Trailing badly in the polls, and with elections just around the corner, Roxana Luna reached for transcendental salvation.
In a ceremony outside the government headquarters of Mexico’s Puebla State, Ms. Luna, a candidate for governor, unleashed a troupe of Aztec dancers across the colonial building’s cobblestone forecourt. They hopped around wearing leather skirts and spectacular feather headdresses. One drew designs in the air with smoke from burning tree resin. Another blew a conch shell.
Ms. Luna explained to bemused onlookers that the event last week was a purification ritual intended to flush out “the curse” of bad government, along with fear, coercion, vote buying, apathy and violence.
“People who feel desperate turn to ritualistic cleansings,” she said. “We’ve been cursed.”
It is election time in Mexico again, with voters going to the polls on Sunday for municipal and regional elections, including the governorships in 12 of Mexico’s 32 states.
While some might quibble with Ms. Luna’s technique, few would argue against her appeal to clean up Mexico’s electoral politics. Mexican political campaigns have never been for the faint of heart, and this year has been no different, with rough-and-tumble contests that have made a certain presidential contest north of the border look almost quaint in comparison.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/05/world/americas/firebombs-and-accusations-fly-in-ruthless-election-campaigns-in-mexico.html
