Mexico Week In Review: 07.10-07.16

[cisdc]

Mexico Week In Review: 07.10-07.16
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Published since 1994, 'Mexico Week In Review' is a service of the
Committee of Indigenous Solidarity (CIS).  CIS is a Washington, D.C.
based activist group committed to the ongoing struggles of Indigenous
peoples in the Americas.  CIS is actively supporting the struggles
of the Indigenous peoples of Mexico while simultaneously combating
related structures of oppression within our own communities.

To view newsletter archives, visit: 
http://lists.mutualaid.org/pipermail/mexico-week/

"Para Todos, Todo; Para Nosotros Nada"
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ELECTION UPDATE: 900,000 MARCH TO IN SUPPORT OF AMLO

Claiming fraud robbed him of the presidency, leftist candidate Andres 
Manuel Lopez Obrador led hundreds of thousands of marchers through 
Mexico's capital Sunday (07/16),  demanding a full recount in the 
disputed election apparently won by his conservative opponent. The 
Roman Catholic Church canceled Mass at the downtown cathedral as 
protesters overwhelmed the massive central plaza and spilled for 
blocks down nearby streets. Bands played, firecrackers boomed and the 
leftist party's yellow banners waved in the breeze. Police officials 
from the pro-Lopez Obrador city government said many as 900,000 
people took part. On the ground, the crowd appeared to be much 
smaller, though still vast.

Lopez Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor, is demanding a full 
recount of the July 2 election -- vote by vote, rather than relying 
on polling-place reports from election night, as is usual. "To defend 
democracy, we are going to be begin peaceful civil resistance," a 
stern-faced Lopez Obrador told cheering supporters.

In official returns, Felipe Calderon of President Vicente Fox's 
conservative National Action Party led by about 244,000 votes -- just 
0.6 percentage point -- though by law, he cannot be declared 
president-elect until an electoral court deals with challenges to the 
election. Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party has appealed to 
overturn the official count, alleging illicit government and 
corporate help for Calderon, ballot stuffing and other 
irregularities. National Action has also filed its own challenges, 
seeking to stretch Calderon's tiny vote advantage. Calderon say there 
is no legal basis for a complete recount. He is building a transition 
team and planning a nationwide victory tour.

A carnival atmosphere prevailed Sunday, with grandmothers dancing to 
the beat of hand-held drums, teenagers tossing firecrackers and a 
naked bicyclist with anti-fraud messages painted on his body weaving 
through the crowd. Chants of "Hold on, Lopez Obrador, the people are 
rising up!" echoed from the crowd. Dogs wore yellow and black scarfs 
representing the leftist party. Lopez Obrador supporters compared the 
vote to the fraud-stained 1988 election lost by leftist candidate 
Cuauhtemoc Cardenas and said they were ready for a long struggle. "We 
could be here six more years," said Xochitl Luna, a 43-year-old 
unemployed secretary, referring to Mexico's presidential term. "In 
1988 we were ready to take up sticks and stones," she said. "Today we 
are prepared to fight with ideas."

Some marchers called for boycotts of American products, claiming U.S. 
multinationals illegally helped financed the ruling party candidate's 
campaign. Fox ended the Institutional Revolutionary Party's 71-year 
stranglehold on the presidency in the 2000 election and top Lopez 
Obrador adviser Ricardo Monreal said the July 2 election means that 
Mexico's fledging democracy is already faltering. "If another abuse, 
another (electoral) theft is confirmed," he said, "Mexico will never 
have clean elections again."

Despite calls for peaceful demonstrations, Lopez Obrador adviser 
Manuel Camacho said the country might be ungovernable if the Federal 
Electoral Tribunal -- which has until August 31 to review appeals 
alleging fraud -- doesn't order a total recount. Lopez Obrador has 
promised to keep convening massive marches until a vote-by-vote tally 
becomes a reality. "We will go to many more protests. We will never 
tire," said housewife Judith Lopez, who took a six-hour bus ride from 
the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz to march.

