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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | April 2005 
Mayor To Resume Post
 Angélica Simón - El Universal
| | PRD and PAN legislators almost came to blows in Congress last week after PRD lawmakers hung a banner protesting the desafuero. (Photo: EFE) |
Mexico City Mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Saturday he will return to work on Monday, April 25, despite doubts over whether or not he is still legally the mayor.
Javier Quijano Baz, one of López Obrador's lawyers, said there is nothing stopping him from assuming his post again, and he would continue to work until he is charged by federal prosecutors.
Following a congressional vote to strip him of his political immunity from prosecution on April 7, López Obrador has technically been on leave of absence. Officials from the Attorney General's Office (PGR) insist that the vote against him automatically removed him from office, but federal deputies have said that he is not technically stripped of his post until he is formally charged.
"If there are no proceedings (against him), he has not been removed from his post," Quijano Baz said. "The head of the Mexico City government can still continue working."
The announcement was made following statements the day before by the PGR official in charge of the case against López Obrador that charges may not be filed for months. The PGR could wait for the Supreme Court to rule on legal challenges to the vote against the mayor filed by both the Mexico City Legislative Assembly (ALDF) and Congress. Both bodies claim it is their exclusive domain to remove the immunity of elected officials in Mexico City so they can face prosecution.
López Obrador has also announced that he will conduct a national tour to drum up support as he waits for the charges to be filed against him. In the coming weeks, he will visit Tabasco, Nayarit, Guadalajara and Acapulco, López Obrador said during a morning press conference in a park near his house on Saturday.
He is accused of ignoring a court order halting the construction of a hospital access road in 1991, but he maintains his innocence. If he is charged, he could be prohibited from running as a presidential candidate in the 2006 elections. He has consistently headed polls as the most popular potential candidate in the field. |
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