Memo to Enique Peña Nieto: Mexico is waiting, sir, along with some others

MGRR Opinion - "Estimado Señor Licenciado Enrique Peña Nieto"

Dear Mr. Enrique Peña Nieto:

You became an official candidate for president of Mexico on Dec. 17, 2011, when your sole primary opponent withdrew and yielded the nomination. As of today you have been the de facto PRI nominee for exactly three months. You've been running for office for years; some might say since the day you were born.

In contrast, your PAN opponent Josefina Vázquez Mota had to endure a hotly contested, three way primary. She won that primary on Feb. 5. Vázquez Mota has been an official candidate for six weeks, half as long as you. The day she won, she promised voters that she would submit to drug screening and a polygraph. Josefina did so, and today in a very public way she proved that she -- and her campaign -- are clean in every sense of the word. It's easy to do when you have nothing to hide.

Why haven't you done the same? What are you waiting for? In recent weeks you have loudly complained when more than a few have pointed out your party's alleged lengthy history of cooperation with narcotics traffickers -- going all the way back to the 1980s, or even earlier. You called it a smear campaign. Don't you want to prove that you and your PRI campaign are clean, too, and completely free of insidious organized crime backing?

On Nov. 14, 2011, you told an audience in the United States -- where you went hunting for early political support from the next door neighbor who's given Mexico $1 billion in military aid just since 2008 -- that your plan is to entirely remove armed forces from the drug war. On Jan. 15, you told an audience in Monterrey -- a besieged city that has been brought to its knees by narco terror -- that your plan is to "wage front line combat against organized crime." (Was that just to pander to them, by the way?) On Mar. 5, you told Vice President Joe Biden that you would follow a "different strategy" against the international cartels -- but you gave him not a hint of your plan. In the past week, you have told campaign rallies all over Mexico that president Felipe Calderón's bold National Security Strategy has been a dismal failure, and that it's time for a drastic change.

What would that change be with you, Mr. Peña Nieto? Why won't you tell Mexico? Haven't you decided yet? If not, when do you plan to do so? If so, why won't you give us the facts?

You say you are Mexico's Great Hope, Mr. Peña Nieto. Please, what are you waiting for?

The magnificent juggling act of Enrique Peña Nieto - coming to your town soon: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/03/pena-nieto-still-avoids-key-drug-war.html.
Josefina says she's a squeaky clean candidate: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/03/josefina-vazquez-mota-registers-for.html.
Enrique Peña Nieto is devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/01/pena-nieto-admits-i-was-unfaithful-and.html.
Enrique "takes them to heaven, but leaves them in hell": http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/02/el-gran-amante-many-romances-of-enrique.html.
Josefina and Enrique: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/02/josefina-and-enrique.html.
"I don't speak English, and I don't pretend to": http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/02/lopez-obrador-i-dont-speak-english-nor.html.