Guadalajara -
Mexico's secretary of government - often erroneously referred to by the U.S. press as the "secretary of the interior," although that American cabinet post has utterly nothing in common with the Mexican SEGOB - is considered by many to be the nation's vice president, even though the latter office does not exist in this country. Think of the U.S. secretary of state, secretary of defense, secretary of the treasury and the White House press secretary all rolled into one post. That's SEGOB and its boss, who is appointed by and ultimately answers only to the president.
The current PRI secretary of government is Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, and no one here will dispute that he is the most powerful member of Enrique Peña Nieto's team. He speaks for the administration more than does Peña Nieto himself, on everything from drug war "progress" to economic reforms to hurricane relief. Mexico may not have a de jure vice president, but it has a de facto one, and his name is Osorio Chong.
Which is probably the reason this YouTube video posted yesterday (Oct. 15) has already received almost five hundred thousand hits. It shows the prez very pointedly ignoring his top man at a public event - twice. The man just to the left of secretary Osorio Chong, whom Peña Nieto greeted warmly for several moments, is Chiapas governor Manuel Velasco Coello.
Mexican political columnists will probably weigh in soon on a topic sure to make the news rounds.
More on Osorio Chong: Mexican press says PRI government is lying about drug war deaths - the real number is 13,775, in just eight months (Aug. 27).
© MGRR 2013. All rights reserved. This article may be cited or briefly quoted with proper attribution or a hyperlink, but not reproduced without permission.
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