Entering Free Mexico

international | politics / elections | opinion/analysis Tuesday August 22, 2006 03:24 by Fiachra O Luain foluain at yahoo dot ie

On the 30th of July over 2 million people closed down the centre of Mexico City. Their demand: A fair vote by vote recount of July 2nd's Presidential Elections which they believe have been stolen by the governing PAN (National Action Party). Since then protestors have remained camping on the motorways and on the streets amidst the skyscrapers. The International Media have remained very quiet on the issues. Please read and feel free to contact me. This article was written on the 10th of August. Fiachra

The centre of Mexico City, the largest megalopolis in the world and home of 35 million has been taken over by those who believe that their vote was stolen after the Presidential Election on the 2nd of July. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador or more affectionately known as AMLO is the candidate for the left wing Revolutionary Democracy Party (PRD) who invoked the 'Planton' (Planting) or mass civil resistance on the 30th of July. He suggested such an action as he addressed the 2 million plus crowd that came from all parts of the Mexican Republic to rally in his support. "No estas solo" (You are not alone) is one of the many catch-cries that reverberate around the Zocalo (City Square) and the whole historical centre from the museum of Bellas Artes to the Zocalo and the entire Paseo de la Reforma which along with the Insurgentes Avenue is one of the two major arteries in the city.

The current President Vicente Fox and his right wing National Action Party (PAN) are being accused of wholesale electoral fraud which includes the anullment of valid votes, adding votes to those of their candidate Felipe Calderon and even manipulating the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) in their task of counting the votes impartially. The fact that PAN's candidiate Calderon was the best man at IFE President Luis Carlos Ugalde's wedding and that likewise Ugalde is the godfather of Calderon's child is something that the 'perridistas' are using as proof that the whole electoral system is in the hands of those who are resisting the power change, even at the expense of Mexico's nascent democracy.

It was Fox and PAN who broke the over seventy year long monopoly of the Party of Institutional Revolution (PRI) in the presdiential campaign of 2000. Although PAN are further to the right than PRI most of the people who are now demanding a vote by vote recount were among those who celebrated Fox's victory in 2000. During his mandate Fox failed to impress most Mexicans, including supporters of his own party and today on the streets of Mexico the protestors call him a traitor to democracy.

One of Lopez Obrador's most convincing arguments for the legitimacy of the current protest is that in 1991 Fox himself called for mass civil disobedience when his victory as governor of the state of Guanajuato was nearly stolen by electoral fraud. Major roads and the city airport were taken as he demanded a recount which later guaranteed his victory.

Those who believe that Felipe Calderon legitimately won the election point at the distruption caused by the protests. The major media outlets focus on the loss of business revenue and worry about how this reflects on Mexico internationally. Some young PAN supporters I have listened to talk of bringing in the army and killing those who chose to stay in the Zocalo believing that this will bring the stability required to conduct business profitably. Including one Law student and PAN militant at 'Unitec' called Ricardo who told me wants to be the first to throw a grenade and clear the streets. Panistas claim that those who are protesting are uncultured "nacos", poor, uneducated and desperate victims of Obrador's populism who will lap up whatever they are fed and that no electoral fraud has occurred.

From the Secretariat of Foreign Relations close to Bellas Artes, right down Calle Madero and the Zocalo there is a carnival like atmosphere where artists, musicians, political activists, street vendors, and members of the public from babies to the elderly all mingle in an energetic air of peaceful revolutionary fervour. On the 13.5 kilometres stretch of streets where usually 1.5 million cars pass everyday one can see people sleeping in tents, listen to singing, samba drums, poetry recitation, revising history, lecturing on Thoreau and Gandhi's methods of Civil Disobedience, dissemination of information and condemnation of Israel attacks on Lebanon and the Occupied Territories, there are also debates on Nuclear power and video for children, there is no party line, no uniformity but genuine anarchy. Panistas who I met believe that these people must be getting paid to stay in the centre because why else would they?

