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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2007 
Political Rivalries Flare in Mexico
 Olga R. Rodriguez - Associated Press
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| | Mexico's President Felipe Calderon gives the traditional 'Grito,' or cry of independence in Mexico City's main Zocalo Plaza, Saturday, Sept. 15, 2007, during Mexico's independence celebrations. (AP/Eduardo Verdugo) |
Mexico City - Bitter political rivalries flared at independence celebrations in Mexico for a second year in a row.
Mexico City's central plaza was the scene of competing celebrations on Saturday — divided by metal fences and thousands of police officers, as the nation continues to struggle with last year's hotly contested presidential election.
In keeping with custom, President Felipe Calderon was to mark the start of Independence Day by stepping out on a National Palace balcony at 11 p.m. (midnight EDT) and crying, "Viva Mexico!" Mexicans gathered below in the Zocalo, or main square, traditionally answer the president's shouts in unison.
But in another corner of the plaza, thousands of Calderon's detractors led by Sen. Rosario Ibarra planned their own "grito," or cry of independence. A third celebration was in the works by Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard.
Ibarra is a political ally of leftist leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who narrowly lost the July 2006 election to the conservative Calderon. Lopez Obrador claims the election was tainted by fraud and has refused to accept Calderon's victory. Mayor Ebrard is a member of Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party.
Last September — following two months of protests that snarled a main avenue in the capital to demand a recount — then-President Vicente Fox avoided a confrontation by moving the ceremony hundreds of miles away to Dolores Hidalgo, where Roman Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo made the first cry for independence from Spain in 1810.
Lopez Obrador said this year he would celebrate with followers in San Jose Tenango in southern Oaxaca state, one of the poorest municipalities in Mexico.
In Mexico City, factions staked out their turf in the Zocalo days ahead of time.
The president's office set up metal fencing around a section in front of the National Palace, while Lopez Obrador's supporters set up tents on the square's opposite end.
On Saturday, hundreds of vendors selling confetti and snacks crowded into the square, which was decorated with red, white and green lights — the colors of the Mexican flag.
Mexicans arriving for the nighttime celebration went through metal detectors and were received by blaring speakers on opposites sides of the plaza competing for their attention — and making it impossible to hear.
Calderon said no one should be left out of the Independence Day celebration, calling it an opportunity "for harmony and reconciliation."
Veronica Franco, who planned to attend Ibarra's event, said she came to protest Calderon's presidency.
"We're here to show that the Mexican people are not fools and that we won't allow for another fraud to take place," Franco said. |
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