Support for the former mayor has reached cult-like proportions in the 
capital, with devoted followers lighting votive candles outside his 
campaign headquarters to keep his presidency hopes alive. "He is the 
most marvelous man in the world," said Eugenia Leal, a 70-year-old 
retired school teacher who collects a pension thanks to a city 
program instituted by Lopez Obrador. "I'm willing to follow him from 
here to the death, or wherever he orders." The dispute threatens to 
further divide Mexico along geographic and class lines. Lopez Obrador 
won in the mainly poor southern states, while Calderon swept most of 
the more-affluent north and northwest. Lopez Obrador may never 
recognize Calderon as a legitimate president, setting up six years of 
sparring and protests that could threaten Mexico's political and 
economic stability. The stock market and currency have swung widely 
in recent weeks amid the electoral uncertainty.

Source: Associated Press: 07/16
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ZAPATISTA POLITICAL PRISONERS LAUNCH HUNGER STRIKE

Marking their completion of 10 ten years in prison, the two accused 
Zapatista collaborators being held at the state prison in Tacotalpa, 
Tabasco, began an indefinite hunger strike July 10 to demand their 
liberation. The prisoners, Angel Concepcion Perez Vazquez and 
Francisco Perez Gutierrez, say they are also demanding the release of 
the peasant protesters detained in May at the village of San Salvador 
Atenco in Mexico state, and all political prisoners in the nation of 
Mexico. A group of Chol Maya campesinos have also launched a 
permanent vigil outside the prison in support of the prisoners. 
Release of the Zapatista political prisoners is a key demand of the 
Zapatista National Liberation Army.

On the first day of the vigil outside the prison, the peaceful 
protesters were threatened and harassed by a group of obviously 
drunken men who were said to work for the Tacotalpa municipal 
government, who hurled verbal abuse such as "a chingar a su madre 
zapatistas, aqui manda el PRI" ("rape your Zapatista mothers, here 
the PRI rules"--a reference to the Institutional Revolutionary Party 
political machine that still holds power in the state).

Source: http://ww4report.com: 07/13
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OAXACA TEACHERS BACK TO JOBS

Some 60,000 teachers were set to return to their classrooms on July 
10 in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, after a seven- week 
strike that included numerous sit-ins at government buildings and an 
encampment in the central plaza in the city of Oaxaca. The teachers, 
members of Section 22 of the National Education Workers Union (SNTE), 
walked off the job on May 22 to demand cost-of-living adjustments and 
a larger education budget. On June 14 the strikers--who were also 
calling for the resignation of PRI governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz and 
were supported by indigenous and other social movements in the 
state--beat back a violent attempt by state police to remove them 
from the plaza.

"We have a commitment to the people, who have supported us, and we'll 
return to the classroom to finish" the school year, Section 22 
general secretary Enrique Rueda Pacheco said on July 7. The teachers 
will return to the encampment in the plaza on July 22 to carry out 
more actions and promote a boycott of the Guelaguetza festival, a 
major tourist attraction. (Apparently the state school system's 
10,000 administrative personnel will stay on strike while the 
teachers return to work.) The teachers' assembly voted early on July 
1 to drop an earlier plan to boycott and block the local voting in 
the July 2 national elections, in order to let the population use the 
"punishment vote" against the PRI and the PAN.

Source: Weekly News Update- Nicaragua Solidarity Network Of Greater 
New York: 07/09
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MEXICANS TOAST UNESCO NAMING AGAVE TEQUILA FIELDS AS WORLD HERITAGE SITE

Tequila may have blurred the memory of many a drinker, but the Agave 
fields that produce it won't soon be forgotten after UNESCO put them 
on its list of World Heritage sites. Residents of Mexico's 
mountainous Jalisco state toasted the addition of their blue-tinged, 
Tequila-producing Agave landscape to the list of places "considered 
to be of outstanding value to humanity," in the words of the UN 
cultural agency's Web site. "We are very emotional," said Yadira 
Gaytan, the assistant mayor of the town of Tequila in Jalisco state. 
"There is a lot of joy among people here because we have been waiting 
for this for a long time."

