The Guadalajara Reporter
Guadalajara's Largest English Newspaper
After eight weeks of political rallies, neighborhood marches, a proliferation of election propaganda and rampant mud-slinging on social media, the sound and fury of the 2015 campaign season finally died down in the Chapala area this week, leaving around 34,000 registered voters with three quiet days to reflect upon who is most fit to sit as the municipality’s next mayor.
Anyone up for a hot-air balloon ride over Lake Chapala? Chalk up a point for New Alliance (PANAL) candidate Mario Ferrer, who put out that orginal idea for boosting the local touris trade during the May 26 debate among five of the contenders vying for the job as Chapala’s next mayor.
Tourism was the first specific topic covered during the two-hour political dust-up that took place behind closed doors in the Preparatoria Regional library. Each of the candidates managed to present at least one unique proposal within the three-minute per person time slot given to address that subject.
The youngest of the politicos, Citizen Movement candidate Moises Anaya, places his bets on promoting after-dark entertainment events and the installation of illuminated fountains to draw more visitors for overnight or full weekend stays.
Javier Degollado, head of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) ticket, champions building a large capacity auditorium adjacent to the Gonzalez Gallo Cultural Center on the grounds of the former railway station as a venue for hosting mass events.
A fast-track project plugged by National Action Party (PAN) candidate Juan Carlos Pelayo involves setting up paid parking facilities connected to tourist transportation services and guided tours to attract visitors to central Chapala and Ajijic.
Alejandro Ramírez, candidate for the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) favors implementing and entirely new public transportation system offering low-cost fares and nearly round-the-clock service to meet the demands of tourists, business employees and residents.
All five contemplate enhancing the local government promotional programs to brand the Chapala area as an appealing cultural, historical, eco-tourism and retirement destination.
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Moving into the subsequent debate segments, the candidates touched on common threads in revealing their respective approaches to handling public security and government management.
As to performance skills, the candidates all seemed to have some trouble controlling their microphone use and voice modulation. Anaya, Pelayo and Ramirez were a close match in terms of ability at off-the-cuff speech. Ferrer started out reading from written notes, gradually relaxing into ad-lib remarks. Degollado relied almost entirely on a prepared script, loosening up only during the two-minute frame for individual rebuttal allowed after each exposition block.
The rebuttal periods opened opportunity for some verbal sparring, with most of the disparaging comments aimed at Anaya, Degollado and Pelayo, who are considered to be the election frontrunners. All three took some hammering on their respective records as experienced public officials, with Ferrer and Ramirez honing in the widespread repudiation of career politicians who are prone to corruption and feeding off the government teat.
Organized under the auspices of Jalisco’s Electoral and Citizen Participation Institute (IEPC), the event made history as Chapala’s first formal campaign debate. District 17 Election Council President Luis Armando Ayala Rodríguez appeared as host to introduce the candidates. Edgar Olivares Gonzalez,
a news anchor at the University of Guadalajara’s Canal 44 television channel, acted as moderator, spelling out the debate rules and giving signals to mute the mike on the few occasions the speakers overran the permitted time.
The debate was broadcast via live stream video on the IEPC website and simultaneous radio transmission by several local media outlets.
Two groups of Preparatoria students watched a projection of the broadcast in the school auditorium. Around 350 people gathered at the Chapala plaza to view the encounter on three flat-screen monitors.
A complete audio recording of the event may be downloaded from a link posted on the Facebook page of local weekly Pagina que si se lee. {/access}
Observations of Chapala tourist boat operators coincide with official data indicating that Lake Chapala’s water level is significantly higher than it was one year ago.
Ignorance of the perils of navigating Lake Chapala’s waters and failure to observe prudent safety precautions were probably major contributing factors in the recent drowning deaths of three expat residents, local experts say.
Five of the seven registered candidates in the race for the Chapala mayor’s seat have confirmed their participation in the municipality’s first-ever officially
sanctioned campaign debate. The event, organized under the auspices of the District 17 Electoral Council, will take place on Tuesday, May 26, starting at 6 p.m., in closed quarters on the campus of Chapala’s Escuela Preparatoria Regional.
At least two men who died in anti-cartel offensive have been linked to local police forces
Three lakeside area resident expatriates were swallowed up by Lake Chapala’s treacherous waters after setting off on a sailing excursion Monday, May 18.
A team of engineers contracted by the federal Ministry of Communications and Transport (SCT) arrived in Chapala on Friday, May 22 to conduct a seven-day bathymetric study at the Chapala waterfront, marking a big step forward in plans to dredge the lake bottom with the aim of facilitating navigation around the city pier.
The modus operandi of a break-in reported last week at a home on the west side of Ajijic suggests the reappearance of the infamous pepper-spray bandit who has targeted numerous expat residences over the past several years.
