Same Old Story in Mexico:
Political Shenanigans to Suppress Popular Candidate
By Kari Lydersen
In a move that set off demonstrations of millions around the country, Congress on April 7 voted to strip popular Mexico City mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the immunity from prosecution that elected officials enjoy, in what is widely seen as an effort to prevent him from running in the presidential election on the PRD ticket next year.
Lopez Obrador has been leading opinion polls comfortably, and officials from the PRI and PAN have spearheaded the campaign known as the “desafuero” to clear the way for him to be prosecuted on contempt of court charges stemming from an obscure municipal dispute in which he allegedly failed to stop building a road to a hospital four years ago after the owner of the adjacent land obtained a court order mandating construction be halted.
Polls show that the majority of the populace opposed the desafuero, and that Lopez Obrador is far more popular as a presidential hopeful than likely PRI candidate Robert Madrazo or likely PAN candidate Santiago Creel. The day of the vote on the desafuero he spoke to about 150,000 supporters in Mexico City’s zocalo, calling for peaceful civil disobedience.
Among other things Lopez Obrador has gained support for programs aiding the poor including a 600 peso a month stipend to all elderly people in Mexico City. He is also credited with revitalizing the city’s downtown, in conjunction with powerful supporters including businessman Carlos Slim. Though laws bar someone facing prosecution from running for office, Lopez Obrador has vowed to campaign for the presidency from a jail cell if he must.
“He is such a smart guy, everything they do to discredit him backfires,” says Jorge Mujica, secretary general of the PRD in Illinois and a Mexico City native. “Everyone who speaks out against him ends up having to defend themselves.”
Many see Obrador’s popularity and potential presidency as part of the rise of the left in Latin America. With Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Nestor Kirchner in Argentina, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil and Jorge Tabare Vazquez in Uruguay in office, moves are under
way to create a Latin American trade bloc that could counter U.S. economic hegemony and promote large scale social programs for the masses living in poverty.
“What’s fueling the rise of the left is neoliberalism,” said David Bacon, author of the book “Children of NAFTA.” “What the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have been doing over the past two decades has resulted in a falling standard of living, and the political parties which have imposed these policies are seeing a shrinking support base. That’s what happened in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela, and that same crisis is evident in Mexico. The ability of the PAN to get someone elected is shrinking every day.
Kari Lydersen has written extensively about Latin America for North American Committee on Latin America (NACLA), Alternet, and other publications.