Morena wins Edomex
June 5, 2023
Voters in Mexico’s most populous state — Estado de Mexico or Edomex — overturned decades of single-party rule by the PRI yesterday. Rapid counts of the gubernatorial election give over 50% to the Morena party candidate, Delfina Gómez, consolidating President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s hold on 23 of the country’s 32 states.
Gómez celebrated the victory as a mark of the party’s success, and projected impact on next year’s presidential elections. Morena, even without a defined candidate, is already a favorite to win in next year’s elections.
The state’s first female governor-to-be stressed her commitment to the mothers of missing people and victims of femicide, and called for the public to denounce corruption.
The results are a new low for the longtime dominant PRI, which now governs just two states, after retaining the governorship of Coahuila state yesterday.
Nonethless, Gómez’s margin of victory was lower than pollsters predicted, and participation in the election was lower than in previous years.
(Aristegui Noticias, Animal Político, Associated Press, Reuters)
There were reports of irregularities in state elections yesterday. Morena denounced the disappearance of 27 supporters in Coahuila, presumably detained by police, reports Animal Político.
More Mexico
Mexican Foreign Minister and presidential hopeful Marcelo Ebrard will speak later today, and is expected to propose a selection process for the Morena party’s presidential nomination. (Animal Político)
Regional Relations
“If Mexican-American relations demonstrate anything it is that the naivety of eliding near-shoring and friend-shoring. Proximity brings safety and harmony only if you have sorted out your neighborly relations,” writes Adam Tooze in Chartbook. “That is far from being the case between Mexico and the USA.”
Haiti
At least 30 people have died, after a weekend of torrential rains and widespread flooding in Haiti, reports the Miami Herald. At least nine people were missing and more than 13,300 homeless, according to the government’s disaster agency. A weekend of torrential rains and widespread flooding in Haiti have left at least 30 people dead, nine missing and over 13,300 homeless, the government’s disaster response agency said.
A vigilante justice movement in Haiti, that killed at least 164 alleged criminals between April and May, has somewhat reduced gang violence in certain Port-au-Prince neighborhoods. (See last Wednesday’s post.) Among other strategies, the vigilantes close off neighborhoods, setting up checkpoints for entry that include showing IDs and sometimes passwords, reports the Associated Press. However, there is significant concern about their methods, which include stoning, chopping off limbs, and sometimes setting alleged criminals on fire while they’re still alive.
Experts say gangs could retaliate with even more violence. And human rights groups are concerned for mistaken identities, and the fact that many youths are forcefully recruited to gangs. Analysts point to the power vacuum that made vigilante justice an effective response, reports the New York Times. (See Friday’s briefs.)
The U.S. sanctioned former Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Salvador Lamothe, accusing him of misappropriating tens of millions of dollars in Venezuelan aid destined for rebuilding after a devastating 2010 earthquake, reports the Miami Herald.
Brazil
A handful of global giants dominate the industrialization of the Amazon rainforest. They extract tens of billions of dollars of raw materials every year, according to an analysis by the Guardian and Forbidden Stories. “These companies’ commitments to Amazon restoration vary enormously. If their operations can be consolidated and made more transparent and accountable, they have the financial power to be part of the solution for the rainforest, rather than the problem – as some have been until now.”
Political and Indigenous leadership is a vital first step to reverting Amazon catastrophe, writes Jonathan Watts in the Guardian.
Brazilian police charged two more men over the murder of Brazilian Indigenous advocate Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips. (BBC)
Colombia
Two of Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s close allies — Armando Benedetti and Laura Sarabia — stepped down on Friday, in the midst of a scandal involving illegal wiretaps of domestic staff, missing cash, and a forced polygraph test. (Guardian, Reuters, see Friday’s briefs.)
A series of leaked audios from Armando Benedetti reported on by Semana, threatens to reveal potential irregularities in funding last year’s presidential campaign. The audios are apparently from Benedetti who was, at the time, serving as Petro’s 2022 campaign chief, to Sarabia. (Bloomberg, La Silla Vacía)
Regional
Latin American leftist leaders fear a politicized justice system — and the allegations of lawfare, proscription or overthrow attempts are clouding regional politics, according to El País.
Ecuador
Ecuadorean President Guillermo Lasso said he will not run for reelection in snap elections to be held in August after he dissolved the National Legislature last month. (Al Jazeera)
Even as Lasso faced existential political threats at home, a tiny Miami public relations firm was given a six-figure contract to lobby journalists to publish favorable stories about him in British and U.S. media markets, reports the Miami Herald, the Organized Crime and and Corruption Reporting Project and Ecuador’s Plan V Magazine.
Argentina
Argentina signed a deal to renew its currency swap line with China and double the amount it can access to near $10 billion, a boost to the country’s dwindling foreign currency reserves, reports Reuters.