Flexing political muscles
I guess I'm just going to have to be patient if I want to learn more about the politics of Mexico. The events there since the presidential election, like this demonstration reported in the Los Angeles Times, are a great classroom.
Mexicans Rally in Support of Recount
"MEXICO CITY — Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador led a massive protest march to Mexico City's central square Sunday and called for peaceful civil resistance to press his demand for a full recount in the presidential election he narrowly lost to a conservative rival.
"The marchers, in the hundreds of thousands, stretched 10 abreast for about four miles along Paseo de la Reforma, the main thoroughfare. They jammed the square, the Zocalo, in the heart of the capital, under a festive sea of yellow banners and spilled for blocks down nearby streets...
"Lopez Obrador hopes the crowds will help sway the Federal Electoral Tribunal as it begins this week to consider his request for a recount of the 41 million votes cast. Felipe Calderon of the governing National Action Party prevailed in the official count, but the tribunal has yet to certify his victory...
"Police officials subordinate to the PRD-led city government said 1.1 million people took part in the daylong protest. Notimex, the semiofficial news agency of the conservative-led federal government, estimated 700,000 were present.
"More cautious estimates by Mexican media put the crowd at half a million, still bigger than any rally during the presidential campaign and double the size of Lopez Obrador's initial postelection protest rally July 8...
"Last week, Lopez Obrador said he would call off his protests if the tribunal agreed to his recount request. His speech Sunday warned of 'irrational confrontation,' economic instability and social unrest if it did not...
"Yet after whipping his partisans into a fist-pumping frenzy, he sent them home with little idea of what to do next...
"'I don't think there will be any more civil resistance than you're seeing already — just marches and demonstrations,' said Alejandro Bernal, a PRD official. 'We are not going to do anything that would impinge on the rights of others. That would give ammunition to those who ran a scare campaign calling Lopez Obrador a danger to the country.'
posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:32 AM
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