If you're in the dark about the Mexican Election Crisis, please read!

[Poll_Blind]

  I know this sounds peculiar, especially since anyone who's familiar with my posts knows I gravitate heavily to debates and discussion on the Middle East. However, I believe that unless things go very very badly in the Middle East (read nuclear or hugely conventional), they will not have the sort of direct impact on our lives that a huge showdown between supporters of Calderon (Conservative) and Obrador (Liberal) will in the very near future. Hell, I think Mexico could be in for some serious upheaval or worse looong before Condi ever gets around to sending invitations to Peace talks in the Middle East.

  In a nutshell: Felipe Calderon (think boiling cauldron of evil for the mnemonic) tried to steal/stole the Mexican presidential election from López Obrador (matador to the fascist bull). Obrador did not take this sitting down and produced materials which, to varying degrees, seemed to support his accusations that Calderon stole the vote. He went further in the last few days and instructed his supporters to set up tents in Mexico City, specifically the "Plaza de la Constitución" (and blocks and blocks around it), the zocalo or town square which symbolically places it at the center of all of Mexico, to protest for a recount which the Federal Electoral Tribunal will rule on before August 31st. About 200,000 new protesters are continuing to enter the area, each day. Vincinte Fox, the current (Conservative) president, is siding with Calderon, of course, and this could set up a dangerous police/military situation if things get out of hand.

  When the Chinese cracked down on the historic Tienanmen Square protests of 1989, somewhere around 3,000+ protesters died out of roughly 100,000. There are now already TWO MILLION protesters in and around the "Plaza de la Constitución"

  It remains to be seen what role the United States might play in this militarily but it certainly could "lend a claw" if things start looking dicey for Fox or Calderon. Presidents in Mexico are sworn in on December 1st, which means this could take months before reaching a head- but its likely to be much sooner, especially because the "Plaza de la Constitución" is the center of Mexico City and is also where the festivities for the September 15th Mexican Independence Day culminate.

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GoogleNews is your friend for learning more/recent news. So is NarcoNews.

PB

A chronology of key events in Mexico, (1910-2006) from the BBC.

[RadiDem]

1. Thanks! Viva Obrador!

[Lifelong Protester]

15. I recommend this thread

we need to pay attention to what is going on here in our hemisphere as you are correct, what happens in our neighborhood has much more of a likelihood of affecting us.

And that picture of the millions in the zocalo, fantastico!! Viva la democracia!

[DianaForRussFeingold]

2. Great informative post! Recommended for greatest page!

Thank You,You put it all together in an easy to understand article. Crowds gather in support of Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to
demand a vote-by-vote recount of the country's election :kick:

[tkmorris]

3. Kicked and Recommended

This story is vastly important, but is getting overshadowed by other events. This needs attention.

:kick:

[Popol Vuh]

4. Thanks for posting Poll_Blind

I think your concern is well placed. Believe me, the Mexican people, as well as, much of Latin America, are sick and tired of this long history of exploitation and subjugation caused by multinational corporations -- especially by the U.S.

Mexican people are also getting sick of their history and culture being looked down upon. Outside of a huge economic and political uprising beginning to occur, I've also noticed a huge new interest in Mexican cultural history. The concept of Atzlan seems to be growing.

The Zapatistas movement seems to be getting more and more popular. Link

Watch this video (even though its in Spanish). When I see it, I see the "regular" people sick and tired of this present system. Link

That same attitude is expressed by this rock video

[Jeffersons Ghost]

5. yeah, NORTH AMERICA, including US citizens are sick of it too...

(ie)the "exploitation and subjugation caused by multinational corporations."

[Poll_Blind]

6. Kick! n/t

PB

[sgxnk]

7. jeez

talk about a one sided presentation

here's some other facts

60% of mexicans do NOT support obrador's recount efforts

and another poll showed a clear majority would vote for calderon

[Popol Vuh]

8. Links?

You have links showing from what areas those poll numbers were gotten from?

[sgxnk]

9. i already posted these

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060716/us_nm/mexico_election_dc_3

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/12574

the newspaper Reforma

[Popol Vuh]

10. From your second link

Sorry for the delay, but my freaking cable service is having problems today. Pissing me off too.

Source: Reforma
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 605 Mexican adults, conducted on Jul. 13, 2006. Margin of error is 4 per cent.

Thanks for the links I appreciate it. No offense, but LOL are you familiar with how corporate/corrupt Mexico is?

"Telephone interviews with 605 Mexican adults"? I don't need to point out that Mexico isn't like the United States where just about every house hold has a telephone. That alone is a method not reflective equally across Mexico's demographics.

Also, who owns Reforma? Are they like FAUX News? You already should know how Mexico is.
You think our corporate/political corruption and the media in bed with them is bad, then you haven't seen Mexico. What I see is one newspaper that is probably corporate sided vs. Millions of people gathering for justice against election fraud that there's plenty of evidence of.



Again, thanks for the links. But I am still going to go with what my relatives in Mexico tell me.

[sgxnk]

11. fair enough

i just got back from mexico myself

spoke to some people there

what i found was that the obrador people were VERY pro-obrador, and the same for the opponent

you are probably right that the poll waqs not very scientific. good point

[Poll_Blind]

12. 'nother kick. n/t

PB

[tblue37]

13. I think it is telling when one side wants ALL votes counted,

and the other side desperately resists the call to guarantee that the election was transparent by counting all votes by hand.


It's what we see in the US, too.

[Benhurst]

14. Late in adding my recommendation, but what the heck: #22.

Thanks.

[Poll_Blind]

16. Much-appreciated! Doesn't matter when... n/t

PB

[unkachuck]

17. thanks....n/t

[fishwax]

18. I witnessed a rally in Morelia, Mexico last week

Nowhere near as large in scale, of course, but interesting just the same. It was a series of tables and displays set up outside a church in downtown Morelia. Again, there weren't nearly as many people there--being generous I might guess 100 or so when I was there, though it was still fairly early (well before noon) and there were more people there when I walked by later. When I get a chance I plan to post a couple of pictures.

But even though there weren't thousands of people there, I noticed that the anti-voter fraud flyers that were distributed at the rally could be found just about everywhere in town--in taxi cab windows, on the walls of a church, on the counters at local businesses--I saw plenty of them.

My visit to Mexico was limited to the state of Michoacan. I don't know what the breakdown of voters was in that state, but the incidence of billboards, painted walls, and graffiti favored Obrador by a count of about 10-1.

[DemGa]

19. Is there a relative blackout of this story in U.S media?

I watch CBS and NBC news most nights but have seen no mention of this story.

[skids]

21. Yep.

There are more media blackouts these days than there are media stories.

[zonkers]

20. I read that September 6th was the date that the tribunal has to certify

results by. And if there is going to be a recount the Tribunal has to make a decision soon, so the logistic of the recount could be developed and implemented. And if the court cannot certify the next president by September 6th, the elections are annulled and an interim President must be appointed by the newly elected Congress.)

This info paraphrased from.....http://mexicotoday.blogspot.com/