As mentioned, the dominant story in the newspapers I saw was the tragic plane crash in Mexico City yesterday which killed the number 2 man in Mexico's government, among others.
But still, here is some commentary on our US election from the Mexican press.
In El Diario de Xalapa of today, Miguel Hernández, the correspondent from Cuba wrote, "Castro 'Votes' for Obama." Actually I knew about this yesterday, but I didn't want to run the chance, however tiny, of negatively influencing any voters who might deem this reason to shift their votes from Obama, so I didn't mention it. AMLO was bad enough...though I don't think that Americans who know who AMLO is are likely to hold his support of Obama against Obama. Here in Mexico, Cuba is not regarded as the Evil Kingdom. Not a perfect place by any means, but interestingly the conservative president of Mexico, Felipe Calderón has taken part in discussions with Cubans over illegal immigration and has encouraged trade talks with Cuba.
So here is a hasty translation of Miguel Hernández's column.
Favored in most polls, Barack Obama received the backing of Fidel Castro on the same day as the American presidential election. Castro considered him "without doubt, more intelligent, learned, and even-tempered than his Republican adversary.
In his most recent article in the press, released this Tuesday [Fidel Castro writes a regular newspaper column], the convalescing leader who is now 82 years of age, reserved his praise for the Democratic candidate. "Obama is considered the best political orator in the United States in the last several decades," he added.
This past May, after Obama gave a talk before the National Cuban American Foundation (FNCA) in Miami, Castro directed directed both criticism and praise at him considering him "the most advanced candidate for the presidency from a social and human perspective," and said that he didn't harbor "rancor" because "he had not been responsible for the crimes against Cuba and humanity," but at the same time he indicated that [Obama's] proposal for Cuba could translate "into a formula for hunger for the nation, remittances as alms, and visits to Cuba from the Cuban-American community as propaganda for consumerism."
The Democratic candidate has promised to eliminate restrictions on trips to Cuba and on remittances, to establish a dialogue with Cuban president Raúl Castro "without preconditions" and to eliminate the commercial embargo if Cuba begins to open up to significant democratic change.
"I don't doubt Obama's sharp intelligence, his polemic ability and his work ethic. He is a master of communication techniques and is superior to his rivals in electoral competence(...); he is without doubt the image of a pleasing human being," wrote the Cuban Leader in an article in which he agreed that in Miami the Illinois senator had attributed "to the Cuban Revolution an antidemocratic character lacking with respect to liberty and human rights," exactly "the same argument which, almost without exception, US administrations had used to justify their crimes against Cuba."
But yesterday Castro's message had only praise. "I've observed the fight between the contenders. The black candidate, who astonished so much by obtaining his nomination in the struggle against strong adversaries, has articulated his ideas well and has hammered them home in the minds of the voters(...)
"Obama," he added, "is defiant. I think that he has run and will run growing risks in a country where an extremist can legally acquire sophisticated modern weapons on the street(...). The United States is more worried about the economy than the war in Irak. McCain is old, bellicose, uneducated, not very intelligent and not healthy," said the former [Cuban] head of state.
The African-American leader has said that at arriving at the White House he would not eliminate the embargo but would be willing to undertake a dialogue with the principle authorities of the island.