Another journalist murdered in Mexico, once again in Veracruz, once again female

The assault against the press by organized crime resumed over the weekend with the murder of a prominent journalist in the once popular resort city of Veracruz on Mexico's Gulf coast, one of the most violent areas in the country in the raging drug war.

Regina Martínez, who wrote for Proceso, was found dead in her home about 6:00 p.m. Saturday (Apr. 28). She had been beaten and strangled. Local journalists said she was one of the most respected members of their professional community. Martínez, who had worked as a correspondent and reporter for several Mexican publications during a career which spanned three decades, covered crime, narcotics trafficking, the drug war, politics, government corruption and poverty.

Los Pelones killer arrested in Cancún also may have been hit man for Los Matazetas

Sicario played for two teams, with his sights always set on one target: Los Zetas

Cancún, Quintana Roo --
A local sicario (executioner) who worked for two of the three major organized crime groups operating in Quintana Roo state has been arrested in Cancún. Police say that Jaime Pacheco Salas a/k/a El Pescado ("The Fish"), taken into custody last week, is responsible for eight or more executions in the city this year, and others in 2011. In some of the cases the victims were decapitated and/or dismembered by persons pressed into service by Salas, including two underage females.

Salas is described in some local press reports as a contract killer for Los Pelones, and in others as an operative for Los Matazetas. It's unclear where his allegiance lays. But what is undisputed is that all of his targets were members of yet a third organization, Los Zetas.

Mexico protests U.S. decision in Juárez border killing of 15 year old Mexican

No prosecution in U.S. court, nor extradition to Mexico, for Border Patrol agent who shot and killed unarmed Mexican teenager

In June 2010, a U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and killed a 15 year old Mexican boy in the "no man's land" between El Paso, Texas and violent Ciudad Juárez, just across the Rio Grande. There are as many stories about what happened as there are witnesses, and not surprisingly, the accounts vary dramatically depending on which side of the border they originated.

A few facts are clear. The young male victim was unarmed. He was struck and killed by the agent's bullet within Mexican territory. The officer himself was on the American side. Under prevailing international law, Mexico has as much right to demand a judicial investigation of the case as do U.S. authorities. But today the Justice Dept. announced that the case was closed and that there would be no prosecution of the agent, who will remain unidentified. The official U.S. explanation is that the young man was throwing rocks at the agent, and that he fired in self-defense. The Mexican government says it was clearly excessive force.

Long, slow legal road in case of Zeta hit man alleged to have killed U.S. ICE agent

No trial before 2013, at the soonest

Alleged Los Zetas hit man Julián Zapata Espinoza, accused in a brutal February 2011 attack against two U.S. immigration agents on a highway in northern Mexico which left one of them dead, returned to federal court in the District of Columbia yesterday (Apr. 25).

Espinoza was captured by Mexican security forces only days after the event, which occurred while the two ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents were in route from Texas to Mexico City on official business. A Zeta hit team of about 15 sicarios may have spotted the men having lunch at a fast food restaurant before it forced them off the busy four lane a few minutes later. The U.S. agents identified themselves, at which time the Zetas opened fire with AK-47s. They were traveling in a heavily armored vehicle carrying official tags, but because of a minor design defect it failed to protect them (ICE agent died needlessly).

El Chapo Guzmán indicted by feds in El Paso

Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, boss of Mexico's brutal Sinaloa Cartel and the most wanted narcotics trafficker in the world, has been indicted in El Paso.

The charges were handed up by a federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas on April 11, but were not publicly released until today. The indictment was unsealed on motion of the Justice Department.

Organized crime is among top 20 world economies, reports United Nations agency

$10 billion dirty money washed every year in Mexico, $39 billion in the United States

Organized crime in all countries generates about $2.1 trillion USD in annual earnings, a sum equal to 3.6% of the world's entire gross domestic product (producto interno bruto), according to a report published yesterday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

"Organized crime is becoming one of the world's biggest businesses, one of its top 20 economies," said a U.N. official in charge of the Office.

Economic inequality is the primary cause of Mexico's insecurity, says Manuel López Obrador

PRD candidate calls "appropriation" of the country's national wealth by those at the top "the ultimate corruption"

Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador was interviewed during a town hall meeting broadcast this evening by CNN-Español. A live audience joined the program host in questioning the nominee on a wide range of issues.

