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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | June 2006 
Confident Leftist Back with Own Folk in Mexico
 Anahi Rama - Reuters
| | Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, presidential candidate of Mexico's left-wing Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), waves to supporters during a rally in Tapachula, in Mexico's state of Chiapas, June 7, 2006. (Daniel Aguilar/Reuters) |
Tapachula, Mexico - Looking confident after emerging unscathed from a live television debate, Mexican leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was back among the poor on Wednesday, promising to aid them if he wins the July 2 presidential elections.
Lopez Obrador came through a televised debate with four other candidates on Tuesday in good form despite attacks on him from conservative rival Felipe Calderon.
Commentators were watching closely to see if the often peevish leftist would lose his temper and damage his cause as Calderon repeatedly accused him of being a populist who would ruin Mexico's economy.
But Lopez Obrador kept his calm and avoided arguing too much. Newspapers said Calderon narrowly won the encounter but political analysts were divided over who came off best.
The leftist, locked in a dead heat with Calderon in opinion polls, was confident he would now go on to win the election and put on the president's sash in December.
"On December 1, I am going to take over the office of president and we are going to cut the price of electricity, gas and gasoline," he told a rally in the southern state of Chiapas, next door to his tropical native state Tabasco. The next presidential term starts December 1.
He barely mentioned the debate in a speech to 3,000 mostly poor people in the city of Tapachula near the Guatemalan border.
Lopez Obrador promised to help the three poor southern states of Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero.
"We are going to bring out of abandonment the states where the poorest people live," he said. "These promises are not going to be unfulfilled, as has always happened."
Tapachula and the surrounding area are still struggling to recover from damage caused by flooding and mudslides from Hurricane Stan last year. This year's rainy season has already begun and locals worry that authorities are not prepared.
"I have a lot of hope in (Lopez Obrador) because finally someone is going to help us," said peasant Donaldo Ruiz.
Lopez Obrador commands fierce loyalty from supporters, as well as fear among the rich who call him a firebrand who would take Mexico back to the bad old days of economic crises like in the 1980s and 90s.
He has played into those fears during the campaign by launching a series of attacks on President Vicente Fox, whom he accuses of illegally helping Calderon, of the ruling National Action Party.
Analyst Marcela Bobadilla said Lopez Obrador managed to put his message across in the debate without appearing too radical.
"I liked Lopez Obrador a lot. I'm not saying I've now decided to vote for him but without a doubt I liked what I saw ... more than before because he didn't fall for Calderon's attacks," she said. |
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