Sunday

Hurricane Lane amped up Friday night to smash into México's Pacific coast as a category three storm. Lane touched land south of Culiacán* and rapidly fizzled back into a category one storm, but not before leaving villages flooded, washing out roads, and killing two or three people (sources vary). Now scattered storms are moving all across the country: we've had two thunder storms here today already. I have had a little trouble finding any news about the Grito de Dolores that president Fox performed in the actual city of Dolores Hidalgo this year, so I assume that it went off without a hitch. While everyone was shocked that Fox had moved the celebration from its normal setting in the México City Zócalo, the government is pointing out that it is traditional for the Grito to be performed in its original colonial town once per presidential term. So this happens at least once every six years. What? Then why is everyone so freaked out? I don't know. In the capital, AMLO laid low on Friday night (while the PRD Mayor shouted his own cry of independence), and Saturday's military parade was peaceful and typical. By Saturday night, ALMO returned to the Zócalo, rallying his "National Democratic Convention" to declare a parallel government, surprise surprise, of which he was, in turn, immediately declared the president--declared "legitimate president" of all México, in fact.* Odd as this may seem, commentators are treating this as a good omen: as an unnamed dissenter ALMO is just another wing nut; but it is possible that after declaring this movement, he will work within the existing democratic system to push his contrarian political agenda. It looks as if AMLO, as canny as ever, may actually be leveraging a political position out of his nutty revolution. [Cavin]