The once fiery but now almost serene leftist nominee, who lost the 2006 presidential race by a mere one-half percent of the vote, was asked why business and political corruption have become institutionalized in Mexico. "Corruption exists because it's permitted to exist, because it serves the interests of some of those at the top," he said. "It's scandalous, and it must be wiped out." The candidate alleged that nothing has hurt the country more than the dishonesty of government officials at all levels.

López Obrador claimed that most of Mexico's wealth was in the hands of a few and "those whom they serve," which he called "the ultimate form of corruption." He said that in order to change the country must first have the will and firm resolution to do so.

Mérida posts 3rd gay prostitution murder

Mérida crime blotter

For the third time since September, gay prostitution is responsible for the death of a local man, police say.

On Saturday (Apr. 21) employees of Mérida resident Emilio Villanueva Garma, 50, arrived for work and found him dead in a building which served as both his place of business and residence. The scene is 10 blocks east of the city's historic center, in the Lourdes neighborhood. Garma had been clubbed to death.

Police quickly arrested Isaías Koyoc Maas, 20, whom they say had visited Garma the night before, probably for sexual services. Family members of the victim told investigators that Garma was homosexual, lived alone and had frequent contacts with different partners.

Peña Nieto, cayendo en las encuestas, se queja de "una guerra suicia" en su contra, pero él no responderá a " las agresiones"

"No voy a dividir a México," dice el prista en su último mensaje

En una nueva grabación difundida por su campaña ayer el candidato presidencial dijo:

"Hay quienes me preguntan si voy a responder a las agresiones de nuestros adversarios, la respuesta es no, y por una muy poderosa razón: las agresiones en las campañas políticas dividen a las sociedades.

"La guerra sucia de hace seis años nos separó, provocó pleitos aún dentro de las mismas familias, ya lo vivimos y aprendimos que un país dividido se debilita y no avanza. Por eso yo no voy a dividir a México, ése es mi compromiso y tú sabes que voy a cumplir."

¿Que le motivó a Enrique Peña Nieto hacer estos últimos comentarios? Tal vez esto:

Fifteen die in attack on Chihuahua bar

Victims include employees and guests who tried to flee 10 youthful gunmen

Chihuahua, Chihuahua --
Thirteen people were executed in a bar late Friday evening (Apr. 20) by a heavily armed commando team carrying automatic weapons, local authorities report. Four other patrons were injured in the assault at the El Colorado tavern. The motive is unknown and there are no suspects in custody. The neighborhood was under the watch of federal troops and state police afterwards.

Mexican presidential candidates address thorny issues of abortion, same-sex unions

López Obrador won't disclose opinions, saying he'll "consult the citizenry" if elected

In a country which nominally remains over 80% Roman Catholic, the hot button issues of abortion and same-sex marriage are arguably even more important political topics than in Mexico's neighbor to the north, which is holding it's own presidential election this year. The four Mexican presidential candidates met this week with church officials to disclose and discuss their views on matters which intersect both faith and politics. PRI nominee Enrique Peña Nieto, who easily leads the pack, did so yesterday, and Partido Nueva Alianza (PNA) candidate Gabriel Quadri de la Torre did so today,

Mirroring the stance of many U.S. candidates, Peña Nieto declared himself personally opposed to abortion, but likewise against criminal penalties for women who decide to get one. Put another way, the candidate could be politically described as "pro-choice." On the topic of same-sex unions, Peña Nieto believes that there should be no federal law on the subject, but rather that each of the country's 32 states should define and regulate marriage as it sees fit, applying established "community standards." Peña Nieto's stance on gay marriage is in accord with current Mexican law on the subject, which is unlikely to change anytime soon since the nation's Supreme Court dealt with it recently. Mexico's highest court upholds right of same-sex couples to marry.

López Obrador tops Josefina in recent poll; Peña Nieto rides the down elevator

PRD candidate discounts survey results which show him in second place

For the first time since Mexico's 2012 presidential campaign season officially opened on March 30, PRD candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador has posted higher numbers than PAN nominee Josefina Vázquez Mota. Although front runner Enrique Peña Nieto continues to maintain an easy double digit lead over both, with support in excess of 50% in every major poll (but see updates below), López Obrador has been steadily gaining ground against Vázquez Mota in recent days.

