By RICARDO CASTILLO The Baja California state electoral controversy may have finally come to an end. Late Tuesday, July 23, the Baja state congress met at the municipality of Rosarito Beach to confirm that the governance period for Governor-elect Jaime Bonilla Valdéz from two to five years is valid. Early the next day, the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) in
Read more
By RICARDO CASTILLO The Baja California state Congress majority vote to extend from two to five years the tenure of governor-elect Jaime Bonilla Valdéz is an issue that promises to reshape Mexican politics. (For background info, see my July 15 article on this news item.) Many are against the extension, while others defend it not just because it is the
Read more
By RICARDO CASTILLO The candidates of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO)National Regeneration Movement (Morena) for the states of Baja California and Puebla, Jaime Bonilla Valdez and Miguel Barbosa Huerta, respectively, walked away with resounding victories over their competitors for the gubernatorial races on Sunday, June 2. In Baja California, a state that had been governed by the conservative
Read more
By RICARDO CASTILLO The rumblings of the upcoming Constitutional Wars are growing thunderous in Mexico’s cloudy political skies. Over the past two weeks, the group of 12 National Action Party (PAN) governors across the nation are threatening a rebellion against the “dictatorship” of President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and his majority in both houses of Congress through the National
Read more
By RICARDO CASTILLO It was 30 years ago that Mexico took a veritable turn towards becoming a democratic system. At the time, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) still ruled the nation. Yet the man who became president on Dec. 1, 1988, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, noticed that the lights had changed and that the PRI had to let go of
Read more
By RICARDO CASTILLO Unwittingly, Mexico has now returned to the exact same quagmire that it revolted against more than 70 years ago: the one-party political system. Today, the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) has both the presidency and a majority control in both houses of Congress, winning 53 percent of the vote in the July 1 elections. For at least the next three years, whatever
Read more
By RICARDO CASTILLO In the ongoing Mexican election campaign battle, it’s supposed to be time for the lull before the storm. Except, it isn’t. During this intermediate period between the pre-campaign that came from Dec. 14 to Feb. 11, pre-candidates made known their intentions of running for office. Right now, in the “inter-campaigns” period, the now officially nominated candidates are not allowed to
Read more