An explosion in the administrative building of the company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) left 25 dead and 101 injured yesterday in the capital of the country. Forty-six persons are hospitalised.

Firefighters, medical emergency workers (ERUM), Red Cross, the national army and other organisations immediately started rescue works and searches for more possible victims.

Experts of the General Attorney are analising the causes of the incident, but so far they are unknown or unpublished. A press-release on the company’s website reports, “the legal department of Pemex has already introduced corresponding denouncements to the Public Ministry.”

At the same time, President Enrique Peña Nieto assured he will personally control rescue actions. He has already visited the hospital of Pemex in Picacho and B2 building, where the explosion had taken place. He acknowledged professional work of those involved in rescue operations and afirmed again that “nobody is going to privatise Pemex or our hydrocarbons. On the contrary, we want to have the best public company in the world.”

Pemex authorities suspended all labour activities of the company “till further notice”. However, the latest press-release published at 1.18am local time says that “the company has activated its financial operations contingency system.” Additionaly, Pemex ensures that “all commitments with its financial and commercial counterparties will be met in a timely and appropriate manner.”

Ironically, the explosion happened a few hours after Carlos Murrieta, Operations Director of Pemex, had announced “we have reduced the accident rate in recent years. It is an achievement for Pemex to maintain safety indicators according to the international standards.”

Yesterday’s incident is not the first one to happen in Pemex. On 19th September 2012 a gas plant explosion killed 26 and injured 46.

The Crusade against Hunger programme went into effect today in Mexico, aimed at alleviating hunger amongst those Mexicans living in conditions of extreme poverty. The initiative was announced on Monday by President Enrique Peña Nieto in the city of Las Margaritas, in the southern state of Chiapas.

Efforts will target 400 cities throughout Mexico and aim to lift 7.4 million people out of extreme poverty. Of those 400 cities, four of every five are located in the states of Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guerrero, Veracruz, Estado de México, and Puebla.

The five stated objectives of the Crusade are to achieve adequate nutrition levels, eliminate acute childhood malnutrition, increase food production capacity in the most affected sectors, reduce harvest losses, and promote community participation. These efforts will be monitored by the recently created National System against Hunger (Sinhambre), which will work jointly with social organisations and private sector entities.

The campaign has come under attack since Monday, however, by social movements and opposition figures that dismiss the Crusade as “almsgiving” and a “publicity stunt”.

“No one believes that combatting this scourge in 400 cities will eradicate the hunger that affects half the Mexican population” said Jesús Zambrano, president of the Partido Revolución Democrática (PRD). “We are convinced of the necessity of substantial changes in the economic model and attention to social problems.”

Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), the peasant organisation which made headlines in 1994 with their uprising in Las Margaritas, expressed similar sentiments in a letter written to Peña Nieto this week.

Colegio de México professor and researcher Julio Boltvinik joined the critics, asking “How can we achieve these goals without changing agricultural politics as well? […] How do we increase people’s income if free trade and food importation continues to dominate the country, and if the marketing of agricultural grains is in the hands of three or four transnational companies?”

According to the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy, approximately 52 million Mexicans live in poverty, in a population of a little over 112 million.

The Mexican Congress passed yesterday a bill on educational reform put forward by president Enrique Peña Nieto, despite strong opposition by the teachers’ union.

The new law is aimed at re-gaining control of the education system by the state, and limiting the competences of the powerful National Union of Education Workers (SNTE). It creates a new, autonomous body for teachers’ evaluations in order to encourage the professionalisation of teachers and remove the influence of the SNTE. It also establishes that a census be carried out to know the exact number of teachers, students, and schools in Mexico, as this is information is not currently available.

Other measures put forward by the law include extending schooling hours, strengthening the administrative autonomy of schools, and opening more full-time schools.

The SNTE originally supported the bill, however as it made its way through Congress the union changed its position and initiated a “peaceful resistance”. SNTE’s president, Elba Esther Gordillo, explained their opposition by stating that the new law puts in jeopardy the stability and job security of teachers: “the evaluation cannot be there to put or remove (teachers),” who ”are not responsible for the training they receive,” she said, and added that the union will use all the available “legal, social, and political resources” in order to guarantee “the full respect to the work and dignity of the teachers.”