50 Matazeta executioners in Cancún to "recover the plaza" for El Chapo Guzmán

A deadly brew of Los Zetas, Los Pelones and now Los Matazetas in the Riviera Maya

Cancún, Quintana Roo --
A commando team of at least 50 hired executioners has arrived in Cancún to take control of the city's main plaza from two other warring groups, a local newspaper reports this morning. Los Zetas and another group, Los Pelones, are engaged in a bitter struggle to monopolize drug sales and other criminal activity in the bustling city, which is an international gateway to lush Riviera Maya resorts along Mexico's Caribbean coast. Dozens of people have been killed since the vicious turf war erupted in 2011.

Los Matazetas - the "Zeta Killers" - may have arrived in Cancún, authorities fear

Cancún, Quintana Roo-
In 2011, a then unknown criminal group announced its entry into Mexico's drug war via postings to YouTube and other public websites. The so-called Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) quickly became known as Los Matazetas -- the Zeta killers -- because of its stated goal of taking on the powerful Los Zetas drug cartel, which was responsible for unprecedented carnage last year. The Matazeta postings began to surface and spread soon after 35 brutalized bodies were dumped on a Veracruz street on Sept. 20, in plain view of horrified pedestrians and afternoon rush hour traffic. In a Sept. 24, 2011 video, CJNG took responsibility for the butchery.

Vicente Fox: legalize all drugs immediately

"The war is in our country, but the drug use and arms sales is in the United States"

The 6th Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia ended Sunday as most had predicted: no accord on whether Cuba should be invited to the next edition (the U.S. and Canada both remaining fiercely opposed), and only the most superficial discussion on the legalization of drugs, a topic of great interest to those Latin nations embroiled in narcotics trafficking conflicts (Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia and of course Mexico). It's not certain there will be another such summit.

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, who hosted the international conference which is held every three years, downplayed the lack of significant debate on drug legalization. He said that just broaching the topic was itself an important first step which paves the way for a more focused analysis at some later date. President Obama dismissed the idea out of hand, arguing that even if criminal penalties were removed drug cartels would continue engaging in brutalities in order to dominate wide-open markets, and to take advantage of the opportunity for enormous profits which would be presented after legalization.

Hugo Chávez, once more to Havana

Were Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez a private citizen, he'd really be wracking up the frequent flyer miles. After submitting to a second surgical procedure in late February, Chávez has returned to Cuba every few days for additional rounds of chemotherapy. He did so again last night (April 14), skipping the just- adjourned 6th Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, where he had intended to make a brief appearance yesterday morning. Chávez was also on the island for treatment several days last week. A U.S. source who claims to have inside information says the president is failing fast, and that Venezuelan generals are prepared to take control of critical state functions at the moment of Chávez' death. The source has been making the same prediction for months, bringing to mind the Mark Twains (Samuel Clemens) comment, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." But it's clear that Chávez is very sick.

AK-47 attack leaves two dead in Cancún; both worked for Zetas, one a taxi driver

Cancún, Quintana Roo --
A drive-by machine gun attack Friday evening (April 13) killed two Cancún men and left the teenage son of one seriously wounded, say police here. The victims were hit by AK-47 fire about 10:15 p.m., and two of them died at the scene. Cancún, the gateway to Mexico's famed Riviera Maya, is increasingly the center of street violence between two brutal groups, Los Zetas and Los Pelones, which are locked in a bloody struggle for control of local drug markets, extortion and other criminal activity along the country's Caribbean coast.

Royal Canadian Mounties trek to Mexico

Cynthia Ann Vanier was told she's only a witness during extensive March 22 debriefing by Mounty investigators in her Mexican jail cell, says CBC report

A team of Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigators traveled to Mexico last month to interview a woman who is imprisoned and facing trial in connection with an alleged international plot to smuggle one of the sons of the late Muammar Gaddafi into Mexico. Canadian citizen Cynthia Ann Vanier was detained in Mexico City in November 2011, formally arrested earlier this year and is in jail awaiting further legal proceedings. Vanier has entered a plea of not guilty to all charges, which could land her behind bars for decades.

