Mexicans Mount Huge Protest Over Threat to Left-Wing Mayor

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nefar559

nefar559

Sicc OG
#1
Jul 7, 2002
3,105
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0
#1
i find this interesting, looks like politiclly, mexico is going to shift. And everyone is power is trying to prevent that. even the US trying to block this man from running the presidential election.


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Published on Saturday, April 9, 2005 by the lndependent/UK
Mexicans Mount Huge Protest Over Threat to Left-Wing Mayor
by Andrew Buncombe in Washington


Mexico is heading for political crisis after its Congress voted to impeach the leading candidate in next year's presidential election in what his supporters said was a naked act of obstruction.

Congress voted 360-127 to strip Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of legal immunity, opening the way for his arrest on a technicality and imprisonment. Such a development would probably deny him the right to run in the election as, under Mexican law, people facing charges are prevented from running for office.

Mr Lopez Obrador, the populist Mayor of Mexico City, told several hundred thousand supporters in the capital's central square that if a judge ordered his arrest he would turn himself in and act as his own lawyer. He called on them to launch a peaceful campaign of civil resistance including a "silent march" on 24 April.

"[Do not] fall into this trap and take radical measures that will scare people away and cause us to lose our popular support, so they can depict us as violent and quarrelsome," he said.

Thursday's decision by Congress is hugely important. What is at stake is whether Mexico will join other Latin American counties, such as Venezuela, Brazil and most recently Uruguay, in electing a leftist president, something opposed by members of the country's business community. Some observers believe the crisis will be the sternest test yet for Mexico's nascent democracy. When President Vicente Fox was elected in 2000 he ended 71 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

The Attorney General's office said it would immediately seek an order for Mr Lopez Obrador's arrest, relating to his breach of a 2001 court order prohibiting the building of a hospital access road on disputed land.

The move by Congress, and the potential for his arrest, could play to the advantage of Mr Lopez Obrador, a member of the Party of the Democratic Revolution. He has been quick to align himself with the politicians who struggled for democracy. "I am proud to be accused, like those who struggled for justice in the past," he told Congress before storming out. "Today you are judging me, but don't forget that history will judge both of us."

Larry Birns, the director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a Washington think-tank, said: "The attempt to marginalize Lopez Obrador [has built] a local candidate into a national candidate. It is a mistake that the government is allowing this charge to be brought. Everybody knows the case against him is so minor and that this is simply electoral maneuvering on the part of the ruling party."

The mayor's support has been built on public works projects and help for the poor. On Thursday, when he formally announced his presidential candidacy, he proposed "a homeland for the humiliated". He has said he will develop a more state-supported economy, greater reliance on oil revenues and a renegotiation of free trade pacts.

Some Lopez Obrador supporters believe the Bush administration had an influence in drumming up the effort to undermine him. However, the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, has said Washington could work with a left-wing president. Polls put Mr Lopez Obrador ahead of leading candidates from Mexico's two other major parties, the PRI and Mr Fox's conservative National Action Party. Mr Fox is prevented by law from running again.

© 2005 Independent News & Media (UK) Ltd.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0409-03.htm
 
nefar559

nefar559

Sicc OG
#2
Jul 7, 2002
3,105
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#2
B

BaSICCally

Sicc OG
#8
May 11, 2002
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TOKZTLI said:
^^ How so? He hasn't been elected and probably won't be able to run for office?
Click to expand...

Simply put the United States feared that the rest of the rest of South East Asia was going to turn to Communist governments. So what I was saying the United States has intrest in this because they fear that the countries south of the border are going to follow suit. Like many have already done. Even though he hasnt been elected or might not run, this still brings fear into the White House.
 
M

Mcleanhatch

Sicc OG
#13
May 8, 2002
4,729
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#13
the evil united states and condaleeza are at it agian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we might want to take over the weed plantations in sorora, sinaloa, michoacan, and guerrero. or even their meth labs since they are getting harder and harder to keep here
 
2-0-Sixx

2-0-Sixx

Sicc OG
#17
May 13, 2002
49,944
47,801
113
44
Seattle
www.socialistworld.net
#17
Ah, should be clear to everyone now...

In March of this year, the World Bank called for the privatization of the oil and electricity sectors of the economy. According to the World Bank, the entry of private capital would provide the necessary US $13,000 million that the energy sector will need each year for the next decade. President Fox, who supports legislation making that possible, seconded the World Bank call: “We in the federal government continue to insist on an energy reform that makes it possible to invest in exploration, transformation, oil production, petrochemical investment, and in electric power plants,” said Fox.

Under the World Bank plan, the Mexican government would a) insure profits to private producers, b) end subsidies to consumers of electricity, and c) open the petroleum fields to foreign exploitation. Since the administration of Miguel De la Madrid (1982-1988), successive governments have systematically and quietly eroded public ownership of PEMEX and the petrochemical industry. President Ernesto Zedillo privatized the railroads in 1999.

A PRD victory in 2006 could place an obstacle to the privatization of PEMEX and the electrical industry. That is why both PRI and the PAN have formed a bloc to prevent Lopez Obrador from being the PRD’s candidate for President in 2006. LINK
Click to expand...
 
2-0-Sixx

2-0-Sixx

Sicc OG
#18
May 13, 2002
49,944
47,801
113
44
Seattle
www.socialistworld.net
#18
Mexico mayor stands down for poll

Mexico City's leftist mayor has announced he will stand down to concentrate on his campaign for next year's presidential elections.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told journalists he would continue to govern the city until 31 July.

The announcement comes days after the government decided to drop plans to prosecute Mr Lopez Obrador for contempt of court during a land dispute.

The case sparked a political crisis because the mayor is ahead in polls.

Mr Lopez Obrador had described the planned prosecution as a plot to prevent him from running.

His current term as mayor would have run until December 2006.

Whistle-stop tour

The mayor said he would run for president on a platform of greater equality and less injustice.

"I have decided to participate in the primary elections, to represent my party, should voters so decide, as candidate for the presidency," he said.

He pledged to embark on a whistle-stop tour across the country, visiting every electoral district by overland transport in a "low-cost campaign".

He added that he was sure there would be no more legal challenges to his candidacy, in view of the popular support he had received.

"You shouldn't mess with the people, because the people are tough," he said.

Unclear punishment

Since he took office in December 2000, Mr Lopez Obrador - who belongs to the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) - has become one of the country's most popular politicians.

But he was accused of breaching a court order after allowing the construction of an access road to a city hospital, which is said to go through a disputed plot of expropriated land.

Mexico's Congress removed his immunity last month and opened the way for his prosecution.

But after one of the largest rallies Mexico has ever seen in Mr Lopez Obrador's support, Mr Fox sacked the attorney general in an attempt to defuse the crisis.

Last week, officials said the prosecution had been abandoned because the punishment for the offence he had been accused of was unclear.
 
m.w.merlino

m.w.merlino

Sicc OG
#19
Dec 18, 2002
3,928
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#19
Mcleanhatch said:
the evil united states and condaleeza are at it agian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we might want to take over the weed plantations in sorora, sinaloa, michoacan, and guerrero. or even their meth labs since they are getting harder and harder to keep here
Click to expand...

How else are the proletariats supposed to make money? I wouldn't be so quick to say those things about Mexico, remember, our big factories down south get cheap labor AND no restraints on how much pollution is pumped out just so we can have some cheap goods!
 
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