The common enemy in the debate

T he common enemy in the debate

Twenty-four years after the first presidential debate , we remember the winner that time was the member of the conservative National Action Party (PAN) Diego Fernández de Ceballos, who ended up losing the election. In 2000, another PAN member – Vicente Fox – left the mark (outside of the debate) “today, today, today.” In 2006, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) preferred to leave his seat empty and lost the election. In 2012, model Julia Orayen and her figure were the stars. Today, the candidates are preparing for the event but we see a carefree Mr. Andrés Manuel once again, hanging out with his son while his wife jokingly states on social networks that Andrés is much more handsome than George Clooney. José Antonio Meade, Ricardo Anaya, and independent candidates Margarita Zavala and Jaime Rodríguez (El Bronco) already went to the Palace of Mines to rehearse the first round. Who will be the common enemy in tonight's debate? We shall see who knocks heads with whom. Don't forget the popcorn.

Silvano Aureoles, the tip of the iceberg

When Silvano Aureoles , member of the left Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) announces he supports José Antonio Meade , this is really just the tip of the iceberg. We're told that Ricardo Anaya , the candidate of the “For Mexico to the Front” coalition hasn't earned the sympathies of many members of the conservative National Action Party (PAN) across the country, especially the Governors of the Front, who will not support him and are, instead, considering siding with Andrés Manuel López Obrador – but definitely not Anaya. For instance, we're told that in the State of Mexico, a sector with a considerable PRD force will do nothing to promote Anaya, which will weaken him. So, while Aureoles has drilled a hole –and the number of votes that represents is unknown – what's true is that the covert rejection and abandonment of the Front's candidate is the most pressing concern for the coalition, according to PAN and PRD members. By the way, in October 2017, Silvano told EL UNIVERSAL how “nice” it was that Anaya, Alejandra Barrales, and Dante Delgado – then as national leaders of the PAN, PRD, and MC – had already distributed the candidacies among themselves. And so it was.

Government advertisement: legislating Mexican-style

The Senate has run out of time and the commissions – on which having something to discuss and vote on during the plenary sessions depends – are still inactive. Thus, the Assembly has no project yet regarding the Law on Social Communication and it is urgent that this topic be addressed by the Plenum so the decree can be returned with modifications to the deputies because, presently, the groups of Fernando Herrera (conservative National Action Party - PAN), Manuel Bartlett Díaz (far-left Labor Party – PT), Luis Sánchez Jiménez (left Democratic Revolution Party – PRD) and a good portion of the Senators without a party have the majority and they want to return the bill to the deputies. The thing is that the Supreme Court of Justice gave them until April 30 to approve it and some have begun to bet that, very Mexican-style, a time extension will be asked to the ministers, who can send legislators to jail for failing to comply with their orders...

Crime rates on early Saturdays

It's become almost tradition now for the executive staff of the National Security System to publish crime rate statistics on early mornings. Our sources explain that the March data was uploaded to the official website of the Executive Secretary's Office during the early minutes of this Saturday and crime rate hasn't changed – it's trending upward. Statistics confirm that kidnappings reported during the Peña Nieto administration have exceeded those of the Felipe Calderón administration. Will these topics be addressed by the candidates in tonight's debate? We'll see.

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