Yesterday the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) carried a breaking news story on the execution of a search warrant by RMCP agents at the Montreal headquarters of the monolithic engineering firm SNC-Lavalin, which has offices around the world and is involved in construction projects in more than 100 countries. According to CBC, the mega firm is conducting an internal probe "of millions of dollars of mysterious payments," and itself sought Mountie investigative help earlier this year. Vanier is a witness in the case.

Another bad week for Mexican taxi drivers

Eight drivers murdered in latest Monterrey violence

Taxi drivers in Mexico are often in the bull's eye of drug cartel execution squads. Besides picking up fares they not infrequently moonlight for one organization or another, working as delivery boys, messengers and halcones -- spies whose job it is to report on police and military movements, as well as to keep an eye on competing narcotics traffickers in the area. Because they're driving cabs they easily blend in with routine street traffic. They're alert to even the slightest changes in the neighborhoods they traverse. Cabbies quickly learn "who belongs where" and who doesn't.

Secret Service fling with prostitutes won't help Obama at Summit of the Americas

Federal agent was too cheap to pay for "services rendered"

The 6th Summit of the Americas opened last night in Cartagena, Colombia, hosted by its president, Juan Manuel Santos. President Obama and dozens of other world leaders arrived yesterday in the Caribbean city. Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, who is receiving chemotherapy in nearby Havana, will make a cameo appearance today on his way back to Caracas. And Fidel Castro, still fuming over Cuba's non-invitation to the event, is referring to the affair as the Summit of the Guayaberas, in reference to the custom-made tropical shirts which many of the male leaders, including Obama, will be sporting this year. The guayabera purportedly originated in Cuba in the 19th century, and is mandatory wear for its top governmental officials at many state functions. Castro sees hypocrisy in the fact that some leaders will be dressed in a Cuban-inspired garment while insisting that the island be excluded from the summit.

In Havana, Mexican president Felipe Calderón condemns U.S. embargo of Cuba

His friends in Washington won't be surprised in the least

President Calderón, whose six year term ends on Nov. 30, 2012, made his first official visit yesterday to Havana. The 24 hour stop was also the first state visit by any Mexican president since 2002 (when Vicente Fox traveled to the island).

Calderon has already left the country. He's in Haiti tonight, and will travel on to Cartagena, Colombia over the weekend to prepare for the 6th Summit of the Americas. Calderón met with Cuban president Raul Castro, but not with Fidel. Before his departure the Mexican president told reporters, "Mexico condemns, and will always condemn, the unjust economic embargo of Cuba."

Vicente Fox does his best to sink Josefina

"Friendly fire" from PAN ex-president can only harm an already flailing candidate

Last fall, long before Mexico's presidential campaign had begun and even before it was clear who would represent PAN, the National Action Party, there were recurrent reports in the Mexican national press that former president Vicente Fox had offered to help PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto. Today there can be little doubt about the reliability of those reports. Fox has shown his true political colors in the upcoming election, and they're plainly red, white and green.

Mexico's "Inconvenienced Children"

The drug war, through a child's eyes

A powerful political clip made by a private non-partisan group is creating controversy in this campaign season, and is drawing responses from many, including of course the major contenders and their supporters. Entitled Niños Incómodos ("Uncomfortable Children" or "Inconvenienced Children"), the four minute spot portrays narco violence and corruption from the perspective of society's youngest members. In a country where the median age is just 26, it's a compelling reminder to all of the very human consequences of the drug war.

Enrique Peña Nieto gets his own Ken doll

Where did they get the idea?

Well, this is uncanny.

I've been very tough on Enrique Peña Nieto on these pages. I admit it. Tougher by far than I have on either of his two leading opponents. Months ago, I wrote an article using this image to refer to the PRI candidate. Then I did it again. And yet another time. The three posts just below prove it. There may have been other occasions as well which now escape me. In short, I've repeatedly compared Mr. Peña Nieto to a Ken doll. Handsome, but substantially lacking in grey matter. Shame on me for so belittling the man.

But now comes word that someone has commissioned a Ken doll in Enrique Peña Nieto's own likeness, and apparently it's available on the internet. The EPN doll is dressed in a snazzy white jacket, emblazoned with the tricolor PRI emblem. It appears the doll might even be sold or given away at upcoming PRI functions.

