750 Policemen Will Protect AMLO's Demonstrators Tomorrow in Mexico City (Translation)

eluniversal.com.mx ^ | July 7, 2006 | Claudia Bolaños ( translated by self )

[StJacques]

The stations of the Metro Collective System of Transport (STC), which come together in the downtown district, will not be closed but some interruption of circulation will become necessary.

Starting at 1:00 p.m. [Saturday] the police operation will get underway, in which 750 officers of the units of Citizen Protection will participate, as well as the Rescue Squadron and Emergency Medical Services (ERUM)¹, to protect the meeting which Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador has called for in the Zócalo capital plaza this Saturday.

The monitoring authority will consider which interruptions of circulation are necessary; and in addition, all the stations of the Metro Collective System of Transport (STC) that come together in the downtown district will remain open, the Secretary of Public Security, Joel Ortega, informed [today].

The civil employee [Ortega] made a call to the organizers of this event, in which López Obrador will make a pronouncement² that the results of the July 2 elections were adverse to him, so that participants in the demonstration can arrive ahead of time and look for parking places outside the streets of the central quarter of the city.

Joel Ortega also provided information that showing up for this massive gathering will be PRD members and sympathizers of the Tabasqueño³ politician, but that he [Ortega] will do his job in his capacity as Chief of Police, to supervise the police operation.

With reference to immobilizing vehicular padlocks that are used in the Historical Center [of the city] to sanction those who park on the streets, [Ortega] said they will not be employed after the arrival of the event's organizers begins, in order to avoid any type of friction.

The secretary of Public Security reiterated that the work of the Preventive Police of the Federal District, during these types of demonstrations, will be institutional, "with a responsible police use of police power that will not lend itself to any manipulation."

The closing of the roads of the central district of the city will begin at 1:00 p.m., though the event is scheduled to begin until 5:00 p.m.

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Translator's Notes:

¹ERUM is the acronym for the Escuadrón de Rescate y Urgencias Médicas, the Mexico City ambulance and medical emergency service.

²There is a possible double entendre at use here in the original text, which I believe may be intentional on the part of El Universal. The actual word used in the original article is pronunciamiento which in this case translates as "pronouncement," but two alternative translations of the word are "coup d'état" and "uprising." Given that this demonstration is going to take place in the Zócalo capital plaza in Mexico City, which is where the presidential palace is located, I find it hard to believe that the use of the word is unintentional and may indicate a subtle conveyance on the part of El Universal that they see real danger in what may happen there Saturday. I also believe that concerns over what may happen in this demonstration are expressed in yesterday's statement of the Catholic bishops in Mexico pleading with López Obrador not to "ignite" Mexico in his challenge to the elections. See http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1661661/posts for a translation of that news story.

³López Obrador is from the Mexican state of Tabasco on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. I have noticed that El Universal, which is a Mexico City newspaper, is somewhat alone in frequently referring to López Obrador, who is currently the Governor of the Federal District (Mexico City), as a Tabasqueño, which seems to convey the impression that they see him as an outsider who took over their city.

[StJacques]

At first glance, this news article seems to be somewhat cut and dried, but I encourage all of you to think a little bit about what is going on here. First of all; this demonstration, which I anticipate will have a massive turnout, as the police chief suggested, will take place right in the seat of power in Mexico -- the Zócalo capital plaza in Mexico City. This is a very large plaza that can easily hold over a hundred thousand people (see image below) and I expect the numbers to go beyond that, given that I am convinced that AMLO and the PRD are kicking off their campaign to overturn the results of the Mexican election with an act of intimidation, rather than mere protest, something I posted in my comments to an article I translated for another thread.

A second thing to keep in mind is that there are conflicting lines of police power involved here. The police chief in Mexico City is under López Obrador's authority, since AMLO is the current Governor of the Federal District, which comprises most of Mexico City. You might note with interest that the police chief is careful to comment that his policemen will not be subject to any "manipulation," accusations which could be made in several different ways. We are witnessing a situation in which a defeated presidential candidate holds state power (I use the term "state" in the sense of the Federal District comprising a Mexican "state") in the national capital and he is calling for a massive demonstration to protest what he is describing as a fraudulent presidential election that is going to take place right in front of the presidential palace, on his [AMLO's] home turf. I am really not certain as to what kind of a law enforcement and/or military presence the Mexican federal government exercises in the city, but there obviously is some. This is dangerous stuff.

And finally I want to direct your attention to my translator's notes of the tone I read into the reporting of El Universal on the press conference, see my note #2 above. I get the clear impression from this article that El Universal, which is clearly not in López Obrador's camp, is genuinely frightened about what may happen Sunday. So is the Catholic Church, as I indicated in another thread which I also linked above.

I do not buy into the mainstream media line I am seeing spun in this country that López Obrador is just a Mexican liberal. No; the man is far more dangerous and tomorrow's demonstration has troubling portents for what may happen in Mexico over the next few months.

The Zócalo Capital Plaza in Mexico City

[StJacques]

A Mexican election ping for all of you here.

I have been translating a lot since Sunday evening, given that I have had this week off, but I'm going to be winding down my work on this, since I resume work Monday. Right now there is one important event keeping my attention, and that is this particular demonstration scheduled for tomorrow. I'm going to keep a very close eye on it and if I see anything that requires further posting today, I'll put it up. And I will keep track of what goes on tomorrow, so you can all look for more from me on that.

