It was a close vote with 13 of the 26 lawmakers voting in favor

by the El Reportero’s wire services

The state of Zacatecas voted not to legalize same-sex marriage on Wednesday, when 13 of the 26 deputies voted no, 11 voted in favor and two abstained.

The Morena party, which has a small plurality in the Congress, supported the bill with the exception of Deputy Armando Perales Gándara. The two-deputy blocks of the Labor Party (PT) and the Social Encounter Party (PES) also split, with one voting for and one against the bill in each party.

Morena Deputy Mónica Borrego Estrada expressed her disappointment after the vote, blaming the outcome on party-line votes by deputies allied with Governor Alejandro Tello, a block made up of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the National Action Party (PAN), the New Alliance Party (PANAL) and the Green Party (PVEM).

“I’m convinced that the truth won today, but lost to party-line votes, shameful votes by legislators from parties that are allied with Governor Alejandro Tello . . .” she said.

Borrego added that failing to legalize gay marriage puts Zacatecas behind the rest of the country and the world.

“International agreements approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations support the recognition of marriage equality as a mechanism to fight discrimination and intolerance on the planet,” she said.

The outcome of the vote sparked protest from members of the LGBT community who were gathered in the chamber, and applause from the National Family Front, a Catholic Church group that opposes same-sex marriage.

Such marriages were legalized by a 2015 Supreme Court decision. However, in Zacatecas and the 11 other states that have laws defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, same-sex couples must obtain an injunction from a federal court in order to be able to legally marry.

In the state’s municipalities of Zacatecas, Cuauhtémoc and Villanueva same-sex couples may get married without obtaining an injunction.

Zacatecas joins Yucatán and Sinaloa as states that have voted down proposals to legalize the practice this year.

Source: Milenio (sp), El Financiero (sp), Infobae (sp).

Central American parliamentary session to be held in Nicaragua

Three institutional forums of the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN) will be held in Nicaragua on Aug. 27, 28 and 29 to discuss relevant issues, announced Saturday the Vice President of the regional body, Sidney Orlinton.

Orlinton explained that Managua will host the 18th Regional Meeting of Women in Political Parties, the 27th Central American and Caribbean Conference of Political Parties, and the 19th Forum for Tourism Development and Integration in Central America.

He also said that there will be a discussion on the region’s progress in education, a meeting led by the PARLACEN Education Commission.

Another important moment, according to the director, will be the sessioning of the Commission of Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples, to create an agenda that allows these population groups to participate more actively in integration processes.

PARLACEN is a political institution, based in Guatemala City, created to foster the integration of Central American countries, and its 120 MPs were elected according to the electoral laws of each country.

Judge halts airport construction in Santa Lucia, Mexico

A federal judge on Friday suspended for an indefinite period the construction of a new international airport at the Santa Lucia Airbase, while ruling that works on a prior airport project continue.

The magistrate said that the measure is applicable until current amparo procceedings are resolved, which is why the start of works have been delayed again. The new airport project is envisioned as a solution to the problem of the saturated Benito Juarez International Airport.

Juan Carlos Guzman Rosas, Fifth District Judge in Administrative Matters in Mexico City, granted two suspensions to stop the works at the air base.

The judge’s ruling also orders the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to continue works on the New International Airport for Mexico City (NAIM), which have been halted since Lopez was inaugurated on December 1, 2018.

On Monday, the Sixth Collegiate Court in Administrative Matters issued a likewise ruling.