Cancún police fear latest execution victims could be members of their own force

*Updates below*
Cancún, Quintana Roo -
The decapitated and dismembered remains of two men were found early today in a western suburb of the city. The victims' heads, arms and legs were in separate black plastic bags. The men's torsos were located nearby, partially clothed.

The grisly discovery was made at 3:00 a.m. in the Alejandría neighborhood, just off a road known as the 20th of November Avenue. The bodies were dumped not far from a city park.

Peña Nieto makes whistle stop in Progreso

"Yucatán, adopt me as your son;" meanwhile, Josefina continues to flail

Puerto Progreso, Yucatán -
PRI presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto stopped briefly in this quiet beach town 20 miles north of Mérida yesterday evening (Apr. 9), his first visit to Yucatán state since Mexico's campaign officially opened on March 30.

The 45 year old nominee told perhaps five thousand cheering supporters gathered along the town's malecón, or seafront, "Yucatán, I want to be your son, please make me your son."

Colombia's president Santos calls for normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations

Opinion - The Summit of the Americas is at hand, and president Obama will attend in a custom made guayabera - but why not Cuba?

Juan Manuel Santos is the president of Colombia. In a region sometimes known for hotheads, Santos is a voice of reason, cool diplomacy and common sense. He's a good friend of the United States, without being slavishly deferential. But he gets along just as well with his feisty neighbors in Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba. Santos' credentials are extraordinary. An economist by training, he was educated at the University of Kansas (Santos surely must be a Jayhawks fan), the London School of Economics, Harvard and Tufts. It doesn't get any better than that.

After months of wavering, Peña Nieto takes a stand: Mexican army will retain pivotal role in drug war

MGRR News Analysis - Maybe "Calderón's drug war" wasn't such a bad idea after all

After months of delivering different messages to different audiences, PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto finally committed today to retain Mexico's National Security Strategy, a key drug war tactical approach implemented by president Felipe Calderón in December 2006. Many politicians -- including Peña Nieto -- have been extremely critical of Calderón as Mexico prepares to elect a new president on July 1.

The 64 month old drug war in this country is based on the primary use of federal military units as opposed to local and state police. There is evidence that the strategy is working. On Feb. 28 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported that traffickers, facing increasing pressure from search-and-destroy missions launched by Mexican troops, are moving their operations south across the border into Guatemala, a country rapidly spiraling out of control (http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/02/more-evidence-mexican-drug-war-strategy.html).

Juárez killer of pregnant U.S. consulate employee collects 10 life terms in El Paso

El Diego, boss of vicious La Linea group, sentenced for "heinous, callous" crimes

The former chief enforcer and executioner for Mexico's Juárez Cartel, who has admitted to ordering at least 1,500 murders during his brief criminal career, was sentenced to 10 life sentences in an El Paso federal court on Thursday (April 5).

Before being sentenced José Antonio Acosta Hernández, 34, pleaded guilty to a total of 11 felony offenses, including the murder of U.S. nationals. His victims included a 25 year old employee of the U.S. Consulate in Juárez, who was four months pregnant at the time, and her husband, a deputy sheriff in El Paso. Acosta Hernández, who is known as "El Diego," was sentenced by judge Kathleen Cardone in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. Under federal guidelines he will never be eligible for parole.

Should Cancún trips be canceled?

News from the "zona hotelera"

FOX News Houston posed that interesting question in a special report broadcast today, and interviewed the Mexico Gulf Region Reporter on the subject. There's a link to the Fox piece just below, which tells of an American couple who changed their mind after learning about the other side of life on Mexico's famed Riviera Maya. First a brief note to readers:

MGRR has never recommended to anyone that they avoid travel to Cancún (or anywhere else in Mexico, for that matter, even those areas statistically far more dangerous). You may have noticed that there is periodic commercial advertising on this site (lodging and vacation packages, for instance) which is plainly targeted to Riviera Maya travelers. I have no interest in poisoning a local economy on the Caribbean coast which some say is suffering (others claim it's booming and indeed has never been better).

Los Zetas executioner arrested near Hotel Oasis Cancún; hit team members captured

News from the "zona hotelera"

*Updates below*
Cancún, Quintana Roo --
A team of Los Zetas sicarios, sent by drug cartel bosses in Monterrey to carry out executions in Cancún and to "get control" of drug sales in the area, was taken into custody yesterday after their leader was spotted on the grounds of the Hotel Oasis Cancún. According to promotional literature, the Oasis is a popular three star resort "known as a spring breaker's paradise."

