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 Editorials | Issues | April 2007 
'Legitimate' Government Dogs Regime
 Chris Cobb - The Ottawa Citizen
| | Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador |
When Mexican opposition leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador lost national elections to his rival, Felipe Calderon, last July by less than one percentage point, he claimed fraud and inaugurated himself anyway.
In a ceremony that included a swearing-in and the wearing of a presidential sash, Mr. Lopez Obrador pledged to "serve loyally and patriotically as the legitimate president of Mexico" and formed a parallel government. He also promised to do everything possible to undermine the government of Mr. Calderon, which he described as "neo-fascist reactionaries."
One hundred days later, things are going quite well, says Bertha Lujan, minister of labour for the Legitimate Government of Mexico and one of Mr. Lopez Obrador's 12 full-time ministers.
"The legitimate government has had a great impact," said Ms. Lujan, who was a speaker Saturday at the Council of Canadians' Ottawa conference on the Mexico-U.S.-Canada Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). "We are a forceful opposition."
Mr. Lopez Obrador and his colleagues got 15 million votes in what they consider to have been a stolen election. Along with that significant popular following is the support of three parties of the Mexican congress and of numerous regional and local governments.
"We're influencing the debates in parliament and even presenting our own bills to them," said Ms. Lujan, "including some anti-monopoly legislation, a bill of fiscal reform and an alternative budget."
Mexican politics, which has a volatile, often brutal history, seems to be taking Mr. Lopez Obrador's parallel government in its stride, and while Mr. Calderon has a policy of ignoring it, there has been no physical violence or intimidation.
"The government is trying to de-legitimize us," Ms. Lujan said, "by trying to exclude us from the media. We are pretty much shut out of that. But there is no police or military resistance because Calderon and his government feel they are on shaky ground and they need political legitimacy. He is dogged by protests wherever he goes."
The protests are spontaneous, added Ms. Lujan: "That's what is so remarkable. We have not been involved in organizing any of them." |
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