race for GOP nomination more interesting. It would have been rather boring to see Mitt Romney trample his fellow GOP contenders just like that anyway. For now, Santorum gets to wear the momentum hat for a while and who knows what the next primary will bring us (Maine, with 24 delegates).

Romney is likely to win the nomination after all, because of the simple fact that he´s richer than the others. Being rich simply gets you places. Santorum isn´t as rich, but has the backing of an extremely rich Wyoming cowboy with a name that sounds like a McDonald´s menu. The only person thinking Newt Gingrich is the best option is Gingrich himself.

Now, what does that have to do with Mexico? We didn´t name ourselves Voice of Mexico to chitchat exclusively about the United States, obviously. At first sight, it benefits latinos if Barack Obama remains in the White House. In 2008 he scooped up a nice 67% of Latino votes. That must mean that he actually cares about them. But does he really?

Using statistics provided by the Pew Hispanic Center (all these guys do is gather statistics about Latinos and write reports about it, we love them) it´s interesting to see that Obama is actually responsible for an increase in deportations. Or as they prefer to call it, ´removals´. While George W. Bush peaked at 319,000 removals in 2007, Obama´s record stands at 395,000 in 2010. Yes, we can deport you! Almost 60% of Latino voters disapproves of Obama´s way of handling this issue.

Of the 395,000 removed illegal aliens in 2010, 97% were Hispanics, of which 73% were Mexicans. That means almost 280,000 Mexicans were sent back south involuntarily. Another 19% are Central Americans (almost 73,000).

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To legalize or not to legalize.... part 1046

As we wrote earlier we do not support legalizing drugs. It just doesn’t seem to be the solution. If you can’t control it, just legalize it? Wouldn’t want to be living in Mexico when they decide to legalize killing people, because they can´t stop it…

However, I do support discussing the problem. It has been brought up numerous times. Former Mexican president Vicente Fox did it, after retiring. Colombia’s Juan Manuel Santos said he would consider supporting it, if everyone else would. And now there is Otto Perez Molina, Guatemala’s recently installed president.

He boldly states he will propose to his counterparts in the region to actually legalize drugs, without conditions. Production, transportation,  commercialization. Let the narcos go right ahead and do whatever they want. Quite a thing to say for the guy who won the elections by saying he would hardhandedly clean up the country, mano dura! But is it really as stupid as it sounds? And does it sound stupid at all?

Perez Molina surely knows it will not happen. It’s that simple. The United States are strongly against it and as we all know, they call quite a lot, if not all, of the shots in the region. Regardless, Perez will be officially proposing the legalization of drugs to the fellow members of SICA (Central American Integration System, in English). The presidents of the SICA member states (Central American countries and the Dominican Republic) usually gather once every six months, to discuss current affairs in the region.

The next meeting will probably be held as late as June or July, but Perez seems to have already started campaigning. During a visit to Guatemala Mauricio Funes of El Salvador stated he had listened to Perez Molina’s proposal and wasn’t initially for it nor against it. On his way back to El Salvador he apparently gave it a lot of thought (or received a phone call from the United States), because upon arrival in San Salvador he declared that he opposes the legalization of drugs.

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AMLO's chances: much to win and everything to lose

With six months to go to the elections, political parties in Mexico are ready to start their campaign. The PRI is still on the forefront, but is their victory inevitable? In the next few days Voic of Mexico will look into the chances of the three main contenders. We start of with the PRD and their candidate Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Unity, unity, unity. It’s the one word that should define the campaign of PRD-candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) for the months to come. The PRD, currently a distant third in the race for the presidency in July, appears to fight a lost battle from the beginning, but not all that not glitters is lead.

When AMLO won the battle against his less polemic and more liberal opponent Marcelo Ebrard for the left’s candidacy, many argued it was the wrong choice. True enough, AMLO has some serious problems: the majority of Mexicans know him better than any other candidate, but no one has a higher degree of ‘negative popularity’ than the former government leader of the Federal District. AMLO was largely responsible for the divisions in his own party in recent years and left a bad aftertaste with many Mexicans after his defeat in 2006, his famous ‘to hell with the institutions’ and the occupation of Mexico City.

His credentials as a democrat have been doubtful too. He consistently played his own party by refusing to give up his membership, while showering the PRD-leadership with ultimatum after ultimatum, refusing to accept any democratic process that would not result in his favor.

However, something has changed in recent weeks.

AMLO has toned down his rhetoric, while beefing his PR-efforts with sectors that matter. Those most fearful of him, small- and medium sized entrepreneurs, were reached out to recently by an AMLO who reassured them that he poses no threat to businesses. And to be fair: ideologically he never did. His radical image was never based on a supposed communist/socialist ideology or anything or the sort, but rather on his polemic way of communicating and his constant attacks on the ‘chuchos’, those within the PRD who would rather side with Ebrard and whom he considered bigger political enemies after Jesús Ortega’s election as party president than even the PAN.

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