Democracy Failing In Mexico

[Itsthetruth]

CounterPunch
Weekend Edition
April 9 / 10, 2005

Fox Government Arrests Presidential Rival
Democracy Failing in Mexico
By LAURA CARLSEN

Laura Carlsen is Director of the Americas Program for Interhemispheric Resource Center. She holds a BA in Social Thought and Institutions (1980) from Stanford University and an MA in Latin American Studies (1986) from Stanford. She received a Fulbright Scholarship to study the impact of the Mexican economic crisis on women in 1986 and has since lived in Mexico City.

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When Vicente Fox ended the 71-year reign of Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party in the 2000 presidential elections, many observers heralded it as the beginning of a long-overdue transition to democracy. Now President Fox, in a concerted effort with members of the former ruling party, has closed the door on that transition.

In his speech to followers before defending himself in Congress, López Obrador formally declared that he will seek the candidacy of his party, the Party of the Democratic Revolution "from wherever I am." With his announcement, it became official that the legal persecution of the mayor not only removes a popularly elected official from office but also serves to sideline the opposition frontrunner on a technicality.

The mayor announced the formation of a "broad movement for transformation" to promote not only his defense but also his alternative platform. That platform directly criticizes the government's economic policies and calls for more social spending and political reforms. López Obrador's platform of reducing economic inequality--with "First, the Poor" as his slogan--resonates amply in this nation of billionaires and beggars.

What is clear is that President Fox and the country's ruling parties--PAN and PRI--have plunged the country into political crisis for their own gain. The elections of 2000 offered a promise to consolidate democratic institutions after one-party rule. Some progress had been made. But if the democratic process is manipulated for political ends by those in power, then the promise of transition is betrayed.

http://www.counterpunch.org/carlsen04092005.html

[PeaceProgProsp]

1. Have Amnesty and Human Rights Watch said anything about this?