Political Unrest in Mexico - you need to know!

Yes ladies and gentleman, Mexico has their presidential elections in 2012 too! Their presidents are chosen every 6 yrs and cannot serve concurrent terms. There are many political parties and, while I don't pretend to be an expert in anything political (those of you who know me can testify), here are a few basics to get you in the know about what's going on south of the border!

The election: July 2012
The history: There are many parties. One party (PRI) was in power for 72 years. Currently the PAN is in office. Many consider these to be the 2 "main" parties.
The candidates: PRI's choice - Enrique Peña Nieto (EPN for short). PAN's choice - Josefina Vasquez Mota - the 1st woman candidate. She's currectly sec of education, which is why NO ONE should vote for her. PRD's choice - the controversial "almost" winner of last election Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO for short).

One more thing you need to know - the estimated population of Mexico City is 32 million, young ppl consist of 30% of that 32 million. In mexico city alone.

This is where it gets good, people. 

Josefina famously said that she supports money laundering  in the middle of a speech. (listen for the words "lavado del dinero".  Who knows what she actually meant but it was basically over for her at that moment.
                                       

EPN is the young, handsome, and charming one, who's dating a celebrity and is currently in a lot of celeb gossip magazines.

 

He goes to a campaign for encouraging kids to read. He is asked to name 3 books that have influence him. He can not think of one. Not 1. He rambles in his political manner for a hilarious 10 mins or so - somewhat mentioning the Bible saying that he read a part of it one time. He is booed off stage and harshly ridiculed for months. Carlos Fuentes (one of the top Latin American writers) condemns him and says that he has the right not to read, but not the right to lead a country if he has such a low level of intelligence. *young ppl in mexico get annoyed*

Good hair doesn't cover up your ignorance.

EPN's daughter gets offended by all the ridicule. She says on twitter "hello to all you ***holes who are proles (low class ppl) who criticize". *young ppl in mexico are offended*

In an interview they ask him a basic economic question (how much does a kilo of tortillas cost now?) and he responds with "I don't know. I'm not a homemaker." ouch.

EPN then begins to brag about how he speaks such "wonderful" English and then makes a fool of himself yet again. He begins to be booed out of every campaigning arena he attempts to enter, he is constantly ridiculed on TV and radio (even clowns are making fun of him!!) ... *young ppl in mexico are agitated bc he's made it this far on his looks*



h o w e v e r

The media says he's strongly leading in the polls. Wait, what? The media says that people are receiving him with arms wide open and that he's a front-runner? There are many videos to the contrary, plus the police presence for his protection is kind of a sign that things aren't going your way. They discover that he has paid past the legal limit allowing for media coverage and ads/commercials. Hmm, something smells fishy.

For the youth, this media manipulation of the election becomes too much. EPN represents the political party that was in office for 7 decades! Not only that, but it's the political party that famously massacred college students who were unhappy with the PRI in 1968.

A student group called "We are the 132" begin to protest. A suspected 40,000 people show up to protest in Mexico City alone -- more states of Mexico have also begun to protest.

"While the media lies, we will continue to speak"

"Now WE give the news"

Most are protesting the media manipulation of the election.
Some are protesting the possibility of the PRI being back in power.
Some just want Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador elected (many believe the last election was fraudulent). AMLO is old and sometimes not with it (in the debates he held pics upside down and spoke slowly). He is much more left-wing and good friends with Hugo Chavez.

But he is intelligent and can be articulate when he wants to be. His cabinet will be made of top people in their fields (we're talking nationally recognized intellects) and I'd have to hope they'd help him out in his off moments.


No one knows how this is all going to play out - but I, for one, am excited to be there as it's happening! Revolución!