The office of Mexico's attorney general announced this evening that it will investigate claims of possible organized crime involvement in Michoacán state elections which were held on Nov. 13. The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) is directly linked to the case, and is under a cloud of suspicion for allegedly having connections to a drug cartel which operates in the region. Michoacán voters elected a new PRI governor and many mayors on Nov. 13, most of whom were candidates on the PRI ticket.
The preliminary inquiry was opened by federal prosecutors after a tape recorded telephone call was broadcast throughout the day by Mexico's Milenio news network. The recording contains the voice of an alleged cartel operative -- El Perro ("The Bad Guy") -- advising a woman to vote for the PRI candidate in one of the municipal elections. El Perro, who purportedly is a local boss for La Familia Michoacána, told the woman to call all of her family members and friends and warn them to vote for the PRI candidate as well, or their houses would be burned down and they and their families would be killed. The PRI candidate won the mayoral election which had prompted El Perro's threat -- by 33 votes.
El Perro, whose real name is Horacio Morales Baca and is said to be third in command of La Familia operations, also promised the woman that she and everyone else who voted for the PRI candidate would be taken care of, and "given whatever they need."
Politicians in Mexico's two other major parties, PAN and PRD, say the same thing occurred in other Michoacán races on Nov. 13. They allege the La Familia cartel was working with PRI candidates in the area to intimidate voters and deter them from casting ballots for PAN or PRD candidates.
PRI is often at the center of allegations that it has, or had, connections with organized crime and drug traffickers during its 70 year domination of Mexican politics, which ended with the election of Vicente Fox in 2000. In late September, Mexico's PAN president Felipe Calderón suggested during an interview with the New York Times that if PRI regains the presidency in 2012, things will return to "business as usual" and there will be a discreet accommodation between the drug cartels and the new government. Calderón's comments infuriated PRI leaders and ignited a firestorm of controversy.
Update Nov. 23: Leaders of both PAN and PRD announced today that they will seek to nullify all of the Nov. 13 election results in Michoacán state. They have until midnight Nov. 24 to do so, and party officials announced that their petitions will be filed tomorrow.
Calderón suggests a return to the "good old days" if PRI wins 2012 election: http://mexicogulfreporter-supplement.blogspot.com/2011/11/back-to-good-old-days-in-mexico.html.
PRI is "lawless," says 2010 Noble Prize Laureate in Literature: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/10/writer-excoriates-mexicos-pri-party.html.
Michoacán governor's race: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/11/michoacan-governors-race-draws-to-slow.html.
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