Mexico's PRD Founder Opposes Lopez Obrador's Self-Proclamation as "Legitimate President"(Trans.)

eluniversal.com.mx ^ | September 18, 2006 | EFE Agency News ( translated by self )

[StJacques]

Cardenas: Naming of AMLO a "Grave Error"

The Moral Leader of the PRD indicates that the actions of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador "are pummeling and damaging all the Mexican Left."

EFE News Service
El Universal
Madrid, Spain
Monday, 18 September 2006

The actions of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador "are pummeling and damaging all the Mexican Left" and his naming as "legitimate President" in a voting of raised hands in the Zocalo capital plaza is a "grave error," according to the founder of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), Cuauhtemoc Cardenas.

In an interview with the Spanish daily newspaper La Vanguardia, Cardenas expresses his opposition to the politics followed by Lopez Obrador after his defeat by a narrow margin (0.58 percent of the votes) in the presidential elections of last July 2nd facing the candidate of the rightist National Action Party (PAN), Felipe Calderon.

The historic leader of the Mexican Left blames the presidential candidate of the PRD of being responsible for the defeat and qualified as "dogmatic" the attitude of those surrounding Lopez Obrador, with initiatives like popular voting carried out last weekend.

That voting "is a grave error which will have the highest cost for the PRD and for the democratic movement," in Cardenas's judgement, who expresses his preoccupation with "the real situation of confrontation" and warns that "we possibly will have confrontation and turbulence for some time."

"There must be respect for institutions. The road of confrontation, of the smashing and disrespect of constitutional order, will not give the best results for the country," he indicated.

Not withstanding, he believes that "there is no risk of destabilizing the country, nor that development will occur outside its constitutional framework" and he expresses his confidence in that "the different forces will come together looking to overcome the country's problems."

When questioned about the reasons for Lopez Obrador's defeat, Cardenas pointed to a confluence of factors, beginning with the fact that "he lacked a clear leftist candidacy, not only of words, but also of proposals and commitments."

It is necessary to add to that, he says, "the exclusion in the campaign of the good part of his own PRD, the imposition of candidates without prestige, the words against President Fox, the attacks against sectors of the population: presented against all the bankers and businessmen as evil, as if in whatever activity there are the good, the bad, and the regular."

Cardenas again vindicated the right of dissent, forestalling those who accuse him of having caused the defeat of the PRD, clarifying that if he did not participate in the electoral campaign it was because the platform had little of the Left within it and Lopez Obrador was being influenced by ex-directors of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

He referred, among others, to Manuel Camacho Solis, one of Lopez Obrador's principal advisors, who is associated with the controversial electoral recount of the 1988 elections, in which Cardenas was defeated [in his race for the presidency] facing Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

Figures such as Camacho Solis "do not identify themselves with the principles of the PRD for which we have been fighting for years" and "they have no moral authority to be in the positions they occupy, by their past opposition to the principles they now say they defend."

On the lack of critics of Lopez Obrador's management in the heart of the PRD since July 2nd, he asserted that the principal leaders "do not dare to raise their voices, but many are going to do so in a short time" and he predicts that "the condition of the country and of the party will obligate many people who have been silent to speak out."

[StJacques]

Well; there is now an open split in the PRD after Lopez Obrador's "Democratic National Convention" named him "Legitimate President" of Mexico this past Saturday. Cuauhtemoc Cardenas; founder of the PRD, ex-Head of Government in Mexico City's Federal District, three-time presidential candidate, and son of former President Lazaro Cardenas, has come out into the open in his criticism of Lopez Obrador. I cannot say what kind of an impact this will have within the PRD, but clearly Cardenas is a man of significant stature, he is almost universally referred to as the "moral leader" of the PRD, and his statements will not be ignored nor will they be easily dismissed. Even though I have tremendous differences of opinion with Cardenas for his political views, I do at least recognize that he has some sense of responsible political behavior and is dedicated to the preservation of domestic peace in his country.

