By RICARDO CASTILLO The one sentence that pops out of the first Mexican presidential debate on the evening of last Sunday, April 22, was from the oldest of the candidates, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) was forecast in my Pulse News Mexico column last week: “You’re ganging up on me” he told the other four presidential hopefuls. (“Me están echando montón”
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By RICARDO CASTILLO With the Mexican elections now fully underway in a race for a total of 3,416 different posts, it is worth taking the time to look back on history and see how the country got this far into democracy, as well as reviewing the odd shape of the political alliances of nine parties into three separate
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Good Friday will mark the beginning of the 2018 electoral campaign in Mexico. Up for grabs are the nation’s presidency, nine state governorships, 128 Senate seats, 500 Chamber of Deputies seats and 283 municipal mayoralties. There are also a number of state senate and assembly seats being vied for. Competition will be fierce and intense
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By RICARDO CASTILLO It is said in Mexican political jargon that if the river is making noise, it’s because water is running. In this case, the rumor bouncing around everywhere in Mexico is that the President Enrique Peña Nieto administration is preparing to commit a “mega-fraud” in the traditional style of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) for the upcoming July 1
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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
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Some Mexicans just don’t like the way the electoral procedure is being carried out by the National Electoral Institute (INE). The problem is that those disgruntled Mexicans are blaming the INE for what they perceive as irregularities in the process, but the procedure was designed by Congress, and the only way out of this long and
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By RICARDO CASTILLO There is no doubt that there is racial sensitivity in Mexico and it can take on many different meanings, including political ones. In case you’re wondering what racism has to do with Mexican politics, let’s start from the beginning of a complex story mixed with religious fervor and political greed. It should be obvious by now that the political party led by Andrés Manuel López
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Just five months away from Mexico’s July 1 presidential election, the contending hopefuls are pretty much well-defined. Nevertheless, it’s worth a recap on the ongoing procedures as outlined by the National Electoral Institute (INE) to know the order of things and the rules of the game at hand. The INE programed the electoral calendar to take place in
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By RICARDO CASTILLO The Mexican presidential hopefuls are haggling over everything – from the price of corn tortillas to fuels. But there is still one issue that remains that is crucial for them to make a definition on, and that’s the recent Internal Security Law (LSI), approved by Congress but sent by President Enrique Peña Nieto to the Supreme Court
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Mexico is abuzz with the chirping of political crickets – as politicians are nicknamed in the nation
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