Political Primer

Democracy here is still comparatively young dating from the proclamation of the current Constitution in 1917 (English) (Spanish version).   Even though the revolution is generally held to have ended in 1920 it was not until 1929 that the various factions of the revolution were joined to form the PRI party.  There were actually three different names for the party but it took the name PRI in 1946.  It held power from 1929 to 2000.  The PAN party took power in 2000 under Vicente Fox and continues its rule today under Felipe Calderón.

There are three levels of government in Mexico:

Federal:  Mexico or more formally  The United Mexican States (Estados Unidos Mexicanos).

There are a bewildering number of secretariats and programs, each with their own acronym eg. PET, SEMARNAT, SIAPA.  There is a separate  federal government page which attempts to explain some of them with definitions and links.

The federal system has two houses called el congreso. Diputadas Federales and Senadores Federales sit in separate houses of the congress. One of the diputados from our area is Ivedeliza Reyes Hernández who represents the PAN party.

State: Our state is Nayarit .  There are 31 states plus the federal district of Mexico.  (The Nayarit web site is interesting)

Municipal:  Our municipality is Compostela, one of twenty in Nayarit.  Although there are organizations which appear to be at a fourth level i.e.local/city they are actually defined as being part of the municipal government. The municipal web site includes the names of the various department heads and politicos and photos of various events.

Local i.e. they deal only with issues in town.

The people (For photos of some local people click here)

Of course being a democracy  the most basic element is the citizen voter.  His vote selects almost all of the others. Every citizen is automatically on the electoral role when he turns 18 years of age.  Voting is mandatory but not enforced.  Mexicans exercise their franchise at a rate about 15% less than in Canada and the US.   In 2006 that amounted to 59% of registered voters.   One of the most important document that a Mexican carries is his “credential electoral”, his voting card.  It is the most commonly requested official identification.

The Delegado or Jues (judge)

Each community elects a juez. Larger communities elect a Delegado.  So we have a delegado for La Peñita.  Guayabitos and Los Ayalas have their own juez.  He/she is elected in a slate format along with the Comité de Acción Ciudadano .  The slates are identified by colours.  So you may see signs that say Vota Azul or Vota Rojo (vote for the blue or vote for the red slate).  This election happens in November every three years. The Delegado functions much like a justice of the peace.  He/she settles minor disputes among citizens, notarizes certain documents and adds his/her political persuasion to community projects.  For example when raising funds or soliciting donations from local businesses it is very helpful to have in hand a letter from the Delegado stating that he/she supports the project.  It confers legitimacy on the carrier of the document.

The delegado is a paid position.

Comité de Acción Ciudadana (CAC)(literally the citizen/civic action committee):

This is the rest of the slate which was elected with the Delegado.  There is a president and a secretary and a treasurer plus 7 other members (Vocales).  They are all volunteer positions i.e. not paid.  The president is the Delegado’s backup should he be unable to serve.  The CAC undertakes local initiatives, advises higher levels of government as to the local needs and desires and generally functions to promote good causes in the community.  Their mandate is broad but their funding is minimal as it comes from the Delegado (see above).  They function much like a residents association in Canada in that they can raise funds by holding events and use those funds to fund local initiatives.  The main difference is that they are defined in the law of the land.  For example the committee elected in 2008 moved very quickly to have some pot holes fixed on the shoulders of the main highway.  The effectivness of the CAC varies from term to term with the energy of the persons elected.

The funds available come from the 4 pesos we pay each time our garbage is picked up,  payments for concessions on the Avenida and in the main square, tianguis (Thursday’s open  market) merchants and higher levels of government.  There was a rumour following the 2008 election that these sources of funds had been appropriated by Compostela so I am not sure if these funds are still flowing to the CAC.