President Peña Nieto celebrated the passing of the bill via Twitter, saying: “This reform is the first great step to transform the education of our children and youth. We will move México forward.”

The bill received the backing of the country’s main political parties: the governing Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), and the Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD).

Enrique Peña Nieto took his presidential oath in Mexico City shortly after midnight early Saturday morning, marking the return of political powerhouse Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). In addressing the country that morning, Peña Nieto offered a 13-point plan, proposing economic, anti-crime, and social support reform.

He outlined an integrated crime prevention program to ensure that roads and cities are “peaceful areas where Mexicans can travel safely without fear of loss of their liberty or life”. His immediate predecessor, Felipe Calderon, saw soaring violence and organized crime during his term.

The economy, currently Latin American’s second largest, also featured prominently in the new head of state’s plan. Peña Nieto favours an increased tax base and legislation to allow greater foreign investment in the state oil company Pemex. Regarding economic issues, Peña Nieto faces associations between his party and the national debt default of 1982 and the financial crisis of 1994-1995. “It’s very hard to believe in the PRI. They bankrupted Mexico,” summarised construction worker Jose Luis Mendoza.

Other highlights include anti-corruption measures in public education, a new passenger train network, and social programs such as pensions for the elderly, support for single mothers to helping their children through college, and anti-hunger programs.

Peña Nieto’s inauguration stirred protests amongst anti-PRI activists furious at the party’s return after a 12-year hiatus that interrupted a 71-year reign. Some participants broke windows, painted building facades and ignited bonfires. According to the Red Cross, the police responded with tear gas. City officials reported 103 people arrested, 11 of them minors. Reports indicate 76 people injured, including 29 hospitalised.

Perhaps in light of his controversial role, Peña Nieto spoke diplomatically. “I will respect every voice,” he vowed. “I will run an open government that speaks with honesty, seeks opinion, listens to its citizens (…) I will be a president who is close to the people.”

Peña Nieto was elected last July with 38.21% of the national vote, which sparked allegations of election fraud from a coalition of opposition groups. An electoral tribunal dismissed accusations in late August.

The following day, the national leaders of political parties National Action Party (PAN), Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), and PRI united to sign the “Pact for Mexico”, which, in the words of PRI head Cristina Díaz, “comes to consolidate a commitment in which there’s political will.” The pact represents cooperative intentions amongst Mexico’s most powerful groups, which, if it holds together, could marshal the necessary political support to push Peña Nieto’s reform visions into reality.

However, the air of political solidarity soured today when the PRD refused to recognise the past signed by party leader Jesús Zambrano yesterday, saying he did so in an “individual capacity”.

Greenpeace and small-scale farmers’ organisations demand the Mexican government not approve agricultural giant Monsanto’s bid to plant genetically-modified (GMO) corn in the northern states of Sinaloa and Tamaulipas. They cite protection of biodiversity, food supply, human health, and cultural sovereignty and risks of industry monopolisation.

Monsanto’s two proposals submitted to the National Sanitation, Inoculation, and Agricultural Quality Service (Senasica) on last 7^th September include more than one million hectares, 700,000 of them in Sinaloa, the most prolific white corn-producing region in Mexico.

“There is no technological, economic, nor ethical reason that benefits the population and the majority of the rural producers,” argued National Autonomous Regional Farmers’ Organizations Union (UNORCA) president Olegario Carrillo Meza.

Opponents say GMO corn jeopardises native corn varieties. “If the authorisation goes through, the region’s white corn harvests will be contaminated and the grain quality will be harmed,” explained Greenpeace Mexico’s coordinator for Trans-genetic and Sustainable Agriculture, Aleira Lara. Native corn varieties usually used to make corn tortillas, a staple of the traditional Mexican diet, would be in “grave danger”. The practice of marketplace grain exchange that goes back thousands of years may also be affected. Furthermore, some have concerns that Monsanto could stand to monopolise Mexico’s corn production. The trans-national company already controls 90% of the world market in genetically-modified seeds.

