TOP STORIES
Favorite extends lead in poll
The latest poll released by Buendía y Laredo shows Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate Enrique Peña Nieto with a comfortable lead, Reuters reported Monday.
The poll was conducted from March 14-18 and the results show Peña Nieto with a 19-point lead over National Action Party candidate Josefina Vázquez Mota (42.5 percent vs. 23.7 percent).
The formal presidential election campaign begins on March 30.
Study: Most homicides go unpunished
A new study indicates four out of five homicides go unpunished in Mexico, in part because authorities focus on easier, less serious cases.
The study says 96.4 percent of murders in the state of Chihuahua don’t result in prison sentences.
The group México Evalúa released the nationwide figures in a report Monday.
Pope Benedict wins over Mexico; next stop Cuba
He donned a sombrero and was serenaded by mariachi bands, embraced by Mexicans who called him their brother. Pope Benedict XVI has a bit of a tougher sell as he heads to a Cuba that until recently was officially atheist.
Benedict leaves behind Spanish-speaking Latin America’s most Roman Catholic country Monday and arrives in its least, hoping to inspire the same outpouring of faith on the communist-run island that he did in Mexico’s conservative Catholic heartland.
Heed gender rules, poll official tells parties
The head of the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) said political parties that failed to abide by gender equality rules in selecting candidates for the July general elections would face legal consequences.
The National Action Party (PAN), Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Green Party (PVEM) informed election officials over the weekend that they would be unable to comply with the gender quotas established by the law, IFE chief Leonardo Valdés said.
Nuevo León police cadets tested
Mexico’s own corrupt police officers often hinder the country’s fight against drug gangs and organized crime but government officials in the state of Nuevo León say they have a plan to get rid of corruption, once and for all.
Along with their physical endurance being put to the test, they are also undergoing a series of lie detector tests and psychological exams in an effort to become the officers who finally change the state’s long history of police corruption.
Al Jazeera’s Franc Contreras reports from the northern city of Monterrey.
SPORTS
El Tri reaches Final Four
Alan Pulido of the Tigres recorded a hat trick as Mexico defeated Honduras 3-0 to clinch a spot in the semifinals of the Concacaf Olympics qualifying tournament.
El Tri needs a tie against Panama on Tuesday to secure first place in Group B . Honduras – the winner of the Concacaf Olympics tournament in 2008 – will face Trinidad & Tobago that same day.
The top two teams in Group B and the top two teams from Group A advance to the semifinals to battle for two Concacaf slots at the London Games.
ELECTIONS
When Silence is not Golden
Less than four months before Election Day in the midst of what promises to be an entertaining three-way campaign for president … and the candidates are hiding from the spotlight?
What gives?
The technicalities of the 2007 electoral reform are now evident and we are seeing a clear example of buyer’s remorse. Even worse, the candidates are so unsure of the legal ramifications that they prefer to err on the side of caution during a 45-day “blackout” ahead of the official 90-day campaign period that begins on March 30.
