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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | August 2006 
Obrador Digs in for Long Battle
 Mark Stevenson - Associated Press
| | Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks to supporters at the main Zocalo plaza in Mexico City, Mexico, on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2006. (AP/Alexandre Meneghini) |
Leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called for a massive demonstration on Monday outside the court that ruled against his demand for a full recount of the disputed presidential election.
Lopez Obrador has asked his followers to remain indefinitely in their sprawling protest camps that have brought much of the capital's normally thriving center to a halt. The blockades have snarled traffic, costing the city an estimated $23 million a day in lost commerce.
Thousands stood hand-in-hand late Sunday to form a human chain along miles of Mexico City streets.
"This chain is a symbol of solidarity and strength in our struggle against this fraud," said doctor Edith Calderon while linking hands with fellow demonstrators.
Some protesters chanted in favor of seizing the city's airport and some suggested taking over Congress, moves that would almost certainly trigger confrontations with federal authorities. Security has been increased at both facilities.
While Lopez Obrador did not say whether he would eventually approve such tactics, he did promise "new actions, new measures of civil resistance" and asked his followers "to prepare ourselves for a struggle that may last longer."
An official count from the July 2 vote gave conservative Felipe Calderon, of President Vicente Fox's National Action Party, an advantage of less than 0.6 percent, or about 240,000 votes, over Lopez Obrador.
The Federal Electoral Tribunal decided Saturday in favor of a partial recount. Electoral officials will begin sifting through ballots from 9 percent of the nation's 130,000 polling places Wednesday, wrapping up their work by the weekend.
The tribunal has until Sept. 6 to declare a president-elect or annul the vote. The partial recount could swing the vote in favor of Lopez Obrador, if electoral officials — supervised by judges — find evidence of widespread problems.
Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute, an autonomous agency often credited for bringing democracy to Mexico, has said the election was clean and fair, defending the work of thousands of volunteer poll workers. Most international observers have said they failed to note major problems.
Since the election, Lopez Obrador has accused Fox of illegally interfering in the vote and called him a "traitor to democracy."
Fox spokesman Ruben Aguilar said Monday the president would not alter his public appearances, and added that the government continued to support the citizens' right to protest and freedom of speech.
On Sunday, Calderon said Mexico's institutions were strong enough to survive attacks from "anti-democrats," an apparent stab at the leftist protest movement.
"The solidness of our institutions has overcome the attacks of anti-democrats, anarchists and intolerance," Calderon told a gathering of his party's elected lawmakers.
The Mexico City government, controlled by Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party, has protected protest camps. But police chief Joel Ortega indicated his patience was wearing thin, telling a news conference that "everything has a limit." |
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