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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | May 2005 
PRI Angry Over Dropped Charges
 El Universal Online
| | The nation's largest party is debating bringing charges against the new attorney general. |
Mexico City - The day after President Vicente Fox's administration dropped controversial proceedings against Mexico City's mayor, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) called for an investigation on Thursday to determine why the case was closed.
The party's ruling council might file contempt of court charges against newly-appointed Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca for not presenting charges against capital Mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Cabeza de Vaca announced on Wednesday that the case would be shelved since "the law doesn't explicitly … establish a penal sanction."
However, PRI officials claim that a judge, rather than the Attorney General's Office (PGR), should decide whether a sentence exists for López Obrador's alleged crime of ignoring a court order. They are accusing Fox of forcing the PGR to drop the case and breaching the separation of powers between the executive and judicial branches.
Alejandro Gárate Uruchurtu, a member of the PRI governing body, said that Fox himself could be cited to testify when he steps down from office in 2006.
He added that the PGR cannot simply drop the case when it already convinced the Chamber of Deputies to strip López Obrador of his political immunity from prosecution on April 7 so he could face the charges.
In a press conference, the PRI's congressional coordinator Emilio Chuayffet accused the PGR of "violating judicial protocol."
"The rule of law has been defeated by a mistaken political decision," Chuayffet said.
In a radio interview, fellow PRI deputy Manlio Fabio Beltrones, who is also president of the chamber, said that "today impunity triumphs."
Lawmakers from the PRI, the nation's largest party, and Fox's National Action Party (PAN) almost unanimously supported the measure similar to impeachment allowing López Obrador to be charged. The mayor's Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) accused their congressional opponents of using trumped-up allegations to try and remove the most powerful contender from the 2006 presidential elections.
López Obrador has consistently polled as the nation's most popular politician ahead of potential candidates from the PRI and the PAN, and if he were charged he would have likely been barred from registering as a candidate.
Although Fox initially supported the proceedings against the mayor, he has backed down in the face of massive protests by López Obrador supporters and harsh national and international criticism.
Fox's office has defended the reversal by saying that the charges threatened Mexico's still-fragile democracy.
"The exercise of democracy in Mexico was placed in doubt," presidential spokesman Rubén Aguilar said Thursday. "For reasons of state, the president decided to reconcile the rule of law with the continued development of democracy."
He said Fox's office would no longer comment on the affair, repeatedly saying the case is closed.
López Obrador, for his part, continued to reach out to Fox, saying he was partially to blame for the threat of political instability.
"We were at the point of creating a situation of political instability," López Obrador said during his morning press conference. "I say we, because you can't put all the blame on one side."
After a year of heated criticism from both sides, Fox and López Obrador are meeting today. The mayor has stated he hopes to discuss the elections in 2006, while Fox said he will bring up public security issues.
In a sign that the thawing of relations was not restricted only to the nation's top leaders, PRD President Leonel Cota on Thursday met with Interior Secretary Santiago Creel, who is rumored to be stepping down soon to make his own bid for the presidency in 2006.
While the PRD cut relations with Fox's administration at the height of the conflict over López Obrador's political future, Cota hinted the party is now open to working with the PAN.
"We will not use (the action) against López Obrador as an excuse to oppose advances that this country needs," Cota said. |
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