Tuesday, April 21, 2009

NOTES FROM FRIDAY BEFORE BREAK, 4/10

In July of 2006, the presidential election held some surprises. The PAN candidate, Felipe Calderon, won a close, disputed race against the PRD candidate, Obrador (the mayor of Mexico city who was popular with the lower class). Calderon won 36% if the vote, and Obrador was beat by less than 1%. PRD wouldn't accept the results. They had large demonstrations. Results were confirmed, though the PRD still refused to accept this and demonstrations continued. PAN now had the largest voting block in congress while the PRD had the second largest. Calderon was a good politician, and was able to scramble up a coalition with the PRE. Congress raised taxes on corporations and the wealthy. Government pensions were recalculated. The composition of the Federal Electoral Institute were revisesd to better represent the three major parties, but also limit the chances of future smaller parties. Calderon had ambitious iniative and decided to take on narcocorruption and organized crime. He set the Mexican army against the drug lords. These battles are dangerous, nasty, regular, and current. Violence sometimes reached across the border into the US. However, the Mexican army is hanging in there. The US government met in talks with Mexico to help them in their war against drug lords. Yet, some Mexicans blame the US because drug lords are getting weapons from the US. Also, they blame the US for their American drug users. In 2007, legislation was passed to make Mexico City the largest city in Latin America to legalize abortion in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy. This struck down a 70 year law of criminal penalties against women getting abortions. In 2008, the Supreme Court supported Mexico City's decision in an 8 to 3 ruling as it didn't violate the Mexican constitution and didn't violate any international agreement. This was supported by the PRE and PRD. The church and PAN opposed this decision. In 2008 president Calderon signed legislation to fundamentally change the Mexican justice system, allowing US style oral trials and presumption of innocence for criminal defendants. Also, it allowed local and state police departments to investigate organized crime (previously only the national government could do this). This will possibly not be fulfilled until 2016. Currently, trials in Mexico are done through breifs, and defendants are kept in prison for years until cases are resolved. In 2008 there was a debate with economic implications. Mexico recieves 40% of its annual income from the national oil company, called PEMEX. They're obligated to send a large portion of revenue to the government. This leaves little money left for the company for profit. This has left the company with eroded equitment, including breaking pipelines, drying up reserves, and debt. Legislation has been introduced to allow the company to pay bonuses, not give ownership shares. They will reduce imports. This is contested by the PRD who seized control of congress and held up proceedings for two wekks. This hasn't been voted on yet, and probably won't be voted on for a while.

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