The cactus-like Agave plant, which is native to the area, is grown in 
abundance around Tequila to meet the world's thirst for the fiery 
liquor. The sprawling blue fields make for an impressive spectacle, 
even from overflying passenger jets. Located about 70 kilometers (45 
miles) northeast of the city of Guadalajara, the town of Tequila is 
packed with breweries and cantinas, and most of its 60,000 residents 
work in the spirits industry or in its spillover tourism sector. 
Gaytan predicted that being a World Heritage site would bring more 
visitors and investment to the region.

Source: Associated Press: 07/13
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MEXICO SPLITS IN HALF: THE ELECTION HITS THE STREETS

By John Ross

A full week after the most viciously contested presidential election 
in its modern history, a Florida-sized fraud looms over the Mexican 
landscape and the nation has been divided almost exactly in half 
along political, economic, geographical and racial lines. Mexico has 
always been two lands  "Illusionary Mexico" and "Profound Mexico" is 
how sociologist Guillermo Bonfils described the great divide between 
rich and poor. But now, should it be allowed to stand, right-winger 
Felipe Calderon's severely questioned 243.000 vote victory over 
left-wing populist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) will split the 
country exactly in half between the industrial north and the 
impoverished, highly indigenous south with each winning 16 states 
although the southern states won by Lopez Obrador, who also won 
Mexico City by a million votes, constitute 54% of the population.

Moreover, the disputed election pits an indignant Indian and mestizo 
underclass that believes AMLO was swindled out of the presidency by 
electoral fraud against a wealthy white conservative minority that 
controls the nation's media, its banks, and apparently, the Federal 
Electoral Institute (IFE), Mexico's maximum electoral authorities. 
Lopez Obrador charges the IFE and its president Luis Carlos Ugalde 
with orchestrating Calderon's uncertain triumph. At a raucous July 
8th rally that put a half million supporters in Mexico City's vast 
Zocalo plaza, the political heart of the nation, Lopez Obrador called 
upon his people to demand a complete vote by vote recount of the 
results. Speaking from a flatbed truck set up in front of the 
National Palace, the official seat of the Mexican government, the 
fiery, former Mexico City mayor characterized President Vicente Fox 
as "a traitor to democracy" and for the first time at a public 
meeting uttered the word "fraud", accusing the IFE of rigging the 
election to favor his opponent.

Indeed, fraud was the central motif of the mammoth meeting. Large 
photos of IFE president Luis Carlos Ugalde slugged "Wanted for 
Electoral Fraud" were slapped up on central city walls and tens of 
thousands of protestors waved home-made signs disusing the IFE 
official with such colorful epithets as "No To Your Fucking Fraud!" 
Throughout the rally, (which was billed as a "first informative 
assembly"), the huge throng repeatedly drowned out Lopez Obrador's 
pronouncements with thunderous chants of "Fraude Electoral!" At 
times, AMLO seemed on the verge of tears at the outpouring of support 
from the sea of brown faces that pressed in around the speakers' 
platform.  The gathering in the Zocalo signaled the kick-off to what 
is sometimes called "the second election in the street"; a mass 
effort to pressure electoral officials into a ballot-by-ballot 
recount that Lopez Obrador is convinced will show that he was the 
winner July 2nd. The IFE has resolutely resisted such a recount.

