Tape revives Mexican conspiracy theory

[gorbal]

MEXICO CITY — Claims by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador that a powerful cabal of politicians and the mega-wealthy have conspired to rob him of this summer's presidential election have long been dismissed by his critics as paranoia.

But the interrogation of a real estate developer, taped two years ago in Cuba and broadcast here Friday on a radio program, might well confirm the notion that just because a man could be paranoid doesn't mean people aren't out to get him.

On the tape, jailed businessman Carlos Ahumada alleges that several Mexican Cabinet ministers, a powerful senator from President Vicente Fox's party and former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari engineered the February 2004 release of other videotapes showing the developer bribing senior aides to Lopez Obrador.

"It's the fight for 2006, that's what they won," Carlos Ahumada, a native of Argentina who had been active in Mexico City construction, says on the tape. "I mean, they practically pulled Andres Manuel out of the presidential race."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4127685.html

[gorbal]

1. Sorry, that was the only English article I could find

It is front page news in the Mexican press-

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.jornada.unam.mx/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dlajornada%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.dailyearth.com/IntnNews/mexico.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddaily%2Bearth%2Bmexico%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DGhttp://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.dailyearth.com/IntnNews/mexico.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddaily%2Bearth%2Bmexico%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DGhttp://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.dailyearth.com/IntnNews/mexico.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddaily%2Bearth%2Bmexico%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DGhttp://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.dailyearth.com/IntnNews/mexico.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddaily%2Bearth%2Bmexico%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

You really need to check out the Mexican press for your information.

You can get translated versions of other newspapers here.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.dailyearth.com/IntnNews/mexico.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddaily%2Bearth%2Bmexico%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DGhttp://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.dailyearth.com/IntnNews/mexico.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddaily%2Bearth%2Bmexico%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DGhttp://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.dailyearth.com/IntnNews/mexico.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddaily%2Bearth%2Bmexico%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DGhttp://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.dailyearth.com/IntnNews/mexico.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddaily%2Bearth%2Bmexico%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

:)

[gorbal]

2. Also, there is this interesting articcle from "The Guardian"

I think it is a day or two old but still a must-read-

West promoting 'people power' when it suits

The US and the Western media back protests over controversial elections when it is convenient to their interests, but they are keeping silent about the current situation in Mexico
By Mark Almond
LONDON , THE GUARDIAN
Saturday, Aug 19, 2006,Page 9

`Apparently, crowds of protesters squatting in Mexico City for weeks protesting against alleged vote-rigging don't make a good news story.'



A couple of years ago television, radio and print media in the West just couldn't get enough of "people power." In quick succession, from Georgia's rose revolution in November 2003 and Ukraine's orange revolution a year later, to the tulip revolution in Kyrgyzstan and the cedar revolution in Lebanon, 24-hour news channels kept us up to date with democracy on a roll.

Triggered by allegations of election fraud, the dominoes toppled. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was happy with the trend.

"They're doing it in many different corners of the world, places as varied as Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan and, on the other hand, Lebanon ... And so this is a hopeful time," she said.

But when a million Mexicans try to jump on the people-power bandwagon, crying foul about the July 2 presidential elections, when protesters stage a vigil in the center of the capital that continues to this day, they meet a deafening silence in the global media.

Despite Mexico's long tradition of electoral fraud and polls suggesting that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador -- a critic of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) -- was ahead, the media accepted the wafer-thin majority gained by the ruling party nominee, Harvard graduate Felipe Calderon.

Although Mexico's election authorities rejected Lopez Obrador's demand for all 42 million ballots to be recounted, the partial recount of 9 percent indicated numerous irregularities. But no echo of indignation has wafted to the streets of Mexico City from Western capitals.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2006/08/19/2003323847

[magellan]

3. Thank you, gorbal. I hope things don't get nasty

...or nastier in Mexico, as implied in the article on this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1942435

Funny how everything is hunky-dory with BushCo as long as their preferred (rightwing) candidates win elections. When they don't, as in the Ukraine, exit polls are wrong and they talk about election rigging threatening the "democratic process". But when their guy wins, there's no questioning of the exit polls and accusations of election rigging are fobbed off as leftist conspiracy theory.

