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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | April 2005 
Mayor Goes Back To Work
 Wire services
| | López Obrador says that he remains mayor of Mexico City because he has yet to be formally indicted. |
Bolstered by a Sunday march, the judicially beleaguered mayor of Mexico City defied the federal government Monday and returned to his workplace.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador went back to city hall 19 days after Congress voted to lift his immunity from prosecution and remove him from office pending the resolution of obscure contempt charges leveled against him by the federal attorney general's office, which warned that the mayor could be charged with "usurpation" if he resumed his duties.
The leftist municipal chief, who the day before led a march protesting the lifting of his immunity known here as the "desafuero" was greeted with applause at city hall Monday morning by scores of supporters and municipal employees.
Federal prosecutors contend that López Obrador was automatically suspended as mayor by virtue of the April 7 desafuero.
President Vicente Fox's spokesman, Rubén Aguilar, said Monday that the federal government "maintains the return of Mr. López Obrador to the mayoral office is a provocation and a violation of the laws."
"The office of the president of the republic regards as still in effect the decision approved by the Chamber of Deputies last April 7, by which López Obrador was left without immunity and removed from the office," Aguilar told a press conference.
But López Obrador says that he remains mayor of Mexico City because he has yet to be formally indicted and because the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a motion from the municipal legislature challenging the desafuero.
The mayor accuses Fox and members of the erstwhile longruling PRI of having joined forces to promote the desafuero as a way of effectively eliminating him from the 2006 presidential race.
López Obrador's agenda for Monday included inaugurating an on-ramp and attending a police promotion ceremony.
During a city hall press conference, the mayor urged his political adversaries to "heed the voice of the people," invoking the throngs who marched here Sunday in opposition to the "political maneuver" of the desafuero.
He also said he was ready for reconciliation with the Fox government and other foes "to seek the good of the country."
"If we listen to the voices of the people, what we political actors must do is look for reconciliation. I'm ready for dialogue, I'm ready to meet (with his opponents), I'm ready for there to be unity and reconciliation for the benefit of Mexico," López Obrador said.
With Sunday's massive demonstration downtown, López Obrador, a big leader in presidential polls leading up to next year's elections, challenged the conservative Fox government with an unprecedented show of popular support.
"This is the largest political demonstration in the history of Mexico," said Mati Batres, local leader of the mayor's PRD party.
Mexico City police estimated that 1.2 million turned out to support López Obrador with a silent march of nine kilometers (more than 5 miles) although federal security officials said that their estimates places the crowd at onetenth the size. Many marchers wore white masks across their mouths.
The mayor was stripped of his immunity by the lower house on April 7 so he can be prosecuted for allegedly defying a court order to halt construction of a hospital access road on disputed land. López Obrador denies the substance of the accusations.
The federal Attorney General's Office said the mayor could remain free on bail. Even so, the judge handling the case, citing legal technicalities, returned the case file to prosecutors requesting new action, and some expected an arrest warrant to be issued.
But the magnitude of Sunday's march in support of the embattled presidential hopeful makes it difficult to predict federal authorities's next move.
The mayor told his supporters at the rally that the entire legal process against him was aimed at keeping him out of next year's presidential contest.
"The order is to disqualify me politically," he said.
López Obrador also used Sunday's rally to outline his platform for the 2006 race.
He began by rejecting the populist label that usually accompanies his name and said his overriding mission is fighting poverty. Mexico, he maintained, must find a way to embrace the advances brought by economic globalization without becoming a victim of the phenomenon.
And while eschewing any desire for a return to statist economic policies, he said the Mexican government should not meekly submit to the dictates of the free market when they threaten the country's interests. |
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