Authorities gave this account:

Peña Nieto agrees that Veracruz should remain under federal military control

*Updated Apr. 12, 2013*
Campaigning in Veracruz yesterday, PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto promised that he would leave Mexican marines and naval forces in charge of local policing in the city if he's elected president. In December, just before Christmas, the entire thousand-strong police force was dismissed due to concerns about corruption and infiltration by drug cartels. Los Zetas and Cartel Golfo have been involved in a bitter struggle for narcotics routes north in recent months, and Veracruz was the scene of some of the worst excesses of the drug war in 2011. In September dozens of brutalized bodies were thrown out of cattle trucks on a public street in broad daylight while horrified citizens watched. By the end of the year the state's PRI run government and the Calderón administration had arrived at an arrangement to turn over policing duties in the area to federal troops.

Obama warns of narco threat to U.S.

President notes danger of narcotics trafficking "contagion" at Washington summit; Calderón takes a swipe at Canadian suspect in Gaddafi smuggling caper

Earlier this week president Obama hosted the North American Leaders Summit at the White House, attended by his Mexican and Canadian colleagues, Felipe Calderón and PM Stephen Harper. There were a lot of topics on the table, but security and the rising power of transnational criminal organizations were top among them. Among other things, Obama said:

Mexican presidential candidates spat over health, hobbies, honesty and fitness

A mountain biker and a slugger on the diamond

When it comes to covering campaign trivia, the American press has nothing on the Mexican press.

At a speaking event yesterday PAN candidate Josefina Vázquez Mota got a bit light-headed and decided to sit down to deliver her remarks. You would have thought she had suffered a coronary episode on national television (the event was being covered by a major network). Today the media is all over the story. Does Vázquez Mota suffer an undisclosed illness? Is she anorexic? Is there something seriously wrong with her?

Bodies of three narco execution victims dumped near Cancún-Mérida highway

Latest killings may be linked to March 27 murder in front of Hotel Ibis; motive was failing to turn over money from drug sales

*See updates below*
Cancún, Quintana Roo --
Three apparent victims of narco terror were found by Quintana Roo authorities yesterday afternoon (April 2), near a highway which runs between Cancún and Mérida.

The male victims have not yet been identified. One had been nearly decapitated, and the other two were shot in the head. All had been bound and gagged. Police said the men were killed at another location and their bodies were driven to the scene. Three vehicles, one of which was a taxi, were located nearby. The first officers to respond intercepted persons who had driven the remains to the area, but they fled in another car. Police said they detained a 25 year old Cancún auto mechanic who was tying to repair one of the vehicles abandoned at the scene. He was taken into custody for questioning.

Los Pelones strike again in Riviera Maya

19 year old survives savage revenge attack in tourist town

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo -
A 19 year old woman who worked as a prostitute in this Caribbean coastal resort narrowly survived a brutal knife attack Saturday afternoon (Mar. 31). She told police her assailants were four members of Los Pelones, a local drug trafficking and murder-for-hire gang which often clashes with the powerful Los Zetas organization. The woman is in critical condition after her throat was cut, leaving her unable to speak. But she managed to identify several men who were arrested a few hours later.

Fanciful and shifting economic promises, a staple in Mexican presidential campaign

You can fool some of the people all of the time, but everybody all of the time?

A political maxim holds that people ultimately vote from their wallets. The candidates in Mexico's presidential campaign understand this concept as well as politicians anywhere. It looks like they're also trusting in the short memories, or lack of basic economic common sense, of many of those voters as well.

Take PRD's Andrés Manuel López Obrador, for instance. On Nov. 16, 2011, he told a crowd of supporters that in the first year of his presidency he would deliver seven million new jobs to unemployed Mexican youth -- four million of them in the first six weeks alone. More than a few eyebrows were raised. But he claimed to have already budgeted for the New Deal-style plan, designed to give the country's aimless "ninis" -- millions of young people who neither work nor attend school -- a chance to pull themselves up and thereby resist the incessant lure of the drug cartels.
(López Obrador begins campaign with bold promise: 7 million new jobs in first year: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/11/lopez-obrador-begins-campaign-with-bold.html).