And I have also gone back and added a unique keyword to all of the articles I have translated on the Mexican election in case any of you would like to review them. The keyword is "STJTRANSLATION" which, if entered into a "keyword" search, will return all eleven threads on the translated articles dealing with the Mexican election I have put up during the week.

[sinanju]

AMLO has obviously studied from SoreLoserMan, with the notable exception that Al Gore does not have a long-established habit of calling up mob violence when he does not get his way. If the Distrito Federal police chief is in his pocket it is all too obvious that he plans to burn the house down around him.

Ironically, we have all noted by now the stories that show the Mexican elections are in fact far cleaner and more foolproof than ours (photo/fingerprint voter ID, ink-dipped finger, color-coded ballots (for illiterates), absentee ballots available only for those who request them six months in advance, etc).

[hispanarepublicana]

StJacques: Thanks so much for your hard work. Spanish (and Tex-Mex Spanish at that, not the high-class version the media uses) is my second language, and it's taxing on the brain to translate it for others' consumption, so I know how much energy you put into this.

[CedarDave]

Thank you for your translations and the heads-up on possible mass demonstrations and violence. I'm sure the MSM will continue to depict Obrador as a social-democrat type liberal reformer instead of the Chavez-type latent Marxist that he really is.

[jneesy]

10 to 1 this gets real ugly

[CedarDave]

The rally is also being staged for the benefit of the media, including those in the US. I agree, it may well degenerate into a mob scene.

[kesg]

Again, thanks. This is very interesting. About the very last thing we want or need is another Hugo Chaves wannabe right on our southern border.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Last time wife and I visited Mexico city, policemen carrying shotguns were at almost every corner in the Zona Rosa...

[Stultis]

10 to 1 this gets real ugly

I'd take those odds easily at this point. You MAY be right, and Obragore would LIKE to set off mayhem, but I think all attempts to do so will fizzle (fingers crossed) although there may be a few cars burned and such.

[StJacques]

"Ironically, we have all noted by now the stories that show the Mexican elections are in fact far cleaner and more foolproof than ours (photo/fingerprint voter ID, ink-dipped finger, color-coded ballots (for illiterates), absentee ballots available only for those who request them six months in advance, etc)."

I live in Louisiana and let me tell you that I would LOVE to implement those kinds of security procedures in my state, especially in New Orleans.

I regard the Mexican vote counting procedures as quite trustworthy, though I did hear some stories about a lack of printed ballots preventing some people from voting in Mexico City that were a little worrisome. But given that the local government there is controlled by the PRD, that has to be written off to incompetence, not intent, since that is a PRD bastion.

Every single vote counting report that was prepared in Mexico was signed by the locally-certified representatives of the major parties before it became an official document. And I have not heard one story about any falsified documents of the vote count yet.

[CedarDave]

Another thought -- you should probably add your keyword to the election night thread where you translated info from the two newspapers for everyone's benefit. That thousand-plus posts thread's a keeper, that's for sure.

[StJacques]

"10 to 1 this gets real ugly"

I cannot deny that I am worried about that very possibility jneesy. In addition to my obvious interest in whether the demonstration gets out of hand tomorrow, I am going to be paying particularly close attention to what AMLO and his people actually say to their followers tomorrow. I think it will give us a good indication of what we can expect.

And California Patriot, I'm pinging you here because I know you've voiced concerns about things possibly coming apart south of the border.

[StJacques]

"That thousand-plus posts thread's a keeper, that's for sure."

That was a lot of fun wasn't it? We had more people doing top-flight analysis on that thread than any other one I've ever participated in here on Free Republic. I like being surrounded by people with brains.

[mjolnir]

Thanks for your great work!

ObraGore sounds like he's going to use the same (original)Mayor Daley/Huey Long style bullying tactics that got him into the election in the first place despite the questionable legality of him even being on the ballot.

[CedarDave]

It got a little dicey in the early hours of the morning where a lot of us were so tired that we didn't know if what we posted made sense, even the non-technical comments! Of course, no doubt some of the younger folk know now what a pocket protector and slide rule are.

[California Patriot]

Thanks. We need to have the mental clarity, like you, to face the possibility of an attempted coup by the leftist proletarian mob. Chest-beating about how we've nailed them is just that. I'll believe this is over when the electoral tribunal rules firmly against ObraGore and a month passes thereafter with no major developments. It is looking good for Calderon, but this isn't in the bag yet.

Remember Florida.

[California Patriot]

Good point. ObraGore has already violated the integrity of the electoral system just by being on the ballot. He was supposed to be disqualified for being a scofflaw, and pressured the government into letting him run.

And I still think Jimmy Carter will get into this -- on whose side, I think we know.

[monkeywrench]

Thanks for translating and the ping!

[California Patriot]

While I have no idea if there was fraud, it has been reported in major media that there were substantial discrepancies (between actual votes and tallied votes) in some of the ballot boxes that the PRD was able to get opened. If the tribunal takes this or anything else the commies present seriously, one of two things seems likely to happen: A Gore-style cherry picking operation in which commie precincts are recounted until they produce more votes, or a nationwide manual recount, which I doubt can happen in Mexico without chaos that would make Florida look like a tea party.