The Centro is somewhere where many who live in the more comfortable suburbs refuse to go after 6pm as it is understood to be extremely dangerous. I didn't see many other foreigners in the time I spent in the Centre, I had with me my camera, my watch, my wallet and mobile in my pockets and I felt completely safe at all times. People don't pay more or less attention to me even though I am obviously not Mexican. On occasions when I have listened to Obrador he reminded people that the whole movement is one that does not believe in borders or racism, two things which adversely affect Mexico everyday. When I saw Obrador pass down through Calle Madero to the Zocalo he was not accompanied by bodyguards as thousands of his supports pressed close to see him, cheer him and shake his hand.

On various occasions I have heard the PRD leader thank the artists and musicians for helping to create the festival like atmosphere in the city and appeal to his supporters to not paint the streets or deface monuments. It is very important he says to resist provocation from their adversaries because the media is already of PAN. He repeats the reasons for the stance taken which is the demand that all the votes are counted "Voto por Voto, Casilla por Casilla" (Vote by Vote, Polling Station by Polling Station) and that democracy itself was at stake because there is enough proof to show that the election was won by himself and the PRD yet stolen by PAN. The crowd responding rapturously with "Ni un paso atras" (Not one step backwards) referring to the stolen election of 1988 when the the then PRD candidate Cuauhtemoc Cardenas (son of ex-President Lazaros Cardenas) was denied his victory by electoral fraud and Carlos Salinas was installed by the then all-powerful PRI. Salinas ended his six years by stealing hundreds of millions of Euros from the tax-payer and escaping to Ireland where he lived in Dalkey under the protection of ex-Taoiseach Albert Reynolds before moving to Switzerland. Those who are protesting chant that Mexicans have changed since 1988 and that they will simply not allow an election to be stolen again.

There is a myth called "La Maldicion de los Aztecas" (The Curse of the Aztecs) which says that every hundred years a fundamental change happens in Mexican society. 1810 was the year when Mexico won its independence from Spain, 1910 was the year of the Mexican Revolution and now some people are holding their breath for sort of change that is as equally tectonic to happen. The nature of the Planton is optimistic and peaceful but if Obrador is asassinated or the protest is attacked militarily then it is a certainty that there will be a revolution of the poor against the forces of the state. As I walk around the streets I know I am witnessing history, but the conclusion? Nobody knows.

On the 2nd of October 1968 the Mexican Army with the technical support of the CIA murdered anywhere between hundreds and thousands of protestors in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, the bodies were never seen again and there was a media black-out; therefore there is no reliable estimate of the number of fatalities. This happened just 10 days before the beginning of the Mexican Olympics and is still a matter that is known about not talked about much.

If the Mexican Army attack the protestors this time it would be very likely that there would be many more deaths. Obrador has always claimed that if there is a fair recount then the Planton will be called off. On Saturday the 5th of August it was announced that there would be a recount of 9.07% of the votes, vote by vote. This move which was designed to alleviate the situation has convinced more and more people that indeed there has been fraud as the recount is currently going on privately with provisional results even adding to Calderon's previous tally.

Independent media outlets have been slowly getting information through about bags full of ballots and IFE headed paper found in Xochiaca, Nezahualcoyotyl in the Estado de Mexico. There is growing suspicion that the the two prinicipal media outlets, Televisa and TV Azteca are following a strict government line while tension between the government and the protesting community grows. In recent days the civil resistance has taken on a national dimension with protestors taking control of motorway toll-booths and letting motorists pass for free. More recently, on the day of writing this article, riot police and students confronted eachother outside the 'Facultad de Filosofia and Letras' of the UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) when students attempted to close down Insurgentes Avenue. Students are due to return to study in UNAM (which with a enrollment of 250,000 is the largest university in the world) on Monday the 14th of August. There are many questions being asked in Mexican society right now. Where does Neo-Liberalism end? What are the implications of a Socialist Mexico? What is the future of Mexico and it's democracy? Who is involved in the polemic developments and what are their motivations? Will there be violence? Many many questions but few sure answers. One thing is agreed upon: There is very little certainty about anything right now in Mexico.

Fiachra O Luain
10 August 2006
foluain@yahoo.ie