What kind of PRI will rule Mexico?

July 3, 2012 9:53 AM

With the election of Pena Nieto to the presidency, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) ends a twelve-year absence from the seat.

Mexico's New Political Map After July 1(video). CSMonitor reports: 'Five Key Takeaways as PRI heads back to presidency.' The PRI is not totally popular, especially with the Yo Soy 132 protest/movement. (autoplay video, with ad)

The James A. Baker Institute asks: A New Anti-Drug Strategy in Mexico?. Reason opines: 'Drug War Foes, Don't Expect Much From Mexico's New President.

The Drug War in Mexico has recieved an inordinate amount of attention in American media as of late, with the New Yorker (LETTER FROM MEXICO: THE KINGPINS - The fight for Guadalajara), Slate and Longform (The Longform Guide to Mayhem in Mexico: Corruption, murder, and the drug business south of the border), and the New York Times (How A Mexican Drug Cartel Makes Its Billions) all getting in on the action.

Where do those billions go? Western banks, says The Guardian, and DailyKos chiming in with Wells Fargo as an example. Laundering extends far beyond financial firms, into many businesses.

Yesterday on Metafilter: How does the US electoral system compare to Mexicos?. Previously on AskMe Yo soy 132, why 132?

posted by the man of twists and turns (29 comments total)

The Drug War in Mexico has recieved an inordinate amount of attention in American media as of late...

Inordinate? It's a major conflict in a neighboring country, with skirmishes spilling across the border. There's not enough coverage, you ask me...
posted by Slap*Happy at 10:04 AM on July 3, 2012 [9 favorites]

I know times are tight, but this seems like the worst fund-raising idea Public Radio International has ever had.

wait
posted by jbickers at 10:20 AM on July 3, 2012 [5 favorites]

This is probably a derail, but can anyone explain this quirk of New Yorker's house style to me? I've replicated it here as best I can, with emphasis:

The PAN is often described as center-right, the PRI as center-left, and the country’s third party, the Party of the Democratic Revolution (P.R.D.), as left-wing. ... Indeed, in 2010 the P.R.D. and the purportedly rightist PAN combined forces successfully...

Is it because PAN/PRI are acronyms and P.R.D. is an initialism? Or because PAN/PRI don't correspond to English words in that order whereas P.R.D. does. Anyone? Over the years I've more-or-less gotten my head around their house style, but this bugged the hell out of me when I was reading the article.
posted by griphus at 10:28 AM on July 3, 2012

Wait, hang on, P.R.D. doesn't correspond to English words in order. So, uh, take that option off the table I guess.
posted by griphus at 10:29 AM on July 3, 2012

looks like PRD has been good for mexico city (which seems to have taken a page from curitiba), also btw: Mexico's New President Promises To Improve Economy By Emulating Countries That Are Poorer...
posted by kliuless at 10:49 AM on July 3, 2012

Best Tweet summary ever: "And when we woke up, the Dinosaur had bought his way back in."
posted by vacapinta at 10:50 AM on July 3, 2012

I'm confused by the whole idea of a party called "Institutional Revolutionary", seems totally contradictory.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 11:20 AM on July 3, 2012

Can anyone with a good understanding of Mexican politics explain what is likely to happen as a result?

What major policies will be different now than under the old president?
posted by sotonohito at 11:30 AM on July 3, 2012

I'm confused by the whole idea of a party called "Institutional Revolutionary", seems totally contradictory.

Market positioning, and thus exempt from rules of logic.
posted by lathrop at 11:38 AM on July 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

Griphus, in Spanish, PAN and PRI are pronounced like words, but PRD is pronounced by its initials ('perrede'). It seems that many American style guides use that distinction to decide whether to use periods or not.
posted by bunyip at 11:38 AM on July 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

Seems like poor planning to make the acronym for your party sound like "Perde" (Lose).
posted by KGMoney at 12:00 PM on July 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

KGMoney: Seems like poor planning to make the acronym for your party sound like "Perde" (Lose).

Sponsored by the Chevy No-va!
posted by IAmBroom at 12:38 PM on July 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

Here's the Reason link:

Drug War Foes, Don’t Expect Much From Mexico’s New President
posted by james.c.macaulay at 12:44 PM on July 3, 2012

Some articles written by mexicans in english:

Luis Hernández Navarro in The Guardian - Peña Nieto's victory in Mexico is a vote for the old regime

Denise Dresser in Project Syndicate - The Putinization of Mexico

It's been an awful couple of days for a lot of us down here in Mexico....we never thought this could happen. The nightmare has begun.
posted by elmono at 1:30 PM on July 3, 2012 [2 favorites]

Also, a picture is worth a thousand words...this is how the PRI operates.

posted by elmono at 1:35 PM on July 3, 2012

I'm confused by the whole idea of a party called "Institutional Revolutionary", seems totally contradictory.