The motives are so transparently anti-democratic that only RW whackjobs can't see it.

[gorbal]

13. The danger is when we find ourselves starting to agree with them

You know, so we don't SOUND like a "conspiracy theorist" we give up a little bit of the truth in an argument; compromise our version of reality with a totally warped one. It just makes it easier for republicans to while away in their little dream worlds if we even give them an inch.

If you guys keep up with everything they say on the Daily KOS about Mexico, el cid's diary has a really good daily round up.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/8/19/115430/214
Today they are discussing this article.

"Edit, keep up to date on the Mexican Newspapers guys. And if you could provide better translations than google I would be much obliged"

[Judi Lynn]

4. Leftist protesters refuse to move encampments in Mexico City as presidenti

Leftist protesters refuse to move encampments in Mexico City as presidential dispute gets violent
By Ioan Grillo
ASSOCIATED PRESS

1:16 p.m. August 15, 2006

MEXICO CITY – Leftist activists on Tuesday defiantly refused to move sprawling protest camps to make way for Mexico's upcoming Independence Day celebrations, the day after a drawn-out presidential-election dispute erupted in violence.
The head of Mexico's federal police, meanwhile, defended his officers for hitting and injuring protesters who had tried to set up a camp at the entrance to Congress on Monday.

“I don't see that there was any act of repression here, I see operational procedure,” Public Safety Secretary Eduardo Medina Mora told a news conference. “We regret the confrontations, but if they are inevitable then that's just the way it is. It has to be done.”

About eight protesters, including at least two federal lawmakers, were injured Monday during scuffles in front of the Congress – the first violent confrontation between police and protesters in the two weeks since the demonstrators began blocking city streets and government offices to demand a full vote recount in last month's presidential election.

The clashes sparked fears that the mostly peaceful protests would turn violent and spiral out of control.
(snip/...)

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20060815-1316-mexico-elections.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks, Gorbal, for posting this information for concerned DU'ers. It's a damned crime, but entirely predictable that we have been refused coverage of this horrendously important situation in Mexico.

The more you think about it, the more you realize the news blackout in the States really goes back a long time, to the point we've been kept almost completely ignorant of Latin American, as if they didn't even exist, although huge chuncks of our taxes have been sent there to reinforce their right-wing leaders.

[gorbal]

16. Thank you

I was just reading how this Mexican actor I like took part in the Chiapas uprising, and I know so little about it.

All I can think is if the court doesn't grant a recount they are risking some serious violent outrage. I remember on the KOS roundup they were discussing leaving women and children at home. They are probably under pressure from the us on the other side.

I wonder how one makes an honest decision under such pressure.

[bemildred]

5. You have to be stupid to think there are not people out to get Obrador. nt

[bobthedrummer]

6. Why this and other significant stories are ignored is perception

management within the context of strategic influence. It entails the use of all media. This has been discussed here before-it is a fact, not a theory.

"Reality vs. perception management" from January 2006.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x71919#top

[FormerDem06]

7. Honestly? I think it's because World Media doesn't know what to believe

Re: Mexico.

EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY is corrupt down there. The guy fighting for a seat is usually only fighting because he wants the spoils of being in office. It may be different this time, but who's to be sure?

It is my opinion that Mexico has done this to themselves by never allowing a fair election regardless of who wins over the past 30-40 years.

[bobthedrummer]

8. Perhaps if you take a little time to read that thread your opinion

would change. There is massive corruption, true, not just in Mexico.

[FormerDem06]

10. I have been reading through it.......

I agree there is corruption everywhere, but Mexico has to take some of the blame in this mess. EU election observers can't see everything that's for sure, there would have to be a million of them.

But since they've come in, it's gotten better; just not kosher yet.

[gorbal]

14. They have been giving a good try for the last few years

I don't think we can say the US has been much better for at least the last ten.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

23. Does "down there" include all of the Americas south of the Rio Grande?

Or just Mexico? Curious.