I found an interesting detailed description of the responsibilities of the CAC for the municipality of Tepic in Spanish. I found it strange that not once is the Delegado mentioned in this very long detailed document.  I always assumed that being elected as a slate they were a team much like city councilors back home.  More to follow as I research that mystery but it appears certain that he doesn’t have authority over them or visa versa.

Asamblea General de Vecinos (literally general assembly of neighbours) General meeting of the people who elected the CAC chaired by the presidente of the CAC.  In Tepic they are supposed to meet monthly but I have never heard of a meeting being held in La Peñita.

In reality in our community citizen based political action tends to be less formal.  For example when the merchants on the Avenida decided in 2008 to inform Compostela that they were not happy with the progress on the renovations of the boulevard the meeting was not called by the CAC.  They decided to stop all work by placing themselves between the machines and a tree that was to be removed next.  Prior to that there had been several meetings scheduled with the Presidente  but he failed to show.  In fact the meeting at which the decision for direct action was taken was to have been a meeting with him.  This action got his attention.  He was meeting with them the very next day.

Another example is local neighborhood meetings held in 2008 in Colonia Pescadores to pressure authorities to get water to the community.  That happened by a couple of hastily scrawled announcement being hung in the neighbourhood and it did get results.

I use these examples because they are clearly the areas of concern for which the CAC is established.

El Ejido: the organization that owns the communal lands.

The Ejido de La Peñita is an organization which has a president and members.  I am told that there are now about 585 members who elect a number of officials. Members are called ejidatarios but they are not the only ones who hold the land.

Ejido lands are held communally.  Individuals hold the land for their personal use as long as they do not abandon it for more than two years.  Family members can inherit the rights.  The Ejido is the actual owner of the land.  The practice dates back to the time of Aztec rule but fell out of use after conquest by the Spanish.  The constitution of 1917 promised to restore the ejido system but not until 1934 did the government actually give teeth to the provisions.  Landless peasants then proceeded to petition the government for lands which if approved were expropriated from the landlords establishing an Ejido.  Many of these were formed and the process continued until it was abolished in 1991.  Then started a process of giving title to the land to the people holding it.  The 1960 census showed that 23% of Mexico’s arable land was held by ejidos. In Nayarit that number is closer to 80%.

We still have ejidal land in La Penita and dealing with it is complex.  It may be useful to have a few Stories of Ejido.

Municipal i.e based in Compostela

We are in the municipality of Compostela which also includes Las Varas.   In 2005 the population was 63,000.  The southern border is at Lo de Marcos putting it in the municipality of Bahia de Banderas. There are persistent  unsubstantiated rumours (2008 and 2009) that our area will become part of Bahia de Banderas extracting us from Compostela.  In the development plan for Bahia de Banderas you can see the plan for new airport and freeways in our area (start at page 18 of the document).
Presidente Municipal (mayor) Lic. Hectór López Santiago (2008-2011)

The municipal president carries a lot of clout.  He is selected for a 3 year term.  Although he does get some funding from property taxes (not implemented until 1983) and fees such as building permits his major sources of funds are the federal and state governments.  His responsibilities include much what a municipality in Canada handles i.e. local infrastructure.  He serves for a 3 year term and the change of government brings a change in a lot of the people at city hall as many are appointed by him.  Promises made by the presidente are generally held to pertain only to his administration.  For example when we were looking for approval to use the municipal land on which Eco Park sits it was generally agreed by locals that any such permission would only be good for three years.

Ayuntamiento / cabildo ( Municipal council)  (biographies of many of the councilors and the mayor can be found here in Spanish)

Made up of 13 regents (regidores) and one trustees (síndico) Luís Enríque Medina Cuevas (2008).  This elected body assists the Presidente Municipal.

State and Federal

The federation is made up of 31 states and the federal district of Mexico (Distrito Federal).  Actually 29 states were defined in the constitution of 1917 with
Baja california and Quintanaroo becoming states in 1974.

As is usually the case I couldn’t possibly say it better than the good folks at Wikipedia Politics_of_Mexico