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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| PRI leader Moreira becomes focus of criticism |
| 2011-08-24 |
| By Chris Covert As the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) goes about its process selecting a candidate for the Mexican 2012 national election, its leader, Humberto Moreira is coming under sharp attack from Gustavo Madero of the Partido Accion Nacional and Reforma newspaper for his financial dealings while he was governor of Coahuila state. According to Mexican news sources, including Reforma newspaper and the leftist weekly Proceso during his term as governor, Moreira ran up debt for Coahuila state from MP $323 million (USD $26,177,373.50) and raised it to MP $32 billion (USD $259,342,400.00), a debt balloon so large, according to AnimalPolitico.com, the yearly interest payments are currently at MP $1,300,000.00 (USD $105,357.85) a year. Moreira stepped down as governor of Coahuila last March when he accepted election as leader of the PRI in a process he almost walked through. He replaced Beatriz Parades Rangel, who stepped down following a series of stunning wins in which PRI took, held or flipped 11 of 14 state houses in the 2010 elections. Moreira's work has mirrored Parades Rangel in the number of sheer sweeps in state and local elections PRI has won including Mexico state and his home state of Coahuila in which his brother Ruben won by a wide margin, and in Nayarit. PRI also swept state deputy and municipality elections by wide margins in Hidalgo. The November 13th statehouse elections in Michoacan, which feature Luisa Calderon Hinojosa, sister of outgoing Mexican president Felipe Calderon Hinojosa is the last statehouse election until the start of the national campaign in 2012. The Michoacan election is considered to be so important, all three leaders of the three mainstream political parties, PRI, PAN and Partido Revolucion Democratica (PRD) have set up residence in Michoacan to aid their respective causes. Moreira's travails started when Moody's Investor Service and Fitch downgraded Coahuila state debt five levels forcing the state to renegotiate its current debt at higher interest rates. Coahuila currently pays MP $601 million (USD $48,707,744.50) a year in interest, which is now set to nearly double. Last week, the Coahuila state chamber of deputies voted to refinance MP $33 billion pesos. Proceso is charging in an article posted Tuesday in its website that Moreira had used part of the debt to enrich a political ally, making Vicente Chaires one of the wealthiest individuals in Coahuila state. Vicente Chaires made his fortune in real estate and in telecommunications. Proceso suggests the Moreira himself may have benefited from the association while governor, although the article fails to explicitly state the nature of the nexus or how Moreira may have benefitted. Another problem on the horizon for Moreira is Javier Villarreal, who is possibly facing federal criminal charges for falsifying public documents. Javier Villarreal was aide to govenor Moreira during his term as governor of Coahuila. In a response to criticism late Tuesday published in El Diario de Coahuila, Moreira accused the Mexican federal government of a "personal" vendetta against him, citing reports of falsified documents pertaining to municipal works grants. Moreira said he could not know all the details of such grants and still govern in Coahuila. Adding to Moreira's headaches as president of the largest political party in Mexico is Enrique Pena Nieto, former governor of Mexico, who is the odds on favorite to become PRI's candidate for the 2012 presidential election. While Pena Nieto seems to be an outstanding choice to win the election, he is a flawed candidate, as a man who also became wealthy and influential during his political career. Stories in Mexican press have emerged which paint Pena Nieto as even less of the populist than Moreira's carefully crafted image, but more of a wealthy player in Mexican politics, which could potentially be a hard sell in 2012 for the PRI and to Mexicans. |
| Posted by:badanov |