What I hope everyone will notice in the above article is that Cardenas attacks the central myth of Lopez Obrador's post-election protest; namely, that the election was "stolen" from him. In Cardenas's view, Lopez Obrador is responsible for his own defeat for the way in which he conducted his campaign, which Cardenas believes lacked clarity, solid proposals, and excluded "the good part of the PRD." There can be no disguising or spinning of Cardenas's charge that the PRD has made a "grave error," in naming AMLO the "legitimate President" of Mexico. I personally regard this as a major blow to Lopez Obrador, because it directly asserts that there is something "illegitimate" in his protest, not merely something "misguided" or "mistaken." And given the fact that the criticism arises from within a significant faction of the PRD, it is bound to provoke reflection and argument in the party. As to just how far that process will go, we'll just have to wait and see.

[StJacques]

A ping for you all.

I will be away from the board for about forty-five minutes to an hour. Back around 7:15 - 7:30 p.m. Central.

[Clara Lou]

My comment is that López Obrador gives not a blankety-blank for or about the people of México. He cares about himself. His followers are too ignorant to see that. Ignorance won't save them from the consequences of anarchy.

[tflabo]

"There must be respect for institutions. The road of confrontation, of the smashing and disrespect of constitutional order, will not give the best results for the country," he indicated.

This statement disqualifies AMLO as being a leader. Instead he is nothing more than a vainglorious egoist despot who is a tyrant. Mexico is witnessing the tactics of a bitter, revengeful and selfish out of bounds politician in AMLO.

[Ben Ficklin]

There are really two lefts in the region(Latin America). One has radical roots but is now open minded and modern(Cardenas); the other is close minded and stridently populist(Obrador).

A Tale of Two Lefts

[StJacques]

"There are really two lefts in the region . . ."

I just took a glance at that article you linked and I must say it looks really interesting. I'm going to read it.

To anyone else who has seen Ben Ficklin's link "A Tale of Two Lefts" above, it looks very promising. It is written by Jorge Castañeda, who was Fox's Minister of Foreign Affairs until 2003, and a "reformed" leftist -- he eventually "saw the light" -- himself. I would regard anything Castañeda writes as worth the trouble.

And by the way; it was recently revealed that Castañeda was once a CIA operative when he was younger. No kidding! The discovery of the information may have led to his resignation.

[texastoo]

So your article about Jorge Casteneda if from the Council on Foreign Relations. CFR. A leftest organization or marxist organization. This is the same Jorge Casteneda who demanded "the whole enchilada". He wants open borders, free health care from the U.S. taxpayers to all illegals, guest worker programs for Mexicans and to he!! with the rest of the world. This dude even tried to run for president of Mexico but no party would have him.

He should have titled this as "A Tale of Three Lefts" and included himself.

[Kenny Bunk]

Cuauhtemoc Cardenas; founder of the PRD, ex-Head of Government in Mexico City's Federal District, three-time presidential candidate, and son of former President Lazaro Cardenas, has come out into the open in his criticism of Lopez Obrador.

Cardenas' move is an incredibly brave one. I hope he is well protected. Obrador's connections to the Latin American "Comintern," Castro, FARC, Chavez, Morales, etc. make him a target.

[Shuttle Shucker]

>>>On the lack of critics of Lopez Obrador's management in the heart of the PRD since July 2nd, he asserted that the principal leaders "do not dare to raise their voices, but many are going to do so in a short time"<<<


Interesting. I guess with the Convention finally over, and Felipe ready to stand up to anarchy, and plenty of folks bitter about financial losses resulting from recent blockades, ObraGore's opposition will be emboldened.

[Codename - Ron Benjamin]

Let's highlight one thing. Lopez is sustenting one of his many ramblings on the "stolen election of 1988". That was the one where Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, by the PRD, lost to Carlos Salinas under allegately fishy circumstances. Yes, *this* Cuauhtemoc Cardenas.

