Meeting of Big Shots

Carlos Loret de Mola has the scoop on that rarest of events in Mexico City: a meeting between Calderón and Ebrard:

The president entered the room to preside over the meeting. It was the fourth time this sexenio that the president and the capital chief had come together: the first, security summit in the National Palace when Fernando Martí* unleashed his, "If you can't, quit"; the second, when the perredista came to Los Pinos for a meeting with governors in the midst of the crisis of the influenza; and the third, in the third Informe address from Calderón. In those three they did not shake hands.

But when the President entered his office in Los Pinos the afternoon of October 12 he shook the hand of each one of those present, including the mayor of Mexico City.

Loret de Mola goes on to say that he asked everyone there to keep quiet about Ebrard's presence, so as to minimize the political complications for the mayor. That was a nice gesture, although the column is evidence that someone ignored the request. The governors of Hidalgo, Morelos, Puebla, and Mexico State were all also at the meeting; they supported Calderón's move, while Ebrard did not.

*Presumably Loret de Mola means Alejandro Martí, not his deceased son. I've made or almost made that mistake dozens of times, and it always leaves me quite embarrassed. It's sort of heartening to see that people in such high places also have mini-mental meltdowns, too.