A bit on Mexican Politics

First, I'd like to qualify this political entry by saying that I am in no means an expert in politics. And actually, I don't even read the news that often. I find it depressing. But anyhow, here I go.

If you are familiar with Mexican history, you'll agree that it's very violent. Mexican Independence from the Spanish was back in 1810. And then the Mexican Revolution, which lasted 10 years, was waged 100 years later in 1910. In between Independence and the very long Revolution, were more wars than I care to attempt to list and explain here, but just to name a few: the Mexican-American War (known here as "La Intervención Estadunidense") in which Mexico "ceded" California and New Mexico to the US, and the Mexican-French War also called the "Guerra de los pasteles" which was started by some angry Frenchmen because a few officials under President Santa Anna hadn´t paid for their cake! And then there was "La Guerra de la Reforma," yep even a war over reforming the government.

Since the Mexican Revolution, the country has been peaceful, for the most part. But as of late things seem to be heating up around here. The Zapatistas, in Chiapas, are still unsatisfied with the government's meager attempts to meet their demands. That conflict started back in 1994. Also, at the beginning of the year, there was a mining explosion that trapped and killed 65 miners in the north of Mexico, and as of now the miners are still on strike. Also there are ongoing protests in Texcoco, to the south of Mexico City, where the government had planned to build an airport back in 2002. In May of this year, a person was killed during a confrontation between police and campesinos yielding machetes trying to protect their land from being taken over to build the airport. And then in August, teachers began protesting in the Southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Those protests are still going on. So basically, you can get the picture: there's a lot of political unrest.

And on top of all that is this year's hotly contended Presidential elections. I'm sure you've all read about the July elections in which the conservative PAN candidate, Felipe Calderon, won by a tiny margin 240,000 some votes (by less than 1%) over the leftist PRD candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Of course, the real big thing in the news is that Lopez Obrador says the elections were rigged and is still demanding a recount. Right now he's got thousands of "his people" camping out in the zocalo, the main square in Mexico City, and has even more people camping out in the middle of Avenida de la Reforma, a huge avenue in the heart of the capital. And as I mentioned in my last post, the day we are all waiting for is September the 16th, Mexico's Independence Day--the day of the annual military parade through the zocalo. The question on everyone's mind is "how will the military, under charge of the new President Calderon, react to the protesters camped out in the exact path where the parade usually takes place?" The other question on our minds is what will Lopez Obrador do next? How far can he pull this off? What's his plan? Supposedly, he is going to hold an assembly on the 16th with those present to decide what his next step is to take his rightful post as President.

The general feeling in the air is not one of stability. That's how I would put it. And on top of that the country feels more divided to me than it has been during my short love affair with Mexico which goes back to 1994 when I came on the Bethel Mexico Internship Program. The rich, upper middle class, and middle class are for Calderon. And the poor are for Lopez Obrador. The North of the country is wealthier and thus is for almost entirely for the conservative PAN candidate. And the southern part of the country is where the poorest section of the population is concentrated, support the leftist PRD candidate. So even though, Calderon won, things are very unsettled. And Lopez Obrador, as the news says, seems to be the winner on the streets with Mexico's poor majority.