Wednesday

Mexican sources report that Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez has responded to Ambassador Tony Garza's official travel warning on Friday, referring to Garza's message as "unfortunate" and "contradictory."* The official warning is here. The diplomatic rift between México and Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez also deepens today: Derbez is widely reported in México as saying Chavez's meddlesome pronouncements about who is, and who is not, a president of México are "inconvenient."* Strong words. Derbez is also reported as saying stronger words: Chavez's plane will probably not be allowed to land in México when he tries to attend AMLO's "inauguration" as "legitimate president" on November 20th. Subcomandante Marcos came out in support of AMLO, or at least against the election that many people believe fraudulently denied him office.* Marcos has been a biting critic of the leftist candidate since the beginning of his political run, challenging him to debates and calling him on his grassroots liberalism. Still, I suspect in light of the corporate-minded PAN alternative, AMLO seems the lesser of two evils in the eyes of the Zapatista movement. New president-elect Calderón has made announcements that the ongoing situation in Oaxaca (the union strike seized the capital several months ago in order to oust the governor) will be his first order of business as Mexican leader.* Handled well, this might play well with Marcos in nearby Chiapas--this little Oaxacan coup has been all but ignored by federal peacekeepers. This will not be accomplished by jackbooted thugs overrunning a movement consisting of subsistence farmers and teachers, however. Our friend Olga has returned from the fun-in-the-sun coverage of the Non-Aligned Movement in Havana, Cuba. The article I cited about the NAM summit yesterday (here) was an unaccredited Basque remix of her AP story (compare with here). Basque rascals. [Cavin]