[mom cat]

9. Get thee to the greatest page ... where you belong!

Keep the truth coming out!

[robinlynne]

11. I saw this on tv last night. My set received a station from mexico, by

mistake, and I watched this man in prison telling this story. I didn't understand who he was, but it was obviously huge news in Mexico. My Spanish isn't perfect, but I kept hearing Obrador's name so I tuned in.

[MrPrax]

12. I K&R'ed

but I hate that headline...

The media is really becoming attached to the 'C' word lately. The danger of course is that legitimate questions -- legal questions -- are being swept under one big tent where the ringmaster is usually some 'strawman' invented by the Media in the first place. (like the discrepency between Cheney's testimony and the NORAD tapes, for instance...smells like a lie under oath, better impeach, no?)

But this revelation confirms what I am sure fellow cynics like myself already assumed

Yes burning ballots at dumps, trumped up charges to disqualify the lead candidate, mismatched poll lists, filmed ballot box stuffing, computers going dead, out of whack exit polls, etc etc all lead to the conclusion that dirt poor Mexican farmers are involved in a massive conspiracy to overthrow a partner in the world's largest trading bloc.

Jeez, if it was that easy, why did they wait till 2006 :eyes:

[gorbal]

15. This is off topic but...

That kitten is adorable:)

[NJCher]

17. uh...not to detract from the seriousness of this thread

But are there any more pics of that kitty online?




Cher

[Acadia Blue]

18. Of course the conservative pigs stole it, just like they did here twice.

[gorbal]

21. The conservative pigs stole the kitty? Oh NO!!!

There is some new info up on this thread here-

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2465800&mesg_id=2465800

started by the lovely Judi Lynn:)

[krispos42]

19. Oh, shit... Mexican civil war?

The Mexicans, in contrast to our response to the stolen 2004 election, are extremely upset and taking to the streets.

Is it possible that civil war will break out in Mexico? And if so, what do we do about it?

Dear God, the Minutemen may go from sunburnt border-watchers to an actual, real, militia!

[gorbal]

24. It's getting scary

Unrest worsens, stations seized



Wire services
El Universal
August 22, 2006
OAXACA - The picturesque colonial city of Oaxaca sank further into chaos on Monday as protesters armed with machetes, pipes and clubs seized 12 private radio stations, cut off highways, and blockaded bus terminals and newspaper offices.

The smell of uncollected garbage and tires burning at barricades hung over the city, a popular tourist destination, and some businesses ran short of water after demonstrators refused to allow water trucks into central Oaxaca.

About 3,000 activists and striking teachers wielding machetes and clubs marched through the city, demanding punishment for an early morning assault in which unidentified gunmen shot up a state-owned radio station that has been occupied since Aug. 1.

Protesters said a male teacher was wounded and taken to a hospital, but the extent of his injuries was not immediately known.

http://www.mexiconews.com.mx/19984.html

Edit-Lajornada article

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.jornada.unam.mx/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dlajornada%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

[Judi Lynn]

20. Mexico City Residents Review Election

Angus Reid Global Scan : Polls & Research
Mexico City Residents Review Election
August 17, 2006

- Many adults in Mexico City believe last month’s presidential ballot was not fair, according to a poll by El Universal. 59 per cent of respondents think the election was fraudulent.

Mexican voters chose their new president on Jul. 2. On Jul. 6, official results placed Felipe Calderón of the governing National Action Party (PAN) as the winner with 35.88 per cent of all cast ballots, followed by Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) with 35.31 per cent.

Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) president Luis Carlos Ugalde announced the official tallies, adding, "The golden rule of democracy establishes that the winner is the candidate with the larger number of votes." European Union (EU) election monitors did not report any irregularities in the vote count.

On Jul. 10, López Obrador filed a legal challenge to the election result, alleging widespread fraud and calling for a hand recount of every ballot. 63 per cent of respondents support this idea.
(snip/...)

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/12829

[gorbal]

22. Check out el-cids diary today

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/8/20/9596/23476

It is interesting that the leftest candidates are being arrested right off while those implicated in this tape are not.