[A CA Guy]

Obrado is a nut case who spent a little too much time in bath houses IMO.

[Ben Ficklin]

Was the article to long for you to read?

[Shuttle Shucker]

Here's an article supposedly from the New York Times suggesting that around 150,000 showed up to ObraGore's convention this past weekend:

http://www.hacer.org/current/Mex170.php

When they were asked if they believed ObraGore won the election, surprise surprise...most said they did.

Here's a quote that I like from that article though:

>>>Described as a national democratic convention, the massive rally seemed intended to keep Mr. López Obrador and his political agenda from fading out of the national debate.<<<

And another:

>>>“The slow, difficult, incremental construction of the Mexican nation and state has passed through dozens of plans, made in the heat of political conflict,” said one historian, Lorenzo Meyer. “The idea of conventions and plans is something very much part of Mexican history.”<<<

The question is, will ObraGore fade from the limelight or assert himself dangerously, bringing the country that didn't vote for him down with him?

[texastoo]

No, not really. I just needed ro refresh my memory regarding Jorge Casteneda. So I typed his name in google as hesre is what I came up with:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Casta%C3%B1eda

excerpt....

"Castañeda's political career began as a member of the Mexican Communist Party but he has since moved to the political center. He served as an advisor to Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas during his (failed) presidential campaign in 1988 and advised Vicente Fox during his (successful) presidential campaign in 2000. After winning the election, Fox appointed Castañeda as his Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Following a number of disagreements with other cabinet members he left the post in January 2003 and began traveling around the country, giving lectures and promoting his ideas.

[edit]
Presidential candidacy
On March 25, 2004, Castañeda officially announced his presidential campaign by means of a prime-time campaign advertisement carried in all major Mexican television stations.

Castañeda presented himself as an independent "citizens's candidate", but this is contrary to Mexico's electoral law that gives registered parties alone the right to nominate candidates for election.

[edit]
Castañeda's Court appeal
In 2004 Castañeda started to seek Court authorization to run in the country's 2006 presidential election without the endorsement of any of the registered political parties. On August, 2005 the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation ruled against Castañeda's appeal. The ruling essentially put an end to Castañeda's bid to run as an independent candidate, however soon after this ruling he said he would take his case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in order to defend his political rights."

I guess the "Inter-American Court of Human Rights" is connected with the UN? The poor baby didn't get his way. Boo-hoo.

[Ben Ficklin]

I don't see anything overtly incorrect in your last post and of course some of what you posted has already been mentioned in the article or other replies.

One thing I might mention is that many perceive that Castenada's position as advisor to Fox was also an endorsement of Fox and an endorsement of Fox by a high ranking PRD official was instrumental in his election. This gets back to the 10 point rule between PRD and PAN that was used by those two parties to try to defeat PRI. And of course, his involvement with Fox soured any political future he had in PRD.

Anyway, you obviously don't want to talk about the "two lefts" in Latin America. I suspect that you are worried about the subject turning to the "two rights" in the US.

[texastoo]

Anyway, you obviously don't want to talk about the "two lefts" in Latin America. I suspect that you are worried about the subject turning to the "two rights" in the US.

Explain your statement.

I really don't worry about Mexico. They have always been leftests. The recent violence in Mexico has been with the drug cartels on the border and the teachers union in Oxacaco (sp). Obrador's movement has been the most non-violent of any in Mexico. The violence has been called for by conservatives on FR. LOL.

[Ben Ficklin]

Hmmmmmmm, lets ignore it and maybe it will go away? No, there is an elephant in the room.

[texastoo]

Anyway, you obviously don't want to talk about the "two lefts" in Latin America. I suspect that you are worried about the subject turning to the "two rights" in the US.

Explain your statement.

[Ben Ficklin]

The are two rights and one of them is close minded and stridently populist. They are also backward looking.

At one time they were on the left but the Democrats kicked them out.