Presidential contender worries Mexican elite

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Sun, Apr. 02, 2006
Presidential contender worries Mexican elite

With three months left before election, some wonder about former Mexico City mayor's attitude toward business
By Jay Root
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS

MEXICO CITY - Some diplomats and businessmen are spooked by the possibility that former Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will become Mexico's next president.

But with three months to go before the election, most admit that they have little hard information on how an administration led by the tough-talking leftist would affect Mexico's attitude toward business and foreign investment.

In a country where the average wage is less than $2 an hour and millions have moved to the United States in search of better jobs, Lopez Obrador's populist message has been a winner. The 52-year-old widower has led opinion polls for more than two years. A Mitofsky poll conducted this week for the Televisa news network showed him leading with 37.5 percent, compared with 30.6 percent for Calderon and 28.8 percent for Roberto Madrazo of the once-dominant Institutional Revolution Party (PRI).

His harshest critics have likened Lopez Obrador to Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president who likes to call President Bush a "donkey" and "Mr. Danger."
Lopez Obrador aides laugh off the comparison and say the only people who should worry are corrupt politicians and their special-interest backers.
(snip/...)

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/14246326.htm

[FredStembottom]

1. Thanks. This is someone I needed to be aware of.

Don't know much about him yet, but just what I get from this makes me think he should not be flying in planes!

[UpInArms]

4. here are some excerpts from a speech Obrador gave when they

attempted to keep him from running for election:

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/4/7/18351/79942

“They don’t judge me for violating a law, but for the way I think and what that represents for the future of Mexico,” he said, launching into the political underpinnings of today’s proceedings. “There are two competing projects at stake: One on behalf of globalization, the other on behalf of the nation. They don’t like that I give support to the most humble and forgotten people and they don’t want that applied at a national level. This is what is at the core of the matter.”

He attacked “those who think they are masters of this country, the leaders of the PRI and the PAN parties, who want to sell our petroleum and electric industries, who have put our financial institutions into bankruptcy, who have created a nation plagued with inequality. They have delivered this country into the hands of the greediest minority. They want to tax food and medicines but they exempt their protectors from paying taxes. They have ruined the productive capacity of this country and obligated millions of Mexicans to go to the United States to earn a living.”

“They are afraid,” said López Obrador, “that the people will choose a true change. Theirs is a cowardly fear.”

<snip>

“But you,” he said, scanning the legislative hall, “have already received your orders, and you will act under those orders in spite of that you call yourselves public servants. Your conduct will still have to pass public opinion. Those you obey are the most tenacious violators of the law…

“And history will judge us: You and me both.”

[Judi Lynn]

5. What an electrifying event! Good grief. It wasn't that long ago, either.

Mexico-watching DU'ers were very interested in what Fox's government was trying to do to López Obrador even as this happened, but we NEVER got a chance to know what happened when he confronted his accusers. This is WONDERFUL.

From the article, near the closing:

..... in decades of covering and attending all kinds of legislative forums, I don’t remember ever seeing a politician show such poise and confidence in front of a lynch mob of corrupt legislators.

You can bet I grabbed this article for future reference. This is a real bright note in the day (weekend)(week) you can be sure, UpInArms. Thank you.



Andrés Manuel López Obrador

[UpInArms]

9. I remember when he gave this speech -

I wish I had bookmarked the page where it was in its entirety. It brought tears to my eyes.

My fingers are so crossed for this wonderful man to take over in Mexico.

It will definitely give me hope for a brighter future for that country.

:hi:

(edited for spulling)

[saigon68]

2. Negroponte and his Allies will KILL HIM

"DEAD"

DEAD AS A DOOR NAIL

[Peace Patriot]

6. Nope, they cannot assassinate the huge, leftist, democratic revolution in

Latin America. It's too big, too deep, too widespread. Momentous events south of the border--the election of the first indigenous Indian president, Evo Morales, in Bolivia. The election of socialist Michele Batchelet, the first woman president of Chile, who was tortured by the US-backed dictator Pinochet. Brazil headed by a former steel worker, Lula da Silva, who led the third world revolt at the World Trade Organization meeting in Cancun a few years ago. Leftist governments elected also in Argentina and Uruguay, and a socialist and another indigenous, Ollanta Humala, ahead in the polls in Peru. And then there's Chavez in Venezuela.

This is a long labor of love--by grass roots activists and civic/community groups throughout Latin America, with assistance regarding TRANSPARENT elections (US voters, take note!) from the OAS, EU election monitoring groups and the Carter Center.

It is unstoppable.

And, my friends, if Latin America can do it--considering all they have suffered--so can we.

"The time of the people has come." --Evo Morales

[WhiteTara]

11. see him safe saigon68

we need him.

[EST]

3. Being likened to Hugo Chavez seems to me not to be an

indictment.

[MasonJar]

7. Now we know why Georgie Porgy was in Mexico this week; he

was probably selling Fox on the paperless voting machines.

[acmavm]

8. THIS is what poor Mexicans need and deserve. A president like

Chavez who will make it possible for them to earn a living in their own country surrouded by their friends and families. Not having to put your name on an LONG list and wait for the papers that will allow you to go to a foreign country to work. Or sneak across a border, breaking the law and putting yourself at the mercy of unscrupulous and greedy people who have no problems with exploiting you.

[WhiteTara]

12. the whole country needs help. It is so smoggy

that the entire forests are dying from acid rain. There is NO recycling at all. The rivers are clogged with clorox bottles. Change needs to come for everyone.

[bemildred]

10. As usual the "elites" are worried only about their own sorry asses ... nt