It was a party formed after a 10 year civil war (or revolution) to house all the Revolutionary factions, in order to divide and distribute power in a less violent matter (the revolutionary leaders were killind one another). It was institutional because it was supposed to "institutionalize" the supposed aims of the revolution: mainly to do land reform. A faction of this Revolutionary party broke off in the 80s and created the PRD or the Party of the Democratic Revolution.

All this is a bit of a simplification, but kind of like that.
posted by Omon Ra at 2:53 PM on July 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yet another perspective by former foreign secretary, Jorge Castañeda: Mexico's election gives a mandate to compromise:

Enrique Peña Nieto, the PRI winner, obtained much less than a mandate, despite getting 3 million more votes than the runner-up. He failed to achieve a majority in either house of Congress, as Mexicans split their ballots, particularly in states where they seemed to punish PRI governors for the violence that has swept Mexico’s “badlands.” Those who fear a PRI restoration can rest assured: The new president will be constrained by Mexico’s recently acquired checks and balances.

posted by Omon Ra at 2:57 PM on July 3, 2012

Washington Post: Mexico’s two major crime cartels now at war

In Sight: Splinter Gangs Wage War in Acapulco: The Future of Mexico's Conflict, via Small Wars Journal: El Centro, which also posted The Merida Initiative and Mexico’s Legislative and Constitutional Reforms

Yes, that Reason link is the one I meant.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 4:40 PM on July 3, 2012

Here's a nice Google map showing how each Mexican state voted on Sunday. You can drill down to the district level and see how like its northern neighbor there's variety at the state and local level.

Also, a picture is worth a thousand words...this is how the PRI operates.
Those PRI umbrellas cover more than rain.

Best Tweet summary ever: "And when we woke up, the Dinosaur had bought his way back in."
The new flag of México

On poster on reddit/r/mexico asked the rhetorical question what will happen with the narcos after EPN takes office (Spanish). He's got a pretty grim outlook.

[images from reddit/r/mexico where AMLO was super popular and many redditores were surprised he didn't win. But being reddit, there's going to be memes...OBEY y ¿Quien chingados voto pro el pri?]
posted by birdherder at 5:22 PM on July 3, 2012 [3 favorites]

I'm quite upset about this--in my parents' district in Tijuana there was widespread vote-buying with gift cards and vouchers for a full month's worth of food in exchange for pictures of the PRI-marked ballot. My parents and neighbors denounced such things to the FEPADE and they haven't even replied back.

Here is an English article detailing some rushing to local stores to cash in those gift cards: Gift cards
posted by cobain_angel at 7:15 PM on July 3, 2012

More Small Wars Journal: A Call For Caution - The (Side) Effect of Mexico’s Entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:38 PM on July 3, 2012

Mexico's President-Elect Wants A Broad Debate About Drug Policy
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:06 AM on July 4, 2012

Al Jazeera:
Mexico orders partial vote recounts: Electoral officials recount votes from over half of polling booths presidential election after allegations of fraud.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 6:06 PM on July 4, 2012

I'm sorry, thic is the right link: Partial Vote Recounts
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:27 PM on July 4, 2012

Reason - Mexico's New President Peña Nieto Is Probably Not Going to End the Drug War
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:37 PM on July 9, 2012

Wonkette levels some fucking insane accusations at the president-elect (whom, it kind of surprised me to find out, won't assume office for another six months).
posted by psoas at 7:48 PM on July 9, 2012

TomDispatch: Apologies to Mexico:

The drug war is fueled by many things, and maybe the worst drug of all is money, to which so many are so addicted that they can never get enough. It’s a drug for which they will kill, destroying communities and ecologies, even societies, whether for the sake of making drones, Wall Street profits, or massive heroin sales. Then there are the actual drugs, to which so many others turn for numbness.

posted by the man of twists and turns at 6:16 PM on July 10, 2012

Al Jazeera: Dirty money thrives despite Mexico drug war - Major banks are getting rich from money laundered by violent Mexican drug gangs, whistleblower says.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:32 PM on July 17, 2012

The Presidential Elections in Mexico: A “Narco Spring”?

Meanwhile, Frack The Border - Cartels Use Oil To Move Drugs
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:07 PM on July 17, 2012