Obrador rejects Calderón presidency

Despite a tribunal's confirmation on Sept. 6 of conservative candidate Felipe Calderón's victory in Mexico's presidential election on July 2, leftist candidate Andres Manuel López Obrador has refused to accept defeat and is orchestrating political theater that borders on anarchy. While his supporters have been camped out and blocking traffic in downtown Mexico City for weeks, legislative supporters of Obrador prevented outgoing president Vincente Fox, who had campaigned actively for Calderón despite constitutional rules prohibiting such action, from delivering what was to have been his final State of the Union speech on Aug. 25. Meanwhile, Obrador has suggested he will form a parallel government, and has urged his supporters to attend street demonstrations scheduled over the next weeks concurrent with government events. In an attempt to heal wounds opened by the bitter election fight, Calderón this week said he would give priority to Mexico's millions of poor after he takes office on Dec. 1. Calderón, a 44-year-old former energy commissioner from the conservative National Action Party, promised throughout his campaign to entice foreign investment through public works and a flat tax. If the scene during Fox's State of the Union speech last month was any indication, the transition will not be a smooth one. More than 150 shouting leftist legislators stormed the podium at a joint session of Congress to prevent Fox from delivering his final State of the Nation speech. Fox, who was adorned in Mexico's green, red and white presidential sash, stood awkwardly in the chamber's foyer for nearly 10 minutes before conceding that he had no chance of entering. Surrounded by bodyguards, Fox was handed a microphone. He quickly said that he would leave and gave a copy of his speech to a legislative official. The bizarre scene played out live on national television. After giving up any hope of delivering his speech, Fox turned and left the building with his wife Martha Sahagun, who had donned an evening gown for the occasion. Fox smiled and nodded, while Sahagun chatted with the crowd that formed around them outside the building, which had been ringed by riot fencing and was guarded by 8,000 police officers. Then they disappeared into a waiting sport-utility vehicle. Although such speeches in the chamber have been disrupted in the past by opposition protests, including by Fox before he took power, it is the first time legislators have forced a Mexican president to forgo delivering a State of the Union address to Congress. "Given the actions of a group of legislators who make it impossible for me to deliver the message I have prepared for this occasion, I am leaving the chambers," Fox said via a remote microphone moments after handing over his prepared text. The political theater inside Mexico's legislature was the first act of what could be a tumultuous month of protests led by Obrador's supporters. More than any event in the past two months, the congressional takeover seemed to signal that Obrador could create an effective opposition that would make life miserable for Calderón, who won the election by less than a percentage point. Obrador, the former Mexico City mayor who portrays himself as a friend to the poor, shows no sign of giving up his campaign and claims fraud and dirty tricks robbed him of the presidency. He has said he will never recognize a victory by Calderón and will declare himself the alternative president. He has called supporters to a mass meeting in Mexico City's central plaza to plot strategy on Sept. 16 –the same day and place that Mexico's army stages an annual Independence Day parade. Obrador also plans to hold a "democratic convention" that day in which he will declare his parallel government. Reiterating his claim that the nation is run by a small elite, Obrador said he plans to summon convention delegates from across the country who would decide on calling an assembly to draft a new constitution. Mexico's current constitution dates to 1917 and was the result of the country's bloody revolution that broke out in 1910. Obrador has vowed to create a parallel leftist government and is urging Mexicans not to recognize Calderón's victory. While his party lacks the seats in Congress to block legislation, Obrador can mobilize millions to pressure his conservative rival to adopt the left's agenda–or to clamp down and risk a backlash. Both scenarios are possibilities as Obrador lays out plans to create his own government to rule from the streets, with the support of thousands who are already occupying protest camps throughout downtown Mexico City. Some predict his parallel initiative–which Obrador's supporters call the "legitimate government"–could turn those protest camps into the core of a violent revolt, especially if the government tries to shut it down. Such violence broke out in the southern city of Oaxaca after Gov. Ulises Ruiz sent police to evict striking teachers. Outraged citizens' groups joined the protests, setting fire to buildings and public buses, seizing radio and TV stations and forcing the closure of businesses in a city known throughout the world as a quaint tourist destination. "Everything we do, from property taxes to permits to natural resources, will go through the 'legitimate government,'" said Severina Martinez, a school teacher from Oaxaca camped out in a tent in Mexico City's main plaza. "We won't have anything to do with the official government." Some supporters took out a newspaper ad last week, calling on Obrador to set up his own treasury department and said all Mexicans "should channel federal revenues to the new treasury department." Obrador is encouraging his followers to disobey Calderón. "We do not recognize Felipe Calderón as president, nor any officials he appoints, nor any acts carried out by his de-facto government," Obrador said after the court ruling this week, which he claims overlooked evidence of fraud in the elections. "We don't want cosmetic changes," Obrador told thousands gathered in the plaza, where he has been sleeping in a tent for five weeks to protest the election results. Obrador exhorted his followers to "sustain the resistance" while keeping it peaceful. "We have a historic responsibility to rescue the republic," Obrador said. "We don't want the republic to be dominated by private interests."