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 Editorials | Issues | February 2007 
Mexico Leftist Leader Sees Strength Fade
 Ioan Grillo - Associated Press
| | Lopez Obrador pledged to be President Felipe Calderon's nemesis after losing last year's presidential race. |
Leftist leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has declared himself Mexico's 'legitimate president,' saw his strength wane as organizers of Wednesday's march to protest skyrocketing tortilla prices asked him to stay on the sidelines.
Lopez Obrador pledged to be President Felipe Calderon's nemesis after losing last year's presidential race by less than 1 percentage point. The fiery former Mexico City mayor was known for his ability to mobilize millions in support of his allegations that the July 2 election was rigged.
But since Calderon has taken office, Lopez Obrador's self-declared alternative government has almost faded from view.
The leftist leader tried to make a major public comeback by offering to lead the tortilla march, but he was forced to back down. He agreed to give his own speech in Mexico City's Zocalo plaza only after the organizers end their rally Wednesday evening.
'The idea is that we concentrate on the general objectives of the march and not on personalities,' Gerardo Sanchez, president of the Permanent Agrarian Council, said on W Radio Tuesday.
The marchers are angry about tortilla prices that have doubled over the last year to roughly 45 cents a pound, causing hardship among the millions of poor Mexicans for whom they are a staple.
Tens of thousands of farmers and union members were mobilizing to demand that Calderon take stronger action to control prices of basic foods.
Since taking office Dec. 1, Calderon has drawn the greatest criticism for failing to control the largest spike in tortilla prices in decades. The national uproar has put him in an uncomfortable position between the poor and some agribusiness industries hoping to profit from the surge in international corn prices, driven mostly by the sudden explosion of the U.S. ethanol industry.
On a weekly TV show he hosts, Lopez Obrador urged his supporters to join the protest.
'We have to defend the people, because if we don't then who is going to do it?' the silver-haired leftist asked Tuesday.
But march organizers said they feared Lopez Obrador would take over their cause, turning it into a partisan debate that might undermine the government's willingness to respond.
'He used to have the money and influence to organize his own huge marches. Now he has to be a political opportunist and jump on someone else's train,' political analyst Oscar Aguilar said. 'He's burned out.'
A free-market advocate, Calderon has said he does not want to return to direct price controls enforced by many former Mexican presidents.
On Jan. 18, Calderon signed an accord with business organizations to try to limit tortilla prices to about 35 cents a pound. But many of the independent tortilla sellers have ignored the rate, essentially a gentlemen's agreement with no legal backing.
High tortilla prices put some Mexicans in danger of being malnourished.
The poor eat an average of 14 ounces of tortillas daily, giving them 40 percent of their protein, according to Amanda Galvez, who runs a nutrition research institute at Mexico's National Autonomous University.
With the new prices, workers earning the minimum wage of about $4 a day could spend a third of their earnings on tortillas for their family.
'Some people can switch to more unhealthy alternatives. Others just go without,' Galvez said. |
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