Mexican Congress vote blocks presidential hopeful

[Freddie Stubbs]

Associated Press

MEXICO CITY — Congress stripped Mexico City's leftist mayor of his immunity from prosecution Thursday, clearing the way for his arrest in a vote that could also block him from running in the 2006 presidential race, which he leads in the polls.

The House vote against Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador — which came on the same day he declared his presidential candidacy — could force him to stand trial on charges of ignoring a court order to stop construction of a road on contested private land.

If a judge approves federal prosecutors' request for Lopez Obrador's arrest, the mayor will be removed from office to stand trial. People facing criminal charges are barred from running for office under most interpretations of Mexican law. But if the court dismisses the case, Lopez Obrador would remain mayor and run for president.

Earlier in the day, the populist mayor told a rally of over 100,000 supporters in the capital's central plaza that he would turn himself in, go to jail, refuse to accept bail and later act as his own attorney in court.

more: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1112926878277_32/?hub=World

[burrowowl]

1. Not good!

PAN and PRI are really worried.

[John Q. Citizen]

3. This is only going to backfire on both the PAN and the PRI

What will their excuse be? We had to remove the front runner because the US told us to?

I'm sure that will go over big...

[Teaser]

2. Mexico will explode over this.

Watch. Another Bushite scheme down the tubes.

[Freddie Stubbs]

19. How do you know that Bush is involved?

:shrug:

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Well well, well

I smell fireworks, and the Department of State has NO CLUE what they are playing with

[Freddie Stubbs]

16. What has the Department of State done in regards to this?

:shrug:

[fertilizeonarbusto]

5. Well,

Mexico hasn't had a revolution in 80 years...I guess they are due. I can't believe how Chimpy and company fuck up everything they touch.

[Freddie Stubbs]

6. What exactly did Bush do regarding Mexico?

:shrug:

[Moderator]

7. kick

[Robbien]

Mexico City Mayor Stripped of Immunity (Obrador)

MEXICO CITY -- Lawmakers stripped Mexico City's mayor of immunity from prosecution, clearing the way for criminal charges that his supporters say have been trumped up to keep the popular and left-leaning politician out of the presidential race.

In a defiant speech before a crowd of more than 100,000 cheering supporters, Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Thursday he would go to jail if necessary, pledged to continue his bid for the presidency and said he was being persecuted for his efforts on behalf of the poor.

"I am proud to be accused, like those who struggled for justice in the past," Lopez Obrador told lawmakers in the Mexican Congress hours before they approved the impeachment-like bill on a 360-to-127, party-line vote.

Echoing Cuban President Fidel Castro's "History will absolve me" speech, he defiantly told legislators, "today, you are judging me, but don't forget that later history will judge both of us." He stalked out of the Congress building immediately after finishing his speech.

http://www.keralanext.com/news/indexread.asp?id=175119

[ixion]

8. okay, well, saw that coming... it's going to get very interesting down

there. :popcorn:

[Renew Deal]

9. Yep

Should be interesting.

[DemBeans]

10. for sure

James Wolcott has an interesting quote on this in his blog today:

http://jameswolcott.com

[Robbien]

11. Yes, this part especially

"There is little question in this correspondent’s analysis that the pressure on Fox and the PRI to cement their little coup d’etat today comes from above, from the Bush administration in Washington, which has decided it cannot abide another democratic decision by another large Latin American country that would place Mexico with Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela (among others such as Uruguay) in a Bolivarian bloc of resistance to the imposed policies from the North.

"Today, April 7, 2005, is the date that Vicente Fox – if he gets his way in Congress - destroys his own historic legacy as a transitional pro-democracy figure and goes down in history the same kind of authoritarian cretin as presidents Carlos Salinas and Ernesto Zedillo before him.

"But while the government of Washington appears hell-bent on ripping democracy from Mexican hands once again, the reaction from Civil Society in the United States is, for the second time in the five-year history of this newspaper (the first being the rejection of the US-backed coup d’etat in Venezuela in 2002), emerging in opposition to the dirty tricks from inside the beltway."

[Freddie Stubbs]

17. Yet he provides absoltuely no evidence of US involvement

What evidence is there that this is the result of "dirty tricks from inside the beltway?"

[reality based]

12. This is going to be a great story

Too bad you can't read or see much about it in our media. This could eventually have enormous impact on the US. By the way his last name is not Obrador but López Obrador, following the Spanish custom of combining paternal and maternal last names (paternal first). His full name, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, is often shortened to "AMLO" in the Mexican media and on demonstrators' signs.

[entanglement]

15. To get more responses to this thread

retain only the first 4 words of
"Mexico City Mayor Stripped of Immunity (Obrador)"

:evilgrin: :evilgrin:

[emad]

13. Mexico mayor stripped of immunity

BBC
Mexico's Congress has voted to strip Mexico City's mayor of his immunity from prosecution, possibly forcing him out of next year's presidential poll.

The left-wing mayor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has been accused by prosecutors of contempt of court during a land dispute.

Mr Lopez Obrador - favourite for the presidency - says it is a plot to stop him running in the election.

It is up to a judge to decide whether the mayor should face criminal charges.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4422935.stm

[Cocoa]

14. Obrador has some support

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/krwashbureau/_bc_mexico_mayor_wa

Tens of thousands of followers of Mexico City's left wing Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador fill the capital's Zocalo, or main square, during a rally to protest against his impeachment, April 7, 2005. Lopez Obrador will today face a motion to impeach him in Congress which could derail his Presidential ambitions. REUTERS/STR

[UrbScotty]

18. I'm sure Rove is taking note

:scared: