Veracruz's Gobernator (written August 31)

No, the state of Veracruz’s governor doesn’t have a Strongest Man of the Universe Championship under his belt and he hasn’t starred as a taciturn vigilante in a series of Hollywood blockbusters. And no he hasn’t, at least as far as I know, made fun of effeminate men. However, Fidel Herrera certainly does enjoy being in power, and making sure everyone knows it.

As you would expect it seems that the governor’s strategy for spreading his name is, well, by doing just that. His name, in some variation, is everywhere. Even though he’s not currently up for reelection banners with ‘Fiel for Veracruz’ can be found lining the streets nearly as much as those of candidates in the upcoming election. The coalition of PRI (Party of the Institutionalized Revolution), the Green Ecological Party and the Alternative National Political Party candidates throughout the state is named after his truly: Fidelidad por Veracruz. And, in today’s newspaper, he wrote a self-praising editorial, something about the importance of kids and education and whatnot, with none other than the name of his coalition as the title.

And of course, anything with his name on it has to be in the color red, which is apparently his favorite. Thus, all banners with his name or his face are of course, red. Even the plastic sheets used to protect shoe-shining stands from the rain are red, covered in the governor’s name and the name of his political party.

It’d be one thing if this guy were doing great things with which his name could be associated but unfortunately this is not the case. Known for loving money as much as himself, the governor is the target of the majority of opposition propaganda that I’ve seen this week in lead up to the elections. And it’s unlikely that those in the ‘Fidelidad’ coalition will do anything once elected to expect to fair much better.