Monday, July 19, 2010
Downsides to the Recent Inner Circle Changes in Mexico
'Bajo Reserva' Column, El Universal
[The ouster of Interior Secretary]
Fernando Gómez Mont, as financiers say, "was taken for granted" — or, it was no surprise. But the [dismissal of the
head of the President’s Office], Patricia Flores, was. And she is out.
The now ex-head of the office
of the presidency not only had confrontations with various cabinet members and close collaborators of President Calderón in
Los Pinos, but too she was well-known for constantly abusing power and nepotism.
Last March we noted how she had
placed a good part of her family in the federal government. Her four sisters and her mother, for example: Laureana was first
secretary of the Mexican Consulate in Austin. Martha Emilia the third secretary of the Mexican Consulate in Malaysia. Andrea
was in the Federal Electricity Commission. Aidé was properties manager of the Mexican Social Security Institute. And [mother]
Emilia was the delegate of the Foreign Affairs ministry in her native Durango. And earlier her uncle, Rodolfo Elizondo, was
Secretary of Tourism, although she did not put him there.
Yesterday it was rumored she
would go to the embassy in Portugal, [but] it appears that not even that will be. The "boss of bosses" is out of the inner
circle, and some say it is forever.
The surprise in Baja California
was great. This insofar as the electoral failure of the PAN is attributed to José Francisco Blake Mora, who replaces Fernando
Gómez Mont in the Interior Ministry (Segob). On July 4 [PAN] lost 15 of 16 state
legislative seats and the [state's five] important municipal governments. Local PAN followers almost lynched him; he is described
as a terrible political operator, and they never expected him to reach such a high office.
Others who were surprised were
those at Gate 4 of Los Pinos, prior to [Blake's] induction ceremony. When Blake told them that he had an appointment with
President Calderón, they made him wait and wait and wait. They never thought that this man was, in fact, the new Secretary
of the Interior.
(…)
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"Bajo Reserva" is a collaborative
column written by a team of El Universal journalists and contributors. El Universal, Mexico City, July 15, 2010; edited translation:
MexiData.info
