Posted on 05/21/2006 4:06:24 PM PDT by Larousse2
Mexico Voters Fear Nation on Edge of Chaos
By JULIE WATSON, Associated Press Writer Wed May 17, 6:12 AM ET
Police enraged by the kidnapping of six officers club unarmed detainees. A bloody battle between steelworkers and police leaves two miners dead. Drug lords post the heads of decapitated police on a fence to show who's in charge.
Less than two months before Mexicans elect their next president, many fear the country is teetering on the edge of chaos — a perception that could hurt the ruling National Action Party's chances of keeping the presidency and benefit Mexico's once-powerful Institutional Revolutionary Party, whose candidate has been trailing badly.
Some blame President Vicente Fox for a weak government. Others say rivals are instigating the violence to create that impression, hoping to hurt National Action candidate Felipe Calderon, who has a slight lead in recent polls.
A poll published Friday in Excelsior newspaper found 50 percent of respondents feared the government was on the brink of losing control. The polling company Parametria conducted face-to-face interviews at 1,000 homes across Mexico. The poll had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
The conflicts are "a warning sign," said Yamel Nares, Parametria's research director.
Security is the top concern for Mexicans, and Fox has struggled to reform Mexico's notoriously corrupt police. Meanwhile, drug-related bloodshed has accelerated, with some cities seeing killings almost daily.
In April, suspected drug lords posted the heads of two police officers on a wall outside a government building where four drug traffickers died in a Jan. 27 shootout with officers in the Pacific resort of Acapulco.
A sign nearby read: "So that you learn to respect."
Last week, Zapatista rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos said Mexico was in a "state of rage," and warned that tensions were similar to those that preceded the Zapatistas' brief armed uprising in January 1994 in the southern state of Chiapas.
He said his group is committed to peace, but many fear his increased public profile — after years of hiding out in the jungle — could foreshadow greater polarization among Mexican voters.
The masked leader said a May 3 clash that left a teenager dead and scores injured in San Salvador Atenco, 15 miles northeast of Mexico City, is an example of the growing tensions.
Marcos has been leading nearly daily demonstrations in the town following the incident, which began when a radical group of townspeople kidnapped and beat six policemen in a dispute over unlicensed flower vendors. Police responded with rage the next day. Television crews captured officers repeatedly beating unarmed protesters, and several detained women alleged officers raped them.
The clash followed another bloody battle between steelworkers and police trying to break up an illegal strike at a plant in Lazaro Cardenas last month. Unions later threatened to shut down the country.
George Grayson, a Mexico expert at the College of William & Mary, said the violence reflects Fox's lack of leadership.
"The state has become much weaker under his watch," Grayson said.
Recent polls show Calderon has overtaken longtime presidential front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, whom opponents have portrayed as a leftist demagogue similar to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
But that could change if PRI candidate Roberto Madrazo can convince voters that Mexico was more stable under his party's 71-year reign, which ended with Fox's victory in 2000. Mexican law bars presidents from seeking re-election.
Madrazo has tried to paint himself as the law-and-order candidate — though so far his poll numbers have remained well behind those of Calderon and Lopez Obrador.
"It's not going to help Lopez Obrador who has been associated with the rabble rousers, but Madrazo can come out and say with his party at least Mexico had continued stability," Grayson said.
Gerardo Aranda, a tourism guide in Mexico City, said he won't go back to the PRI, but he doesn't know who he will vote for.
"No one really knows now what could happen next," he said. "All the candidates are bad. ... There is so much anger toward the government, everyone is against everything."
AFter all the billions we have given to Israel, I know Israelis know how to build a fence.
Wonder if they might be interested:-)??
I went to a family reunion today, and my family has such gooooood cooks. Unforunately, I couldn't resist the dessert bar, and now I'm buzzed on SUGAR.
Duh! Would you remind repeating the question, please? Thanks.
I've seen it.
Yes.
my feelings/fears were confirmed by a MinuteMan I telephoned last week
I wasn't watching C-Span when the House nixed off-shore drilling because it would "harm Tourism."
If gasoline prices skyrocket much more, just how many Tourists do the think will come?
That was my thought -- Alcee Hastings has his head where the sun doesn't shine, tourists, what tourists... we have friends down there right now and they said diesel is expensive ...
"Do you believe Mexico is so corrupt and lawless that it could not be Americanized with a little stewardship?"
I believe that, YES!
Iraq has seen the terrors of toltolitarianism, they are much more likely to embrace democracy that Mexico.
Bribery is rampant, and it circumvents every aspect of effective government. Mexico is a culture that expects and rewards bribery.
Its the PEOPLE that need a change, not the government! And buying out the government does nothing to change the people.
There going to have to reap what they have sown and fix things themselves. Thats tough love.
In the mean time...BUILD THE FENCE!
Very interesting point of view.
Thank you so much:-)!
What kind of stewardship?
Excellent! Maybe someone can finally answer the question in my tagline?
Tssssk! Tsssk! You might frighten the poor little ole' tourists away.
You are right on about the water issues!
Some sort of American partnership - some corporate, some not.
If Mexico is incurably corrupt, why did we sign onto NAFTA?
Oh, yeah.
I called to ask about making a donation. He told me where to locate the information on their website. Personal checks have to be sent to their Houston address. I asked him if there is a Chapter in my State. He said no. I said I am concerned that things are really going to turn bad in the U. S., and he agreed with me, without saying anything else on the subject. I don't know if anyone were "listening," and that is the reason he didn't say anything else, or what.
(Singing):
Jose can you see?
U. S. belongs to ME!
Once so proudly we hail,
Joe Arpaio's tent jail!
Ross Perot warned us not to get into NAFTA.
You have the plot of a good James Bond movie. With Vicente Fox as the evil mastermind. Who will play James Bond?
A prime reason I supported him in '92. And he beat AlGore in their NAFTA debate
Why, just because they've been called 'vigilantes' and there's no need for warrants to wiretap U.S. citizens "of interest"? /sarc
Anthony Quinn, if he's still alive?
Remember that movie some years ago with Kevin Coster and Anthony Quinn as the very wealthy and powerful Mexican? Kevin Coster fell in love with the character's wife (Anthony Quinn's).
They cut up her face.
What was the name of that film?
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