No 'kissin' cousins' in a Mexican election Sunday
In my last post, I mentioned that hating Trump is the only thing that the left, center, and right in Mexico agree on.
Mexico is facing a huge political crisis. We read about the teachers union blocking streets and access to the airport. The middle class feels a lot like those Tea Party marchers of 2009, or overwhelmed by a state that does not listen to it. Many Mexicans are also worried that their country is changing, such as the legalization of abortion and talk of same-sex marriage.
What happens when a country is polarized and divided over issues? Then the screaming starts – even if the candidates are from the same family. See this article from on the New York Times:
Arguably, the most contentious race this year has been for governor in Veracruz, a state wracked by corruption and violence. The front-runners are two cousins who, despite their family ties, have lobbed accusations and insults at each other.
Héctor Yunes Landa, the candidate for the incumbent Institutional Revolutionary Party, has accused his opponent, Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares, the candidate of a coalition between the Democratic Revolution Party and the National Action Party, of being a pedophile, warning voters to “take care of the safety of your children,” according to local news media. Mr. Yunes Linares, who is trying to break the rival party’s 87-year hold on the state’s governorship, has denied the charges.
Officials in Mr. Yunes Linares’s campaign have accused his cousin of vote buying and of underreporting his wealth in a public declaration of his assets.
Mr. Yunes Linares’s chances may have improved in light of a recent investigation by the news site Animal Político, which found that the state’s current administration funneled about $35 million to ghost companies. The governor, Javier Duarte, has denied any wrongdoing.
And that's just Veracruz, a place known to many of our AT readers for its marvelous "danzon," a very romantic dance that our parents and grandparents also danced in Cuba.
In Tamaulipas, on the Texas border, both sides are claiming that the other guy has links to drug cartels.
It's exciting in Chihuahua, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, and Sinaloa, the home of "El Chapo," currently sitting in jail, likely headed for the U.S.
Again, Mexicans are angry and very angry!
Once upon a time, Mexican elections were boring and rather predictable. The PRI would always win, and lots of people would stay home on election day. Can you blame some Mexicans who yearn for those days of yesteryear, when election day was just another day to watch fútbol or cook some carnitas in the backyard?
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