Mexico votes in presidential election marred by violence

[sandensea]

Source: BBC News

Mexicans are choosing a new president, after a campaign marred by some of the worst political violence for decades.

More than 130 candidates and political workers have been killed since campaigning began in September.

The presidential frontrunner is Andrés Manuel López Obrador, 64, the left-wing former mayor of Mexico City who has pledged to crack down on corruption.

The coalition led by his party, Morena, could oust the two parties that have governed Mexico for nearly a century.

Millions of ordinary Mexicans are angry at President Enrique Peña Nieto and his administration, particularly over the sluggish economy and widespread corruption, crime and impunity.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-44671462

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A woman casts her ballot at a polling station in Oaxaca state

[Judi Lynn]

1. The intense, serious expressions on the people's faces at the voting center speak volumes.

You can see their votes are deeply important to them, the election means so much, as it did when AMLO "lost" to Felipe Calderon, in 2006, against the expectations of nearly everyone, AMLO's clear lead disappearing suddenly overnight as the people slept, and some there and here remained awake to watch the results carefully, and the entire country was conflicted in the morning. Crowds poured into Mexico City to refute the honesty of the results, occupying the Zócalo, coming from all parts of the country, leaving farms, jobs behind to add their presence to demand a recount, staying in tents erected in the middle of town, as traffic was brought to a standstill for weeks.

The photo of the voters in Oaxaca is beautiful, and eloquent. You can't help but notice the extreme attentiveness on the face of the small child on the voter's arm as she places her ballot in the box. The intensity and seriousness of everyone in the photo tells anyone there is something profoundly important going on as people, still hopeful, do everything within their power to speak to the powers that be through their votes, again. Their faces alone absolutely inform anyone looking that life in their country is dead serious, and total change is desperately needed, and HAS been needed so long.

The images alone, to anyone who has any grasp of Mexican events, could move one to tears.

May the truth be honored this time around.

Thank you, so much, sandensea.


Click for image: https://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/07/17/mexicosupporters_wideweb__470x282,0.jpg







Click for image: https://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/07/31/mexico_wideweb__470x369,0.jpg

Images of the protest of the reported win of Felipe Calderón over Andrés Manuel López Obrador in 2006.
This was and is considered to be the largest protest in Mexico's history.

[sandensea]

3. Well said, Judi. It means a lot to them, and it shows.

Their exhaustion with Mexico's seemingly intractable problems shows too.

Here's hoping López Obrador can make a real difference for them. Assuming it's not stolen out from under him again, he appears to have won!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/07/01/mexico-votes-president/749379002/

[Judi Lynn]

7. Wonderful! Loved the photos of the people voting there, as well.

They also had a very serious, dignified manner, no loud, pushy, arrogant buttheads among them. Makes me envious of the public respect for each other at important occassions.

Have you noticed whenever US-based news oranizations cover Latin American events they ALWAYS quote from people who aren't really favorable to leftists? I have. Was amazed about it years ago until I realized it's standard operating procedure for US readers to absorb.

They brought good news, anyway, in spite of themselves, sandensea. Thank you, very much.

Hoping AMLO will be protected adequately. He is hated by the greedy power mad right-wing there, and here. They will be stalking him from now on. He has true courage.

[sandensea]

8. I've noticed that about U.S. (and some European) Latin America correspondents as well.

They're already trying to paint López Obrador as a kind of "Mexican Trump" - never mind the fact that he stands against just about everything Cheeto, and the GOP, represents.

And where did they get such an idea? Why, from Mexican right-wingers, of course.

The old spaghetti-on-the-wall tactic that served Macri (and Trump) so well: Just throw it out there, 'cause some of it might stick.

While many of Mexico's problems may be too intractable to resolve in the near future anytime, here's hoping he can at least ameliorate some of his country's burdens, like Lula, Kirchner, and Evo Morales did for theirs.

Have a great evening, Judi!

[Judi Lynn]

9. Yes, that latest slur, appearing very late in the campaign, when his victory seemed inevitable,

was a real brain surge, wasn't it, for the right-wing, knowing sane people can't stand Trump, to try to make AMLO seem loathsome by claiming he's like the Trump of Mexico.

[DonCoquixote]

2. by the time it is said and done

It may be the the exemplat of democracy will not be Canada or the US, but Mexico. This is your moment Mexico, make it count.

[oasis]

4. Viva Mexico!🇲🇽 Democracy is a good thing. Spread it. nt

[RussBLib]

5. How is it that I have heard Obrador called...

...the Mexican Trump and the Mexican Bernie Sanders. I don't think it could be both. Either a sign of the confused or the obfuscating.

[moondust]

6. At least 145 politicians and candidates killed.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-election-asylum/amid-surging-violence-some-mexicans-choose-asylum-over-voting-idUSKBN1JR226



I wonder how many were running "law and order" campaigns promising to crack down on gangs and corruption.

And how many of the guns used were made in USA?

[Judi Lynn]

10. You nailed it. Information from the L.A. Times:

American guns are killing our neighbors in Canada and Mexico
By CHELSEA PARSONS
FEB 06, 2018 | 4:15 AM

From his first official day as candidate for president ("When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. . . They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists" ), to his first speech as president ("This American carnage stops right here and stops right now" ) to last week's State of the Union address ("For decades, open borders have allowed drugs and gangs to pour into our most vulnerable communities" ), Donald Trump has been clear that a core tenet of his policy agenda is closing the borders to keep violent criminals from coming into the country.

There are many flaws in this approach. Missing from President Trump's America First program, for instance, is a recognition that the exportation of violence actually goes in the other direction. The United States is culpable in lethal violence abroad because of our refusal to strengthen our own gun laws.

An astounding number of American guns are smuggled across the borders each year, where they are used to commit violent crimes. A new report from the Center for American Progress analyzing data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) found that, from 2014 to 2016, more than 50,000 guns originally purchased in the U.S. were recovered in criminal investigations in 15 North American, Central American and Caribbean nations.

This tsunami of guns leaving the U.S. comes as no surprise when one considers two facts about firearms in this country: There are an astronomical number of them, and our laws are full of holes that enable trafficking.

. . .

The effect of these weapons on our neighbors is disturbing. Mexico experienced a 20-year high in murders in 2017, and 66% of these were committed with a gun. In 1997, by contrast, only 15% of Mexico's murders involved a gun. Canada is experiencing more gun use in street crime, specifically semi-automatic rifles and handguns — a new phenomenon in that country. Our role in fueling these trends is obvious and alarming: 70% of the crime guns recovered and traced in Mexico, and 98% of crime guns in Canada originate in the U.S.

More:
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-parsons-us-guns-abroad-20180206-story.html