Lopez Obrador's Supporters Occupy Capital of Mexico (City Center Shut Down - Vow to Force Recount)

San Diego Tribune ^ | July 31, 2006 | S. Lynne Walker

[StJacques]

MEXICO CITY – Leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador led his supporters into Mexico City's streets yesterday and launched an occupation of the nation's capital that he vowed to continue until federal electoral officials accept his demand for a recount in the presidential election.

Casting the protest as a defense of Mexico's fragile democracy, López Obrador outlined a detailed plan to close nearly two dozen main thoroughfares by setting up encampments in the heart of Mexico City's business district.

He also promised to stay with supporters “day and night” at a permanent camp he asked them to set up in the city's historic main plaza, the Zócalo.

“This goes beyond the fact that they should recognize my triumph as president of the republic,” López Obrador told a crowd of several hundred thousand supporters packed into the Zócalo yesterday. “The fundamental issue is that there is democracy in our country.”. . .

[freedumb2003]

I can track El Norte -- but they are pretty Leftist (which is NOT the way Nuevo Leon is).

[StJacques]

I read somewhere else that El Norte in Monterey has a leftist tilt in their editorial policy.

I have a page of Mexican newspaper links at hispanito.com, that has El Norte included. I'm particularly interested in El Informador in Guadalajara, but I'd be willing to listen to any comments on some of the others on that list. If only Reforma didn't require a subscription. I have a personal policy to deny my web presence to any site that asks money of me to visit it, besides a couple of software development sites I visit that are part of my work.

[StJacques]

Thank you BunnySlippers. I appreciate that.

[okie01]

Thanks ever so much for what you're doing.

Selfless efforts like yours are one of the reasons why FReepers are among the best informed people on the planet.

[Diddle E. Squat]

I wonder if Calderon could call AMLO's bluff and end up starting with a much stronger mandate and the reputation as a wise leader?

Here's the idea: He c ould declare that they should wait for the final report from the election commission, but given the closeness, the potential for unrest, and the irresponsible actions of some, he would be willing to agree to an annullment and a revote. With the recent poll showing that 59% of Mexicans view AMLO as having acted irresponsibly, vs. 28% viewing Calderon that way, it seems that a revote would result in a clearer Calderon victory. Or is there a risk that PRI voters would shift to AMLO? Also would have to make sure that the PRD couldn't pull off some major vote fraud this time around.

Perhaps too risky, but also perhaps a chance to appear to be a Solomon if he pulls it off.

[StJacques]

Hey okie01, what's up?

Thanks for the compliments. Would you like me to put you on the ping list? This "Mexican post-election watch" has become something of a personal project and I will be posting more.

[StJacques]

That is an interesting hypothetical Diddle E. Squat, but my response would be about exactly what you seem to project in light of what you have posted regarding the post-election slide AMLO has undergone, I think Calderon would surface as the clear favorite.

Regarding the PRI voters, I think they would likely split about 60%-40% in favor of Calderon if they are forced to choose, but remember that if the election is annulled all the candidates, including the PRI's Roberto Madrazo, will be back on the ballot. PRI voters are still ubiquitously spread out across the country, but they are not well-disposed to disorder, and that is what AMLO represents, so I expect that the majority of PRI voters who would break ranks would do so out of fear of AMLO more than anything else. AMLO's potential voters among the PRI are those who remain in the southern and central parts of the country and among the old, steadfast partisans of the PRI who are still grinding their teeth at PAN for taking them out of control. But they are not very large in numbers.

And PRD vote fraud is the most untalked-about issue of all. They undoubtedly are guilty of it in some of the precincts in the Yucatan states and perhaps in the central part of the country too. PAN has presented challenges to some of the returns in these areas to the Electoral Tribunal. But to sum up my response on that issue, I don't think it will be as likely as many might think. One of the reasons there was so little vote fraud this time around, is that you had a truly competitive race and everyone was watching everybody else. It worked, in spite of what AMLO claims to the contrary.

[StJacques]

I've definitely overlooked Mexico City's Cronica de Hoy. I have found a wonderful editorial on Lopez Obrador entitled "One Month Ahead" (Un mes por delante).

The guy nails AMLO pretty hard. Let me quote one paragraph (translated):

"The losing candidate [Lopez Obrador], who says he is the winner, pretends to influence the Tribunal so that it alters that which he did not obtain at the ballot box. He says that Calderon will be spurious because he does not have a majority count, and makes of his minority a fantastic regressive count which according to his results supports him more. The preceding is equivalent to believing that two counts for more than three. He also says that Calderon does not have moral authority. He supposes, in his inverse logic, that he does have it because of the way his alternative project for the nation reveals itself: no different public policies, no reform legislation, no governmental innovation. No. A different nation: legitimacy for the poor over the rich; for the people over the super rich; for the pure left over the Mephistophelian right."

I think I'm going to pay closer attention to this paper at the very least. I did read a good editorial in the Guadalajara paper, but it seems to me that they are not very long on editorials. I'm still looking for more sources from northern Mexico.

[Shuttle Shucker]

Northern Newspapers: http://www.directory.com.mx/newspapers Meanwhile, perhaps a fellow Leftie socked AMLO today? This picture's now front page news on El Universal: Hopefully it came from a fellow PRDista. Word of that could cause his movement to fragment as huelgistas realize that AMLO won't necessarily remember their supportive efforts any more than he was loyal to the PRDista who hit him.

[StJacques]

Yeah, I got that, I'm about to post a larger version of it in a thread I will put up right after this post.