Beatriz Paredes

Former governor and federal lawmaker Beatriz Paredes today assumes leadership of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which in the span of a decade sank from Mexico's greatest political force to third-place finisher in last year's presidential election. Paredes takes over a party that still holds a majority of local and state offices, but is fractured by competing interest groups and politicians, and broad discontent among its formerly loyal base, Mexico's 50 million poor.

Gunmen on Monday killed a gubernatorial candidate in a highway ambush, just days before an election in violence-stained northern Mexico that he was expected to win. The killing of Rodolfo Torre, running in the state of Tamaulipas under the banner of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, further shook Mexico amid wide concern that drug-trafficking groups are increasingly flexing their muscle in politics through money and intimidation....

Two contenders to lead Mexico's biggest political party back to the presidency appeared nearly tied in an election to pick a new chief. Figures released Monday afternoon by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, showed Beatriz Paredes, leader of the lower house of Congress, ahead of former Tabasco state Gov. Roberto Madrazo by barely 2,600 votes, with 75.7% of ballots counted. Madrazo declared earlier that he had won.

Former governor and federal lawmaker Beatriz Paredes today assumes leadership of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which in the span of a decade sank from Mexico's greatest political force to third-place finisher in last year's presidential election. Paredes takes over a party that still holds a majority of local and state offices, but is fractured by competing interest groups and politicians, and broad discontent among its formerly loyal base, Mexico's 50 million poor.

Gunmen on Monday killed a gubernatorial candidate in a highway ambush, just days before an election in violence-stained northern Mexico that he was expected to win. The killing of Rodolfo Torre, running in the state of Tamaulipas under the banner of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, further shook Mexico amid wide concern that drug-trafficking groups are increasingly flexing their muscle in politics through money and intimidation....

The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party claimed a wide lead Monday for its candidate for governor of Tlaxcala state east of Mexico City, Beatriz Paredes Rangel. Paredes, who has become prominent in the farm-labor sector of the party, would be the second woman governor in Mexican history if declared the winner in Sunday's election. The claim is based on partial returns. Official returns will not be available from the State Electoral Commission until next week.

Eleven Cubans who were flown to Mexico after refusing to leave the Mexican Embassy in Havana last week remained ensconced Monday in a hotel outside this city, anticipating their eventual entry into the United States. Their case--coming in the aftermath of the sensational plight of eight Cuban shipwreck victims who were allowed to fly to Miami from Mexico earlier this month--has posed a quandary for U.S. and Mexican authorities anxious not to trigger an exodus of U.S.

A leadership election that was meant to herald the revival of Mexico's former ruling party is instead mired in fraud allegations and bedeviled by a nearly deadlocked result that threatens to engulf the Institutional Revolutionary Party in bitter infighting. Three days after the nationwide voting, former Tabasco state Gov. Roberto Madrazo claimed victory Wednesday by the narrowest of margins over Beatriz Paredes for the presidency of the PRI, as the party is known.

Mexico's main opposition party claimed victory over President Felipe Calderon's conservatives in the main contest Sunday as voters in the southern state of Yucatan launched the 2010 election season. Early returns showed a tight race for the mayor's seat in Merida, the state capital.  The two parties were nearly even with about a fifth of the votes counted. But Beatriz Paredes, president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, called Angelica Araujo's lead in exit polls "irreversible."

A year before the presidential election, this nation's oldest, most powerful party headed toward a destructive split resulting from the bitter enmity between its top leaders -- probable presidential nominee Roberto Madrazo and teachers union head Elba Esther Gordillo. Madrazo was to have resigned Tuesday as the Institutional Revolutionary Party's chief to campaign full time for next year's election. He would have been replaced by Gordillo under party rules.

Two contenders to lead Mexico's biggest political party back to the presidency appeared nearly tied in an election to pick a new chief. Figures released Monday afternoon by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, showed Beatriz Paredes, leader of the lower house of Congress, ahead of former Tabasco state Gov. Roberto Madrazo by barely 2,600 votes, with 75.7% of ballots counted. Madrazo declared earlier that he had won.

Warning that Mexicans are growing impatient with democracy, President Vicente Fox opened a new legislative session Sunday night with an offer to work more closely with opposition parties that control Congress and have blocked parts of his reform agenda. In his second annual Informe, the equivalent of a U.S. State of the Union address, Fox said all political parties share credit for his administration's gains--the relative stability of Mexico's economy; advances against crime, corruption and poverty; and the opening of the government to greater public scrutiny.