“It’s the violence, stupid.” Baja California Sur’s booming economy won’t stop surging MORENA

La politica es la politica has posted 32 articles - one for each state in Mexico, including Mexico City - in advance of the July 1, 2018, presidential election. For links to all 32 articles, scroll to the bottom of this post.

Baja California Sur occupies the lower half of the Baja Peninsula, on the northwest coast of Mexico. The state has historically had strong support for the right-of-center National Action Party (PAN). At present, the governor belongs to the PAN, as does one of Baja California Sur’s three senators, with the other two belonging to the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

This isn’t a heavily populated state – in fact, it’s the second least populated in all of Mexico, with just over 700,000 inhabitants. The state is divided into five municipalities, with the capital La Paz being the largest city at about 250,000 people. This is a popular tourist destination, with high-end resorts situated at the southern tip around Cabo San Lucas, known to many simply as “Cabo”

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Like Aguascalientes, it could be argued that Baja California Sur, with its small population and history of economic and political stability, wouldn’t be eager for a change. The state led the country in economic growth in 2017, at over 12% – six times the national average of 2% – with big gains in manufacturing.

In Aguascalientes, Mexico's presidential contest is not a "change election"

La politica es la politica has posted 32 articles - one for each state in Mexico, including Mexico City - in advance of the July 1, 2018, presidential election. For links to all 32 articles, scroll to the bottom of this post.

Given that the total population of Mexico is around 130 million, and that the Mexican president is elected based on the total national vote count (i.e. no anachronistic electoral college, as in the US), it could be argued that the vote in Aguascalientes is of little relevance. But this is “Mexico 32”: every state is getting covered! 

History has shown that even national elections can be nail biters, and shifts in voter preference in a small state like Aguascalientes remain important considerations. The state is divided into 11 municipalities, with the capital city also called Aguascalientes. Located in North-Central Mexico, Aguascalientes is bordered by Jalisco to the south and Zacatecas to the north. The population of the entire state is small, about 1.5 million, with the capital city having about 900,000 souls.

At the presidential level, Aguascalientes has historically divided its loyalties between the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the right-of-center National Action Party (PAN). The traditional left-leaning party, the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), represented about 21% of the popular vote in the last two elections (2006, 2012).

Lady Luck Keeps Shining on Ottawa’s Sakto Corporation

The Ottawa-headquartered real estate firm Sakto Corporation has for years faced accusations that it owes its success to money originating from the alleged Malaysian kleptocrat Abdul Taib Mahmud. Sean Murray, the president and CEO of Sakto, is married to Jamilah Taib, the eldest of Abdul Taib Mahmud’s four children, raising suspicions that Mr. Murray owes his success to the Taib family’s ill-gotten fortune.

Sean Murray and Jamilah Taib

Most recently, Sakto Corporation can notch two notable successes in its ongoing campaign to maintain its reputation as a legitimate enterprise.

First,  the Ontario Superior Court of Justice threw out a case brought by the Swiss NGO Bruno Manser Fonds' Association for the Peoples of the Rainforest, and Mutang Urud, demanding that Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto Dominion Bank, Manulife Financial Corporation, and Deloitte and Touche reveal information on their financial dealings with Sakto. The team defending Sakto Corporation is so pleased with its legal acumen it's even set up a website, The Facts Matter.

Second, Canada’s National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD has rejected a complaint from Bruno Manser Fonds against Sakto. Though the complaint was denied, the behaviour of the NCP was inconsistent, suggesting to some that the NCP was succumbing to pressure in Ottawa.

After cyanide spill, can First Majestic clean up its act?

On March 11 of this year, the Canadian mining company First Majestic Silver Corp spilled 200 litres of a cyanide solution from the San Dimas project into the Piaxtla River in Durango, Mexico. The spill of the solution - representing roughly 100 to 180 mg of cyanide - apparently occurred when a truck carrying the deadly chemical ran out of fuel on a hill. An employee either failed to close a valve, or the valve itself was faulty.

Protesters demanding that Canadian
mining companies get out of Mexico

An environmental organization named Conselva y Voces Unidas por el Agua, which has its offices in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, has demanded a valid environmental assessment of the environmental impact of the spill. One month after the spill, that does not appear to have happened.

“The damage to the ecosystem has to be evaluated – if it filtered to the subsoil, and affected the water table, which supplies the community with water,” said the executive director of Conselva, Sandra Guido, shortly after the spill was reported.

Corruption and impunity on trial: Mexican police officers claim torture after being charged in case of missing Italians

On January 31 Raffaele Russo, 60, an Italian national from Naples, travelled in a rented white Honda CRV 40 kilometers from his four star hotel in Ciudad Guzmán, to the town Tecalitlán in southeast Jalisco.  He left behind his son, Antonio Russo, 25, and his nephew, Vincenzo Cimmino, 29. Apparently, his plan was to explore opportunities to sell light machinery.

During the trip Raffaele was in contact with another of his sons, Francesco, who was in Mexico City. Their last communication was abruptly cut off at 3 pm on the 31^st. Francesco was then unable to reach his father, and grew concerned. He contacted the car rental agency, which said that the last GPS reading was from 3.23 PM. Just before this, Rafaelle also sent a WhatsApp message to family members in Italy saying that police officers were following him.

The three missing men

Francesco then called his brother and cousin in Ciudad Guzmán, and asked them to go look for his father. They arrived in Tecalitlán in a rental vehicle similar to Raffaele's around 6 pm on that same night, and asked after him. At about 7 pm they stopped at a gas station on Highway 110, on the outskirts of town.

Canadian threatened before dying under mysterious circumstances in Zipolite, Mexico

William (Bill) Halliday, a 49-year-old Canadian from Toronto, died around one o’clock in the afternoon on Saturday, March 10, 2018 in a hospital in San Pedro Pochutla, Oaxaca. According to a Canadian friend, Bill had come to the Pacific Coast of Oaxaca, specifically the beach at Zipolite, after the breakup of a multi-year relationship.

The beach at Zipolite, Oaxaca

The circumstances surrounding Bill’s death are disturbing, particularly in the context of his final text messages. The last communication to his friend, shortly before his death, was:  I fucked up badly I should not have done what I did they are xom Coming to get me I am afraid (sic).

This was sent at 11:24 am on Saturday – just before he was found in distress by the side of the road near Playa del Amor and transported to the hospital, where he died.

Priceless 18th century jewels found in Caribbean off Mexico

Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) has announced in a statement that a team of underwater archaeologists exploring in the Caribbean found a priceless shipment of jewels from the 18th century. The discovery is being given top billing at the recently inaugurated Museum of Underwater Archaeology, located in Campeche.

It’s believed that the jewels, likely intended for sale to affluent Spaniards, were lost when a ship went down in the strong currents that converge off the Yucatán coast. This is the first time that professional underwater archaeologists have discovered artifacts of this sort in Mexico.