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Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Smokers’ paradise lost

By Jeremy Schwartz | Tuesday, February 26, 2008, 03:30 PM

Mexico, especially seen through American eyes, has always been something of a smoker’s paradise. Smokers puff happily as they stroll through the local mall, wait for a plane or digest their dinner along with a coffee. But officials in Mexico are clamping down: The Mexican Senate just passed a landmark federal smoking law this afternoon that prohibits smoking in all public, indoor places (unless owners build a self-enclosed smoking section) and severely cracks down on tobacco advertising. The bill also requires huge warning labels on all packs and prohibits the sale of individual cigarettes.

And as I type, the Mexico City legislature is hammering out a tough new amendment to its own smoking ban, scheduled to go into effect this July. The revised version would outlaw smoking in all enclosed public spaces, regardless of whether bar and restaurant owners build a ventilated smoking section. Violations of the law could land offenders a 36-hour stint in a Mexico City jail, enough to make most people wait to light up until they get outside.

But neither measure is a done deal quite yet. President Felipe Calderon still has to sign the federal bill into law (which he is expected to do) and several establishments, including the Wal-Mart owned Vips chain of restaurants, have presented legal challenges to the Mexico City version.

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Internal division stalks the Mexican left

By Jeremy Schwartz | Tuesday, February 26, 2008, 09:30 AM

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Some were predicting it as far back as the summer of 2006, when losing presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador brought hundreds of thousands into the streets to protest what he called a fraudulent election.

Two years later, the Mexican left is consumed by division, an internal fight that threatens to spill out of control and, experts say, weaken the Democratic Revolutionary Party, the PRD, Mexico’s foremost left-leaning party.

How bad have things gotten? This morning we read (subscription required) of death threats received by members of the New Left, a more moderate group of legislators, just days after they were verbally abused at a Lopez Obrador rally against privatizing Pemex. Among those receiving death threats is Lopez Obrador’s former top campaign aide Jesus Ortega, who has broken with his former mentor. “It seems to me that intolerance has no place among those who say they have a democratic stance,” lamented PRD founder Cuauhtemoc Cardenas after the rally. Lopez Obrador has condemned the aggressions.

The battle on the left basically breaks down like this: Those who remain steadfastly loyal to Lopez Obrador, who has called on PRD legislators not to engage the government of President Felipe Calderon vs. the New Left, whose members want to take advantage of the PRD’s standing in the Congress (the party has the second most seats behind the conservative PAN) to influence legislation and push the left’s agenda. The result has been a PRD at loggerheads, even seeing its members in Congress voting against each other. That has translated to mostly smooth sailing for Calderon, who entered the presidency facing serious questions about his legitimacy.

The battle for the PRD’s soul continues with internal elections for party president. The race in essence pits Lopez Obrador’s protege and former Mexico City mayor Alejandro Encinas against New Left representative Ortega. Whoever emerges victorious should tell us a lot about the future of the Mexican left.

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