Muere Torre Cantù y La Fachada de Democracia

For those not fully convinced that the Calderon election was a good sign that functional democracy in Mexico was still in the NICU of development (and if press killings, Guererro, Oaxaca, and Quintana Roo still didn't do it), today's ambush of PRIsta Toree Cantù should finish the job. Be the killers Narcos, business, or political assassins, the message that candidates in Mexico will walk el camino Colosio is fairly clear. Look, I am fairly pro-Mexico in almost everything, but this is certainly an area where Mexico needs to find a way to wake up and join the civilized world of letting corporations buy your elections for you. Seriously, though, as I read about the governor's races in Morelos in the 1940s here in Cuernavaca, I am convinced that the names of the players may have changed, but the danger of participating in politics in Mexico has reduced only a very little.

I might add that it is always possible that the target was diputado Enrique Blackmore Smer ... a popular and increasingly powerful mover and shaker in Tamaulipas. At any rate, perhaps Smer more than Torre Cantù provides the human side to this. A lovely wife and three cute kids, his Facebook page contains messages from relatives asking if he survived ... if he was safe.