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 Business News | August 2006 
Mexico's Stock Exchange Blockaded
 Bloomberg
| | Several hundred supporters of leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador block the entrance to Mexico's stock market after others were forced to temporarily relocate portions of a sprawling protest camp following heavy rains and hail that flooded several parts of the city in Mexico City, Mexico, on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2006. (AP/Eduardo Verdugo) |
Supporters of Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador escalated protests to demand a recount of the July 2 election, with hundreds of demonstrators blocking the nation's stock exchange.
Protesters, amid light rain, waved flags and chanted ``ballot by ballot'' as they obstructed the entrance to the exchange and to an adjacent building where institutions including Bank of America Corp. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. have offices. All trading at the Mexican stock exchange is electronic and demonstrations in the past haven't affected its operations.
Lopez Obrador is stepping up demonstrations as the electoral tribunal prepares to rule on his request for a full review of the vote, which he says was marred by fraud. His supporters have blocked about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) of Mexico City's main avenue since July 30. The blockade turned the eight-lane Reforma boulevard into a tent city, disrupting traffic and causing shops and hotels in the area to lose about $23 million a day.
``This is part of our civil resistance plan,'' said Martin Zepeda, 39, who joined the protest outside the exchange. ``We want a ballot by ballot recount,'' said Zepeda, a member of Lopez Obrador's Party of the Democratic Revolution who was elected federal deputy in the July 2 vote.
Vote tallies after the election showed Felipe Calderon, former energy minister under President Vicente Fox, beating Lopez Obrador by 0.6 percentage point. Lopez Obrador challenged the results in court. The electoral tribunal on July 31 said it would consider Lopez Obrador's request for a recount. Officials from both Calderon's and Lopez Obrador's parties expect a ruling as early as Aug. 5.
Police Monitor
A few dozen local police monitored today's demonstration. They did nothing to remove protesters from the site.
Amado Zepeda, a 47-year-old laborer who took a three-day bus trip from the northern state of Zacatecas to support Lopez Obrador in Mexico City, said he's ready to answer the candidate's calls to participate in other blockades to pressure the court. He isn't related to Martin Zepeda.
The electoral court ``had better order a vote by vote recount or else we plan to paralyze the country, block the northern border, take airports and highways,'' said Amado Zepeda, whose last job in Zacatecas was as a street vendor.
The benchmark stock index was little changed, gaining 6.84, or less than 0.1 percent, 20,151.94 points at 11:41 a.m. New York time. The peso was little changed at 10.9742 to the dollar, compared with 10.9801 by the close yesterday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Valerie Rota in Mexico City at vrota1@bloomberg.net; Adriana Arai in Mexico City at aarai1@bloomberg.net |
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