Tuesday

Yesterday, official Mexican flags on either side of the border flew at half-mast in honor of the lives lost on September Eleventh, 2001. The same day, Mexican congressional party leaders announced that unification over the electoral divide would begin in the federal legislature,* and began talks to decide what terms were best for the country. This comes pretty soon after the incredible anti-presidential display that preempted Vicente Fox's national address to the same congress earlier this month. Also yesterday, opposition protestors in the seaside city of Nuevo Vallarta attempted to force their way into a hotel where president-elect Felipe Calderón was hosting a governors conference.* Four people were arrested. Surprisingly, the leaders of both these parties in opposition over July's election agree on something: the ballots from the contentious election should not be destroyed.* In this way, neutral parties may be able to study them later. But in México the law states the ballots need to be burned before the new president takes office on December first; a custom that, to this observer, smacks of black magic folklore voodoo witchcraft cheating more than it does the best practices of a squeaky-clean modern electoral process. Still, it's the law, and pundits are unsure whether it can be sidelined this time around. IFE, the institution in charge of implementing the electoral process here (like running the challenged election last summer), has yet to decide upon a date for the, um, burning. Enrique Barrera Nevárez, the police commissioner of Linares, NL was gunned down with assault rifles outside of his home today.* The AK-47s and AR-15s used lead some to suspect the collusion of the fearsome los Zetas in Nuevo Laredo. At present, I can only find Mexican coverage online, so there are holes in my English-language understanding of events.* [Cavin]