The Election Game Turns Nasty
Jul 2nd, 2006 | By Michel Marizco | Category: General News, Politics
Email
Facebook
Twitter 
Post to Delicious 
Stumble This Post 
Buzz This Post 
Digg This Post
THE BORDER REPORT
Culiacan, Sinaloa - Alberto Ortiz left his farm early this morning to bring his wife up to Quila, Sinaloa, to vote. He's never voted in an election, the 68-year-old says, and he may never again.
"Not because I'm going to die - I'll outlive them all - but it's ugly," he said. "Some of these people have no shame."
The elections have taken on a typical Mexican flair, calls of corruption are rampant throughout Sinaloa and, so far unconfirmed, gunfire erupted in Guererro.
The PRI is raising hell in Sinaloa, calling corruption on a Federal Electoral Institute worker who was wearing a striped hat.
The basic rule is that the parties can’t campaign on election day. But apparently, the IFE worker had a baseball cap with more blue stripes (the PAN color) than red stripes (PRI).
In Quila, Sinaloa, an hour south of Culiacan, a pick-up truck full of young women sporting the blue gallivanted back and forth across the dirt roads, honking wildly, the occupants wildly waving blue balloons.
“Son los colores de la reyna!†the cattiest of the women shouted back to questions from Culiacan reporters.
“I’m celebrating my crowning!†she said.
It’s really interesting. I’ve never seen polling places where you had to walk around rotten mangoes and rusty ploughshares to get to the lone booth sitting under the watchful gaze of eight IFE workers.
The corruption shouts are common, my reporter friends say, and coming in after a particularly nasty campaign where the candidates called each other everything from American puppets to thieves, murderers and shorty, it's no surprise.
At yet another polling place, this one in a village north of the city, a red Chevrolet Suburban was reportedly harassing voters, telling them to vote PRI.
Things took a sinister turn as they always do. The gentle Mexican chaos turned into a beating.
Two women went on the radio sobbing, one with a strained neck and a bruised knee.
Snarling, a man from the PRD came up to her, pulling her hair back until her eyes teared, yelling at her she’d better vote for PRD before pushing her to the ground.
“These people are lunatics!†she told the radio reporter.