“With Monsanto’s solicitation, the commercial authorization would be total liberation, without any measures for biosecurity and that poses a major risk for the Mexican food supply,” Lara declared.

President Felipe Calderón approved experimental GMO corn seeds in 2009. This year, 177 allowances have already been granted, among them Pioneer Hi-Bred International’s plan to plant GMO corn on more than 350,000 hectares in Tamaulipas. Mexico currently imports ten million tonnes of yellow corn for consumption.

Mexico will witness a leadership shift on the 1^st December, but the change is hardly encouraging for activists. Calderón will hand off the presidency to Enrique Peña Nieto, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). “The PRI government has a history of behaviour in support of the trans-genetics in the legislatures … Unfortunately, Peña Nieto has named Dr. Bolívar Zapata as part of his cabinet,” who, Lara says, “was a strong industry lobbyist when they approved the current law, inclined to cover Monsanto’s interests”.

Story courtesy of Agencia Púlsar, the AMARC-ALC news agency.

The coalition led by Andrés Manuel López Obrador is calling for an invalidation of the Mexican elections due to suspected instances of vote buying, manipulation and over-spending by Peña Nieto’s party.

The Mexican Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) announced Nieto’s win on the 9^th July with the final count showing 38.21% in favour however Obrador refused to concede. Nieto is leader of the Compromiso por México, a coalition composed of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) and the Partido Verde Ecologista de México (PVEM).

However, Obrador claims Nieto’s party has violated the constitution by using corrupt and illegal tactics. Tonight he will submit a report to the IFE tonight to demand the elections are overturned.

Obrador, who comes from the leftist PRD party but represented the Movimiento Progresista coalition in the elections, accuses Nieto of multiple constitutional violation such as buying and coercing votes, influencing media coverage and exceeding the campaign spending cap by more than MXN$4.5b.

According to the coalition, Nieto over-spent drastically on advertising, with $409m going on billboards and posters in stations, sporting events and fences around Mexico.

Nieto also allegedly handed out cash cards for shopping chain Soriana and mobile phone top up cards at values of MXN$50, MXN$100 and MXN$200. This accusation was raised by the coalition on 2^nd July however it remains unresolved by the IFE.

On top of these claims, Nieto is said to have bought numerous advertising slots in various media outlets to unfairly influence public opinion in his favour.

Obrador and his campaign coordinator, Ricardo Monreal are preparing dossiers for each state in which there are alleged discrepancies.

For the vote to be overturned they will need to prove irregularities in over 25% of voting boxes, according to the Challenge Law. The PRD Party claims that as many as five million votes may have been bought.

According to the original numbers released from the IFE, Peña Nieto garnered 19.1 million votes, while López Obrador received 15 million.

The report will be submitted tonight to the IFE, who will pass it on to the Electoral Tribunal to make the final decision. The TEPJF has until the 31^st August to investigate allegations of corruption before the official president is announced on 9^th September.

The original vote on 1st July was succeeded by country-wide protests at Nieto’s apparent win. Student activist group ‘#Yo Soy 132′ has been particularly vocal about the outcome.

Ahead of Mexican presidential elections on the 1st July, government authorities maintained that a quiet and fair outcome looks likely, but urged political leaders and voters to peaceably accept the results of the ballot box. The announcement follows an initiative by federal and state forces to reinforce security in principal cities and squares throughout the country.

In 2006, the official election outcome put Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a current presidential contender, in second place behind the candidate of Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, by less than one percentage point. After the election, Obrador denounced the results as fraudulent, staged massive protests and declared himself to be the legitimate president of Mexico.

The latest opinion polls forecasted that presidential frontrunner Enrique Peña Nieto of the opposition Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) would be victorious in Sunday´s election. A win by PRI would put power back into the hands of a party that ruled Mexico for 72 years and controlled all of Mexico´s 31 states until 1989.

Today marks the four-day period prior to the election during which citizens, media and government must refrain from disseminating any political propaganda.