Sunday, May 08, 2005

They can't be serious

After everyone, including the NYTimes, TheEconomist, and Washington Post, has concluded that AMLO was in the clear and all that desafuero business behind us, the AG's office announced that criminal charges against AMLO are still possible. I had said that they left the door open for future legal action.

An exchange between a reporter for La Jornada and the Attorney General following the latter's participation in a Fox rally:

LJ: -A propósito del caso El Encino, ¿habrá desistimiento por parte de la PGR? [Has the case been dropped?]

AG: -No, no hay desistimiento, está en consulta el ejercicio de la acción penal. [No, the case has not been dropped. Criminal charges are being considered.]

LJ: -Pero el comunicado del 4 de mayo decía que no se va a ejercitar acción penal. [But the press release on May 4 said that there would not be criminal charges.]

AG: -Es la propuesta del Ministerio Público, pero no hay desistimiento. [That is the proposal of the Public Ministry, but it has not been dropped.]

LJ: -¿Y por parte de la PGR sí se espera que haya consignación? [And on the part of the AG's office, do you expect an arrest?]

AG: -Pues se está analizando la propuesta que hizo el titular de la agencia del Ministerio Público. [Well, the proposal of the head of the Public Ministry is being analyzed.]

LJ: -¿No es tema muerto? [The topic is not dead?]

AG: -Está en proceso de consulta. [It's in the process of being considered.]

LJ: -¿Es posible que la PGR archive el asunto de López Obrador? [Is it possible that the AG will archive/file away the Lopez Obrador issue?]

AG: -Es la propuesta del agente del Ministerio Público Federal con la cual resolveremos en su momento. [That is the proposal of the Public Ministry that we will resolve in time.]

LJ: -Algunos diputados dicen que se hizo mal el trabajo de la PGR con su antecesor, el procurador Macedo de la Concha. [Some Deputies (Representatives) say that your predecessor did a bad job.]

AG: -Se está revisando, está en consulta una propuesta de no ejercicio por parte del titular de la agencia del Ministerio Público. [It is being reviewed; the proposal of the Public Ministry to not proceed is being considered.] {At this point, you can see the conversation is not advancing....}

LJ: -¿Si hicieron mal las cosas, se integró mal el expediente? [Was the work done poorly? Is the case badly put together?]

AG: -No, eso no podemos decirlo. Eso de que está mal integrado precisamente se está revisando. [No, we cannot say that. That is what we are reviewing, whether the case was put together poorly.]

LJ: -¿Cómo ha encontrado a la PGR? [How have you found the AG's office?]

AG: -Trabajando bien, con gente comprometida. [Working well, with committed people.]

An optimist would say that this is a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. In this case, I'm not an optimist. This exchange occurred just after the AJ met with the President in his home state of Guanajuato.

The pessimist would say that the Fox administration is trying to eat its cake and have it, too. [The key to lame journalism: overuse of cliches.] They want to pretend to play nice and stop the mobilizations of support for Lopez Obrador, but would also like to keep AMLO in line with threats of criminal charges. I'm not sure that strategy will work. Many Mexicans may be poorly educated (underfunded schools, etc.), but they are not stupid. If anything, the strategy is likely to backfire.

Granted, La Jornada is the only paper running this story, so maybe it's only an attempt by the leftist press to stir up trouble. Or maybe they know something we don't know.

Not to miss a beat, the PRD denounced the comments by the AG. As did the AG for the DF.

posted by Michelle @ 12:04 PM,

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