45 minutes aboard the presidential plane

45 minutes aboard the Presidential Plane

Upon his return from his presidential tour in Campeche, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto took three-quarters of an hour to descend from the presidential plane. The cause? A chat with the Secretary of Tourism and aspiring nominee to the presidential candidacy of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) , Enrique de la Madrid . The Secretary of Culture, María Cristina García Cepeda, and the Secretary of Environment, Rafael Pacchiano, left the cabin while the Tourism official and Mr. Enrique remained on the plane. Meanwhile, the Joint Chief of Staff, Roberto Miranda, awaited at the end of the stairway. After a 45-minute talk, the Mexican President and the Secretary of Tourism said their farewells with a hug.The Secretary of Tourism has been in Campeche since last Monday, participating in the preliminary works for the thematic discussion of the PRI, where they will define the changes to their by-laws and the formula to choose the next presidential candidate of their party. What could the chat have been about?

Today's forecast for the PRI

The storm Franklin has complicated things for the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) , which chose the walled city of Campeche to deliberate on the subject of the By-Laws , which the forecast says will be the hottest topic of the 22 National Assembly of the party. The issue, we're told, is that none of the legislators managed to leave Mexico City this Tuesday since the airport of the capital city of Campeche closed due to weather restrictions. However, the party leader, Enrique Ochoa Reza , decided this is a topic of the utmost importance and thus, all PRI party members assigned to participate in the talks will arrive at Campeche through Merida to discuss this “stormy” situation about some locks that prevent non-members to become candidate nominees for the party. The forecast for this Wednesday is cloudy skies with the possibility of some locks snapping open.

Sandoval pretends to “embellish” his departure

Nayarit Governor, Roberto Sandoval , is about to break a government transition which, for all intent s and purposes, was expected to go smoothly. From these far away lands, our sources say a majority of the State Congress, loyal to the Governor, is promoting a legislative dawn raid to provide 110 millions of Mexican pesos in scholarships, school uniforms, and supplies, a considerable amount of money, given the current resource margin of the State. What is of particular interest to us, is that the current Legislature – controlled by people close to Sandoval – concludes their works on August 17 – that is, in eight days – and on the 18th a new Legislature takes up the mantle, but this Legislature has an absolute majority of the alliance between the conservative National Action Party (PAN) and left Democratic Revolution Party (PRD). We're told the Governor's men are trying to shower him in resources to “embellish” his departure on September 19. Some legislators believe this is a ploy to “tie the hands” of the next administration and leave them with little resources to work with.

PRD receives a sweet deal in the Senate

To keep an atmosphere of cordiality and governability in the Senate , the bodies of this Chamber have decided to sweeten up with the reduced Parliament group of the left Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), which recently faced a massive desertion led by Miguel Barbosa. According to our sources, the coordinators of the political powers are preparing to offer a gift to the leader of the PRD group, Dolores Padierna : to create a fourth vice-presidency for this party minority – the fourth power at the High Chamber . As you might remember, due to political agreements, the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party ( PRI ) will preside over the last year of the 63 Legislature, The three vice-presidencies are given according to the number of legislators. Thus, the first vice-presidency is for the PRI, the second for the conservative National Action Party ( PAN ) and the third belongs, now, to the Labour Party ( PT ). However, the PRD members won't lose their spot at the board of directors. Isn't that nice?

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