Mexico Leftist Loses Key Vote in Presidential Bid (Reuters)

[Up2Late]

Mexico Leftist Loses Key Vote in Presidential Bid

Fri Apr 1, 2005 06:06 PM ET

By Alistair Bell

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico City's leftist mayor lost a vote on Friday that could derail his presidential bid in 2006 when a legislative committee recommended Congress strip him of his immunity to face contempt of court charges. The committee voted 3-1 against Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has decried the charges as a politically motivated bid to oust him from the race in which he is the front-runner.

Lopez Obrador will be forbidden from running if found guilty in the case involving a land expropriation dispute in the capital. The lower house is expected to vote on stripping his immunity in coming days. "This is a coup against the residents of Mexico City," said Horacio Duarte, a legislator for Lopez Obrador's Party of the Democratic Revolution who cast the dissenting vote in the mayor's favor on the committee.

Thousands of protesters gathered outside Congress and in Mexico City's vast central square to demand the popular mayor be allowed to run, fueling tensions in a case that has polarized Mexican politics. Dozens of police on horseback guarded the entrance to the legislature. Earlier, Lopez Obrador had said he expected the decision against him but would run for president from jail if necessary. "Let's get this regrettable, shameful farce over with," Lopez Obrador said of the vote in Congress. "They want to push me aside with an eye on the elections in 2006."

He compared his plight to that of U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., saying King suffered similar persecution when he was arrested and sent to jail on speeding charges during the 1960s. Lopez Obrador has worried some Wall Street investors with vows to overhaul Mexico's economic policies if elected. However, the prospect of widespread street protests if the mayor is unable to run scares some people even more.

(more at link above)

[stranger81]

1. not surprising

I'd look for similar (if not worse) frameups to surface the next time Lula, Chavez, etc. are up for re-election . . . .

[David__77]

2. The Mexican people's struggle may take a different form.

Perhaps power cannot be won in this way. But surely the Mexican people are on the verge of joining the continental struggle against US domination.

[Up2Late]

3. I don't know much about Mexican Politics, but does the RW...

...control everything down there too?:shrug:

[Say_What]

12. They were in power for 70 years until Fox, they are now desparate

to regain power and I read that Fox and the PRI engineered this to get rid of Obrador.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<clips>

Rallies mark decision against mayor

...The decision outraged López Obrador's supporters, many of whom protested across the country and pledged massive turnouts, starting Monday, as a countdown to the final vote.

"This is the worst case of electoral fraud since 1988," said storeowner Graciela Vegas, 43, referring to the presidential elections where the PRD founder Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas lead the vote count until the computer system crashed to be rebooted with a PRI victory and Carlos Salinas as president. "But this time we didn't even get a chance to vote they stopped our champion before he'd even registered as a candidate."

PRD panel member congressman Horacio Duarte said that the ruling PAN once protested against such tactics, when in opposition, but has now started using them to its political advantage.

López Obrador accused President Fox and Carlos Salinas of conspiring together to keep him out of power. He compared himself to slain civil rights activist Martin Luther King, who was prosecuted on trumped up charges of speeding and was frequently jailed for his activities. López Obrador says that if he is jailed he will continue campaigning from behind bars.

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/pls/impreso/noticia.html?id_nota=10011&tabla=miami

[Moderator]

4. kick to combine

[Say_What]

5. Move Against Leftist Mayor Sets Off Protests in Mexico

This is not good news. Obrador was the front runner for president in Mexico.

<clips>

MEXICO CITY, April 1 - A congressional panel recommended Friday that Mexico City's mayor be stripped of his official immunity from prosecution, spurring angry protests here and raising the chances that he could be barred from running for president.

The four-member panel recommended three to one that Congress lift the official immunity of Mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador so that he could stand trial in a minor land dispute. The matter now moves to the lower house of Congress, where a majority vote, which analysts consider likely, would make it official.

