The make believe world of Veracruz Governor Javier Duarte

On September 23 I posted a brief note about Veracruz governor Javier Duarte, "a man out of touch with reality." That was right after 35 bodies had been casually dumped out of cattle trucks one afternoon, on one of the city's principal avenues, and in full view of rush hour traffic no less. Ordinarily I wouldn't beat up on the same guy twice in as many weeks, but Duarte is such a complete clown that he has it coming (that's him in the photo, chuckling in front of the Scales of Justice).

Tonight (October 4) Duarte appeared in a national television interview on Milenio, a major Mexican network. He was finely dressed in a very dark business suit, a carefully knotted tie and of course, the indispensable Mexican flag lapel pin. He looked every bit like a U.S. presidential candidate, grinning ear to ear and never once even marginally answering the questions. A very smooth and confident speaker, by the way, albeit with zero content.

About those 35 nude corpses dropped off downtown (and 14 more dumped nearby two days later)? Well, the governor doesn't have any real news to report yet, but "everything is being diligently investigated with the ultimate end of securing justice in this unfortunate matter." And about the security these days in Veracruz (one of the three or four most dangerous places in all of Mexico)? Said Duarte, "Really, it's all a matter of perception. The city is full (of tourists), the hotels are full, the restaurants are full, why, I was just out Saturday night with my family, we walked along the boardwalk, friends and constituents waved to me and greeted me, we stopped at a little coffee shop to eat, it was wonderful, and I didn't even have a single security person with me." All of this in Veracruz, a city of death, where there is enormous corruption and infiltration by the drug cartels (of course, Duarte says that everybody in police and local government has been thoroughly checked out, and they're all "clean").

As I said two weeks ago, Javier Duarte, ever the beaming politician, lives in a world of his own design. Veracruz Governor Javier Duarte is a man out of touch with reality: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2011/09/veracruz-governor-javier-duarte-man-out.html).

FN: Javier Duarte wants to jail anybody who sends out "erroneous information" via Twitter messages or Facebook posts. Just a few days ago he was pushing for such legislation in Veracruz -- and his government would get to decide just what is "erroneous." Details here: (Mexico Should Proceed With Caution In “Twitter Terror” Cases: http://mexicogulfreporter-supplement.blogspot.mx/2011/11/mexico-should-proceed-with-caution-in.html).

Federal troops take over police functions in Veracruz - 1,000 cops dismissed: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2011/12/federal-troops-take-over-police.html.