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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | August 2006 
Civil Resistance to be Taken to 'Ultimate Consequences'
 Wire services - El Universal
| | A catholic woman, supporter of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, protests outside the Metropolitan Cathedral in downtown Mexico City, August 20, 2006. The catholic church's security guards closed the main access to prevent Lopez Obrador's supporters' activities to promote a full recount of the disputed July 2 presidential election. The sticker reads 'say the truth' in Spanish. (Reuters/Tomas Bravo) |
Left-leaning presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador vowed this weekend to continue to reject last month´s election result with increasingly radical tactics conducted "from the streets."
Ever since he narrowly lost the July 2 vote to Felipe Calderón of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), Andrés Manuel López Obrador has demanded that the country´s electoral authorities order a complete recount of the votes.
So far there is little sign of that happening and, with time running out before Federal Electoral Tribunal names a president-elect - it has until September 6 to do so - López Obrador said he would take his so-called "civil resistance" movement "to its ultimate consequences" in his effort to defend democracy.
"The most important changes in Mexico have never come about through conventional politics but rather from the streets," he told the FT in a rare interview. Asked whether there was a danger that people would brand him a revolutionary, he replied: "Mexico needs a revolution."
López Obrador´s escalating rhetoric will doubtless cause concern among many Mexicans and international investors. Three weeks ago the candidate for the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) ordered supporters to occupy the city´s main square and the central Reforma Avenue in Mexico City - a move that has caused traffic chaos and inflicted millions of dollars in lost revenue on businesses and hotels.
Since then his followers have taken over road tolls and prevented staff from entering the headquarters of foreign-owned banks in the capital. Last Monday, federal police clashed with PRD protesters outside Congress.
"If the fraud is ratified, I could not recognize the institutions, obviously I would not recognize Felipe Calderón because I would consider him to be a spurious, illegal and illegitimate president," he added. "We would fight to make democracy count, renovate the institutions and undertake the changes this country needs."
A radicalization of his supporters, several of whom voice their willingness to take up an armed struggle if necessary, is noticeable on the Paseo de la Reforma.
But from the tent in Mexico City´s main square that for the past three weeks has served as his office, López Obrador told the FT that he was not worried by such comments. "This is a peaceful movement," he said.
His detractors have accused him of playing on Mexico´s less-than-stellar record on elections to support his insistence that last month´s vote was fraudulent.
During the 71 years the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) ruled the country until 2000, elections were often rigged, leading many Mexicans to develop an instinctive suspicion of the voting process.
But López Obrador, former Mexico City mayor, said the need for a full recount of the votes had become even clearer after a partial recount ordered last week by the electoral tribunal had "turned up serious irregularities."
Among them, he said, were more than 50,000 missing voting slips as well as ballot boxes containing about 50,000 more votes than the number of people on the electoral register.
"It makes no sense . . . Watergate is child´s play compared with what went on here," he said. "But they [the authorities] don´t want a full recount because they are going to find many irregularities."
Representatives from Calderón´s PAN party reject López Obrador´s figures, and say the partial recount has turned up insignificant changes compared with the official count carried out last month.
In the event of a negative decision from the Federal Electoral Tribunal, he said, a "national convention" on September 16 gathering 1 million of the movement´s delegates would vote on what actions it would take in response. |
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