For Mayor López, whose public works projects and welfare payments to the elderly have helped make him the most popular politician in the country, the charges could lead to impeachment and jail. Just standing trial would make him at least temporarily unable to run for president, which Mr. López's supporters charge has been the aim of President Vicente Fox and Congress all along.

For Mexico, political observers said, there was more at stake. The inquiry into Mr. López's decision to widen a hospital access road against a court order has polarized this country in much the same way the impeachment hearings of President Clinton divided the United States. Months of backroom dealing over the issue has reinforced the idea that the proceedings against Mayor López are part of a conspiracy, led by President Fox, and that shady deals among the political elite are not a thing of the past here. Newspaper polls have suggested that the overwhelming majority of Mexicans oppose the panel's recommendation. In a country where multi-billion-dollar embezzlement cases go unresolved, most people do not accept the proceedings against Mr. López as a mark of law and order. Anger over the decision could reverberate throughout this fragile democracy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/02/international/americas/02mexico.html

[toddzilla]

6. lol

this is why i've totally given up hope for the planet..

[w4rma]

9. Heh. They've overreached with this. Watch.

This corrupt action will be the tipping point.

You definitely should not be giving up now. The fun is just getting started.

[torque]

7. Well georgie won't be needing Diebold to thwart the election

of another decent human being after all? Get on the phone georgie, an' call 'em back. Nothing to see here folks... 'Cept a worthless pile of human shit name ah georgie wastin' taxpayer dollars on the destruction of democracy. In our goddam name.

edit: More than enough evidence to send Bush Administration to the Hague

[Judi Lynn]

8. He has a lot of support from the people. Hope it's more than enough

Of course that could all be rendered meaningless if they start using the Republican methods of managing election results.

From the article:

Thousands of people mobbed city hall within minutes after the announcement of the panel's decision. The protesters stood beneath Mayor López's office in the city's main plaza, the Zócalo, and chanted, "Injustice!" and "You are not alone!" Some of those who addressed the crowd summoned people to join them in mass acts of nonviolent disobedience. Others called for revolution.

"There have been so many years of struggle and blood to begin this democracy," said Blanca Ruiz, weeping as she listened to a radio. "All so that these thieves can come, these men who do not want to let go of power."
(snip)

[aneerkoinos]

11. Yeah

Condie (and Fox et alii taking note from Condie) are playing with fire. The social movements in Mexico have been organizing and are not going to just sit and accept democracy being denied to them. They can bring the country to halt, and I believe they will.

And revolution, if that is what it takes, will not stay just south of the border...

See:
http://narconews.com/Issue35/article1173.html
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/3/2/153027/2942

[arcos]

10. I don't think Congress will lift his immunity...

They just can't afford it... the consequences would be too grave.

[Say_What]

13. The charges are bullshit

This was devised by Fox and the PRI to take Obrador out the presidential race. He's a socialist and the front runner with approval rating at 85%.


<clips>

...The trial by Congress, over charges that Mr López Obrador disobeyed a judicial order to halt construction of an access road to a hospital, would remove his political immunity from prosecution. Under Mexican law, people under prosecution are barred from running for office. It appears he would also be removed from office, leaving the Senate to appoint a replacement.

Mr López Obrador has campaigned effectively against the threatened impeachment. According to polls by the Mitofsky Group, 80 per cent of Mexicans oppose the impeachment. He leads his closest rivals for the presidency by more than 10 percentage points.

With laws regularly flouted in Mexico, most Mexicans believe the trial is politically motivated. Referring to the demonstrations planned in his support, Mr López Obrador said: "If there's violence, that will originate from the federal government; it's always been that way."

Luis Rubio, head of the CIDAC, a Mexico City think-tank, said: "This is a sad and unnecessary mess." He said there was "not the slightest doubt" the impeachment would be met by attempts at mass mobilisations in an attempt to demonstrate the weakness of the government.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/43ad7cce-a313-11d9-b4e8-00000e2511c8.html

[Say_What]

14. Kick

:kick: