[Marxism] Fox unable to give "State of Union" as Lopex Obrador calls for alternative govt

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

www.nytimes.com
 
Protest Keeps Fox From Giving State of the Union Speech 
 
<http://graphics10.nytimes.com/images/2006/09/02/world/02mexico600.jpg> 
Marcos Delgado/European Pressphoto Agency

Lawmakers from the Democratic Revolution Party took over the podium in
the chamber of deputies before President Vicente Fox was to speak. 

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
Published: September 2, 2006

MEXICO CITY, Sept. 1 ? Leftist lawmakers who have charged that fraud
marred the presidential election in July staged a protest inside
Congress that prevented President Vicente Fox from making his final
state of the union speech to lawmakers on Friday, ending a tense day of
political brinksmanship here.

Federal riot police officers and soldiers with water cannons had sealed
off the Mexican Congress with miles of steel fence to protect Mr. Fox
from thousands of leftist protesters camped out in the city?s center. 

The president had vowed he would give his last state of the union
message, despite threats from the leftist candidate,
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/andres_man
uel_lopez_obrador/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Andrés Manuel López
Obrador, and his followers to stop him. 

At the last minute, however, Mr. López Obrador backed down. In front of
at least 5,000 supporters in the capital?s central square, Mr. López
Obrador, the former mayor of this sprawling city, told his followers it
would be a mistake to confront the barricades and the police surrounding
Congress. He said the ?fascist? government of Mr. Fox would seize on any
clashes between the police and the protesters to justify the brutal
repression of his movement.

?We are not going to fall into any trap, we are not going to fall into
any provocation,? he told the crowd, which had waited through a
rainstorm to hear him speak. ?Only those who are not in the right resort
to force and violence, and we are in the right.? 

Still, lawmakers from Mr. López Obrador?s Democratic Revolution Party
protested inside the Chamber of Deputies, taking over the podium just
before President Fox was to speak at 7 p.m. Several waved Mexican flags
and signs calling Mr. Fox ?a traitor to democracy.? The president of the
chamber, Deputy Jorge Zermiño, was forced to call a recess.

Mr. Fox arrived 15 minutes later. As he entered the chamber, wearing the
traditional red, white and green presidential sash, leaders of his party
said it would be impossible for him to speak. He dropped off his yearly
report, turned on his heel and left. 

At 9 p.m., the government broadcast a recorded version of the
president?s speech, complete with pictures of happy citizens to
illustrate the gains his government has made in housing, education and
health care. 

Mr. Fox staunchly defended the balance of powers and the government
institutions Mr. López Obrador claims are corrupt, notably the Federal
Election Institute and the electoral tribunal. He also stressed that the
rule of law was the basis of democracy and he took a veiled shot at Mr.
López Obrador, saying ?no one should try to corral democracy through
intransigence and violence.? 

?Whoever attacks our laws and institutions, attacks our history, attacks
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritorie
s/mexico/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> Mexico,? he said. 

Mr. López Obrador claims he won the election, even though an official
count, vetted by the country?s highest electoral tribunal, showed that
the candidate from Mr. Fox?s National Action Party,
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/felipe_cal
deron/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Felipe Calderón, eked out a razor-thin
victory.

Rather than concede, Mr. López Obrador has promised to convene his own
national assembly and set up a parallel government this month. He has
said that he will never recognize Mr. Calderón?s victory and has
declared that Mr. Fox violated Mexican election law by campaigning for
Mr. Calderón, as did various business leaders who spent millions on
attack ads against Mr. López Obrador in the last days of the campaign. 

He also claimed that his opponents stuffed ballot boxes with votes for
Mr. Calderón and disposed of votes for him in some states, a charge Mr.
Calderón?s aides called absurd.

On Friday, at least 6,000 police officers in riot gear ringed the
congressional building with steel barricades and blocked nearby subway
stations to discourage demonstrations. Before the lawmakers? protest,
the only demonstration occurred just before 6 p.m., when a small group
from the Francisco Villa Popular Front, a militant group allied with Mr.
López Obrador, painted antigovernment slogans on the fence and threw
rocks at the wall and at the police, who ignored them.

For more than a month, thousands of Mr. López Obrador?s supporters have
blocked the major avenue running through the city, Paseo de la Reforma,
and camped out in the main square, Plaza de la Constitution. 

Newly elected lawmakers from Mr. López Obrador?s party arrived en masse
at the legislative building about 1 p.m., broke through one of the
barricades, marched into the chamber and denounced the presence of the
president?s federal police.

?This is unforgivable,? announced Senator Carlos Navarette. ?The
chambers should not be invaded by the federal police. This is the house
of the deputies, not of the president.?

Mr. Navarette later led the protest among the lawmakers, denouncing the
ring of police officers outside as an infringement on Mexicans? right to
protest as his partisans rushed the dais and occupied it.

Earlier this week, an electoral tribunal charged with ratifying the
election and resolving challenges threw out most of Mr. López Obrador?s
arguments that there was widespread fraud. The court still must rule on
his request to annul the election on grounds that the president and
private businesses interfered too much in the campaign.

Aides to Mr. López Obrador said he had acknowledged privately that the
court would probably name Mr. Calderón president-elect next week. 

What form Mr. López Obrador?s protest movement will now take remains
unclear, but it is certain to keep him in the public eye for the next
six years and make it hard for Mr. Calderón to govern.

?He?s saying to the government, ?Everything that I am going to do is
going to give you trouble,? ? a close adviser said, speaking on the
condition of anonymity.

Antonio Betancourt and Marc Lacey contributed reporting for this
article.

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