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 Editorials | Issues | January 2007 
In First TV Show, Mexican Ex-Presidential Candidate Proposes New Law, Criticizes Government
 Istra Pacheco - Associated Press
| | Ex-Mexico candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, critcizes government on new TV show. |
Ex-presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has refused to accept his slim loss to President Felipe Calderon in last July's election, launched a weekly TV show early Tuesday mocking the current government's battle against crime and unemployment and promising to promote a law targeting Mexico's monopolies.
"Mexico is the country of monopolies," the former Mexico City mayor told viewers of "Let the Truth be Told" on Mexico's Azteca television network, aired at 1 a.m. local time (1800 GMT).
Lopez Obrador said members of his left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, already had submitted a bill in Congress aimed at lowering the price of products and services through increased competition.
"If the bill is approved Mexican consumers will save more than 10 percent," he said, adding that he was not surprised by the recent increase in the price of milk and corn tortillas, both of which are staples of the Mexican diet.
"This year unfortunately is looking bad," he said. "We already had predicted it. We already had warned of it, that things weren't going to change with the right."
Calderon is from Mexico's right-wing National Action Party, or PAN.
Lopez Obrador lost the July 2 election by less than 1 percentage point. He cried fraud and led prolonged street protests to demand a full vote recount that paralyzed the city for weeks. The court ordered a partial recount that it said confirmed Calderon as the winner, prompting Lopez Obrador to proclaim himself Mexico's "legitimate" president and to appoint a parallel cabinet. Since then, he has launched a nationwide tour to share his ideas and continue his criticism of Calderon's administration.
Tuesday's show included a fake news broadcast in which it was announced that the current government had completely resolved the country's problems of unemployment and drug trafficking, followed by interviews with people still suffering from both.
For the first installment of his show, Lopez Obrador appeared in a dark suitcoat, white shirt and pink tie, with the Mexican flag behind him.
He defended his decision to pay for the weekly airtime, saying it was the only way he could get his message across "without censorship."
He also said he wished the show "were at a better hour, but that wasn't possible."
The show is directed by Mexican filmmaker Luis Mandoki, who directed the Hollywood movies "When a Man Loves a Woman," starring Meg Ryan and Andy Garcia, and "Message in a Bottle" with Kevin Costner; and "Innocent Voices," a movie about the Salvadoran civil war that won numerous awards.
Prior to the election, Lopez Obrador bought airtime on TV Azteca to broadcast a show called "The Other View." |
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