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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2006 
Mexico Left Protests Against Fox at Key Parade
 Monica Medel - Reuters
| | People watch the military parade during Independence Day celebrations at the main Reforma Avenue in Mexico City, Mexico, on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2006. Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1810. (AP/Alexandre Meneghini) |
Leftist protesters claiming election fraud targeted Mexican President Vicente Fox at an important military parade on Saturday in a new high-profile demonstration against the outgoing conservative.
More than 200 supporters of presidential runner-up Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador waved posters that read "Fox, traitor to democracy," in the center of Mexico City's vast Zocalo square as he reviewed the traditional independence day march.
A smaller group of protesters shouted "Obrador, Obrador," as troops and military hardware rolled along the main Reforma Avenue.
The left claims Fox played a key part in a fraud to cheat anti-poverty campaigner Lopez Obrador of the presidency in a close-run July 2 election.
"Fox betrayed the Mexican people. That is unforgivable. Lopez Obrador is my president," said Antonio Fernandez, a pensioner.
As the military parade ended, Fernandez joined thousands streaming toward the Zocalo for a massive open-air political convention to be led by Lopez Obrador.
Many other Mexicans want Lopez Obrador to stop his protests, and most cheered and applauded as troops marched through the streets.
"We've had too much already. He lost and he has to accept it," said Rebecca Ocampo who took her three children to see the parade.
SEPARATE CEREMONY
Mexico's top election court rejected Lopez Obrador's fraud claims and named conservative Felipe Calderon president-elect. Fox's former energy minister won the election by just 234,000 votes out of 41 million cast and is set to take office on December 1.
The feud, which has sharply divided Mexico along class lines, soured its most important national fiesta on Friday night.
Tens of thousands of raucous leftists celebrated the traditional independence "grito," or cry, in the Zocalo after forcing Fox to lead a separate ceremony outside the capital.
Lopez Obrador's followers ended an almost seven-week blockade of the Zocalo and Mexico's central business district on Friday to allow the army to hold its annual parade.
But they were to return later on Saturday for the leftist convention to decide if Lopez Obrador should continue his fight with a radical struggle on the streets or by heading an alternative government.
Hundreds of thousands of delegates were expected to take the second path and symbolically declare Lopez Obrador president -- an option that would mean fewer street protests against Calderon.
Lopez Obrador aide Manuel Camacho Solis said leftists were leaning toward challenging Calderon more like a traditional political opposition.
"We are getting to the point where there should be a space for politics and a space for protest. It's not just protesting against Calderon anymore," he said.
'LET'S RECOVER POLITICS'
A sporadic civil resistance campaign in August included blockading foreign banks and government ministries, and preventing highway toll collections. It added to the chaos in Mexico City but did little to help the left win support for its vote-rigging claims.
Interior Minister Carlos Abascal said on Saturday it was time to turn a new leaf.
"Let's recover politics as democracy's way of listening to each other and resolving our differences," he said. "Democracy demands politicians committed to dialogue."
The leftist convention was likely to approve plans to draw up a new constitution, and prepare protests before Calderon takes office.
"It is going to be very rough for Calderon. Wherever he goes, we'll be there to remind him he became president through fraud," said 51-year-old nurse Lidia Alvarado in the Zocalo.
(Additional reporting by Greg Brosnan) |
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