AMLO, a gifted leader of street protest, is always at the top of his 
game when he is seen as an underdog battling the rich and powerful 
and the next days will be heady ones here. This Wednesday (June 
12th), the left leader is calling upon supporters in all 300 
electoral districts across Mexico to initiate a national "exodus" for 
democracy that will converge upon the capital on Sunday, July 16th 
for a mega-march that may well turn out to be the largest political 
demonstration in the nation's history. Indeed, AMLO already set that 
mark in April 2005 when 1.2 million citizens surged through Mexico 
City to protest Fox's efforts to bar the leftist from the ballot  the 
president dropped his vendetta three days after the march. But Lopez 
Obrador and his Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) will not 
just do battle in the streets. Evidence of wide-spread ballot box 
manipulation in a third of the 130,000 polling places (including 
ballot-stuffing and duplicate numbers in thousands of them), 
malfeasance in the reporting of district totals to the IFE, 
inexplicable cybernetic confabulations in both the preliminary count 
or PREP (`3,000,000 mostly AMLO votes were removed) and the final 
tabulation in the districts, are being presented to the nation's top 
electoral tribunal (code-named the TRIFE) by Lopez Obrador's battery 
of attorneys in an effort to persuade the seven justices that a hand 
recount is the only way to determine who will be the next president 
of Mexico. Such recounts have recently been conducted in close 
elections in Germany, Italy, and Costa Rica as well as in Florida 
2000 until ordered shut down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Felipe Calderon and the PAN and Ugalde's IFE consider AMLO's demands 
to open the ballot boxes an "insult" to the "hundreds of thousands of 
citizens" who were responsible for carrying out the election. "The 
votes have already been counted - on Election Day" Ugalde upbraids 
Lopez Obrador. The TRIFE is an autonomous judicial body with powers 
to annul the presidential election  it has annulled gubernatorial 
elections in Tabasco (AMLO's home state) and Colima and invalidated 
results in entire districts because of electoral flimflam in recent 
years. Lopez Obrador and the PRD have also petitioned Mexico's 
Supreme Court to invalidate the election because of Vicente Fox's 
apparently unconstitutional meddling on behalf of Calderon, and this 
reporter has learned that AMLO is considering calling upon all PRD 
elected officials not to take office December 1st if the ballots are 
not recounted, a strategy that could trigger constitutional crisis.

Despite the uncertainty about who won the July 2nd election, the 
White House and Ambassador Tony Garza, a Bush crony, have been quick 
to congratulate Felipe Calderon for whom they exhibited an 
undisguised predilection during the campaigns  President Bush 
actually called the right-winger from Air Force One and Garza has 
been lavish in his praise of the much-questioned performance of the 
IFE as proof of "a maturing Mexican democracy." The U.S. embassy has 
a track record of intervening in Mexico's presidential selection 
Ronald Reagan recognized Carlos Salinas as the winner of the stolen 
1988 election within 96 hours of the larceny. In 1911, U.S. 
Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson signed off on the assassination of 
Mexico's first democratically elected president Francisco Madero, to 
whom Lopez Obrador has often compared himself.

Most of the U.S. Big Press has followed in lockstep with the White 
House the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and Washington Post all 
expressed editorial satisfaction at Calderon's coronation based on 
the results of the admittedly manipulated preliminary count. The New 
York Times, however, which 18 years ago, after free-marketeer Carlos 
Salinas stole the presidency from leftist Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, called 
that tormented proceedings "the cleanest election in Mexican 
history", this time around was more cautious, voting for a ballot by 
ballot recount before extending its benediction to the winner.

As tens of thousands of AMLO's supporters, "the people the color of 
the earth" Subcomandante Marcos names them, march across the Mexican 
landscape on their way up to the capital to demand electoral justice, 
invoking scenes of the great movement of "los de abajo" (those from 
down below) during Mexico's monumental 1910-1919 revolution, the 
country holds it breath. In Mexico, the past has equal value with the 
present and the memory of what came before can sometimes be what 
comes next. These are history-making moments south of the Rio Bravo. 
North Americans need to pay attention. A shortened version of this 
piece appeared on the Nation.com.

[John Ross is in Mexico City waiting to see How It All Turns Out so 
that he can write the epilogue to his latest opus "Making Another 
World Possible--Zapatista Chronicles 2000-2006" to be published in 
October by Nation Books.]

Source: CounterPunch: 07/12

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The above articles were originally published and copyrighted by the 
listed sources. These articles are offered for educational purposes 
which CIS maintains is  'fair use' of copyrighted material as 
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

end: Mexico Week In Review: 07.10-07.16
--