Mexican protest sets a record
MEXICO CITY – A record 1.2 million people poured into this city’s central square on Sunday in another show of force by backers of leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his demand for a recount in the July 2 election that gave a narrow victory to conservative Felipe Calderon.
The turnout was less than the 2 million Lopez Obrador had promised two weeks ago, when he brought 1.1 million followers to the Zocalo, Mexico City’s historic central square.
But police said it was the largest demonstration in Mexico’s history, and analysts said it was enough to lend momentum to Lopez Obrador’s case, which is being considered by Mexico’s federal election tribunal, which must declare a winner by Sept. 6.
“The electoral tribunal has to rule independently, but the tribunal members have to be aware of public opinion,” said John Ackerman, a law professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Lopez Obrador said he will not hold another mass march but instead will organize 47 “permanent assemblies” of supporters who will hold around-the-clock vigils throughout the city until the tribunal rules.
“We will be here until we have a recount of the votes that gives us a legitimate president,” Lopez Obrador told the cheering crowd.
The crowd estimates were made by the city’s public safety department, which reported no violence.
Sunday’s march came as lawyers for Calderon’s National Action Party, or PAN, met with the tribunal’s seven members to discuss the case. On Saturday, Lopez Obrador’s representatives met with the justices.
Lopez Obrador is seeking a vote-by-vote recount of the 41 million ballots cast. Calderon won by less than 1 percent.
“Not only is the presidency at stake, but so are the rights of the people,” Lopez Obrador said at the rally. “It’s not a lot to ask for a new count of the votes. That would calm the country and assure stability.”
The massive rally and the private judicial proceedings – no one from the public was allowed to monitor the justices’ meetings with the two camps – capped a week of increasing friction in the postelection dispute. Both sides have declared victory.
The candidates amped up the rhetoric Wednesday – Lopez Obrador declared himself “president of Mexico” while Calderon’s camp said Lopez Obrador is bordering on “messianic.”
The spectacle on Sunday proved every bit as colorful and noisy as two previous marches by Lopez Obrador’s supporters.
Marchers whacked empty water jugs with sticks, a man atop a truck wore an oversized paper Lopez Obrador head and a giant television showed live protest shots set to throbbing electronic music.
Selling coffee mugs bearing Lopez Obrador’s portrait, street vendor Maria del Carmen Silvestre, 32, said he remains the best hope for the nation’s poor.
“Calderon won’t do anything for us,” she said. “With Lopez Obrador, we will get work and we will survive.”
Lopez Obrador arrived at the packed square in a motorcade that had passed down the city’s main thoroughfare, the Paseo de la Reforma, where a statue of Cuauhtemoc, the last Aztec emperor, was draped with a huge banner that said “At your orders, Mr. President.”
People carried signs bearing the likeness of Mexico’s first indigenous president, Benito Juarez. One young woman dressed in white hung from a wooden crucifix. Her yellow sash said “Democracy.”
Despite the massive turnout, a poll published Sunday showed concerns about Lopez Obrador’s movement.
The poll, sponsored by the Reforma newspaper, showed that 58 percent of Mexicans don’t believe Lopez Obrador when he says he’ll respect the decision of the electoral court. Fifty-seven percent said they believe his protest campaign could spark violence.
Also, 59 percent said they believe he has acted “irresponsibly” since the July 2 elections, compared with 28 percent who said the same of Calderon.