Governorship contest becomes five-horse race
The contenders are: Fernando Guzman Perez, 56, of the National Action Party (PAN); Jorge Aristoteles Sandoval Diaz, 38, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI); Fernando Garza Martinez, 61, of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD); Enrique Alfaro Ramirez, 38, of the Citizens’ Movement; and finally Maria de los Angeles Martinez, 48, of the New Alliance Party (PANAL).
The emergence of the latter candidate was the biggest surprise. Martinez, a local teacher, registered just minutes before the expiration of the March 15 deadline. She hopes to win around five percent of the vote on behalf of the PANAL, which was founded in 2006. More realistically, political analysts say, she will win one or two percent of the vote.
While the PRI remains favorite to win the state elections, PAN candidate Fernando Guzman has been boosted by the backing of former Guadalajara Mayor Alfonso Petersen. Upset by the outcome of the badly organized party primary, Peterson had previously refused to recognize Guzman’s victory.
Tensions remain strong among the leftist factions in Jalisco and local members of the PRD had some choice words for Tlajomulco Mayor Alfaro Ramirez following his recent split from the party.
“He overestimates his political capital and thinks that without us he can become governor, but he is wrong,” said Enrique Velazquez, while Celia Fausto accused Alfaro of acting with “arrogance and authoritarianism.”
Rupturing the state-wide leftist alliance, Alfaro announced earlier this month that he could no longer work with the PRD, but would continue to lead a coalition of the Citizens’ Movement (formerly known as Convergencia), the Labor Party (PT), and the National Regeneration Movement (Morena).
A popular and respected figure in Tlajomulco, Alfaro gained credibility by taking on the operators of the Guadalajara Airport over their refusal to pay municipal taxes, as well as starting programs to provide across-the-board financial assistance for local students.
But he has a fractious relationship with Raul Padilla, the former rector of the Universidad de Guadalajara (UdeG) who dominates the Jalisco PRD. As local kingmaker, Padilla normally decides who occupies senior party positions in Jalisco, but he was powerless to prevent the nomination of Alfaro, who came out on top in two public surveys to determine who should head the leftist coalition.
The alliance proved unworkable, fracturing barely a month after it was announced. Alfaro said he broke with the PRD “as a matter of dignity, an exercise in consistency and to send a clear message that we will not allow this political project to be kidnapped by anyone.”
This is not the first time Alfaro has split with the PRD. Fed up with constant interference from Padilla and the UdeG group, he led five other Jalisco mayors in leaving the party to join the Citizen’s Movement in May 2011.
Referring to the state leadership as a “mafia,” Alfaro explained he had since agreed “to build a coalition with the PRD because the national leadership of the party gave assurances that they would not allow the group that controls the PRD in Jalisco to impose their mediocre vision and their crooked rules.”
The collapse of the coalition will do neither Alfaro nor the PRD any favors, with the leftist vote in Jalisco split between the two. Mindful of this problem, Alfaro assured that “not only did we not break with the PRD supporters, but we invite them to follow our path. The doors remain open as this is a citizens’ movement without partisan ties.”
Surprisingly, the PRD opted for a right-wing candidate to replace Alfaro: former PAN member Fernando Garza. The mayor of Guadalajara from 2001 to 2003, Garza was once one of the more conservative figures in local politics.
He did initially register to run for governor with the PRD this year, only to pull out and begin a second bid to be mayor. Yet once the coalition collapsed, Garza found a shot at the governorship irresistible.
“We will fully support his candidacy to be the next governor of Jalisco,” said Juan Carlos Guerrero, state president of the PRD, last week.
The official campaign period begins March 30.
Dylan and McCartney to play in Guadalajara
After a long and winding road of speculation, it has finally been confirmed: McCartney is bringing his “On the Run” tour to Guadalajara’s Omnilife Stadium. With the 69-year-old former Beatle’s concert scheduled for Saturday, May 5, it won’t be long before thousands of Tapatios come together to twist and shout the night away.
It promises to be a special day in the life of any music lover: expect a three-hour show of Beatles classics, Wings material, solo hits and hopefully not the infamously bad children’s hit “Frog Chorus.”
The tour will also see McCartney get back to Mexico City, where he last performed in 2010, with a concert at the Estadio Azteca on May 8.
While money can’t buy you love, it can secure you tickets to see Sir Paul. Prices range from a reasonable 450 pesos to a staggering 12,000 pesos. Tickets go on sale March 28.
As if McCartney’s appearance wasn’t enough, the freewheelin’ 70-year-old singer-songwriter Bob Dylan will bring it all back home at the Auditorio Telmex on Wednesday, May 9.
The croaky voiced folk singer famously inspired the Beatles’ more experimental offerings by introducing them to marijuana and challenging John Lennon to write songs about something other than love.
Dylan’s Guadalajara concert is sandwiched between dates in Monterrey and Mexico City on May 7 and 11 respectively. He last played the Auditorio Telmex in March 2008. There will be a presale for Banamex cardholders on April 12 and 13. Tickets cost from 280 to 980 pesos.
Drug honcho nabbed in Jalisco
This time there was no similar violent reaction after CJNG lieutenant Jose Guadalupe Serna Padilla, alias “The Vulture,” was detained alongside Oscar Pozos Jimenez in the municipality of Zapotiltic in southern Jalisco. Authorities say Serna reported directly to Erick Valencia Salazar, the CJNG boss captured in Zapopan two weeks ago.
It remains unclear whether Serna was involved in the subsequent narcoblockades in the south of the state, where seven vehicles were burnt.
Army officials confirmed that Serna was detained on the highway from Zapotiltic to Tamazula without a shot being fired. Serna and his associate were apparently betrayed by other gang members, who abandoned their vehicles and weapons on the roadside and fled before the arrests were made.
The Army discovered 16 high-powered rifles and 30 grenades in the vehicles. A large haul of marijuana, methamphetamine, handguns, rifles, grenade launchers, ammunition and explosives was then found at nearby farms from which the gang operated.
State authorities say the arrest is another nail in the coffin for the Jalisco Nueva Generacion.
The Tequila Files 