Major Blow to Mexico's Hope for Democracy

Developing Story.....

The fucking bastard Fox (Bush's buddy south'o the border) has moved to jail Mexico City's popular leftist mayor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The congress has moved to strip his immunity in order for him to stand trial for a contempt of court violation in a minor land dispute. The dispute stems from the mayors building of a hospital road over a disputed plot of land. This action constitutes a very thinly veiled attempt to disqualify Lopez Obrador from running in the 2006 Mexican Presidential election. The popular leftist regularly comes out as much as 10 points ahead in opinion polls concerning the Presidency. The Mexican government no doubt hoped to minimize the impact of this move by undertaking it during the mourning period for Pope John Paul II. This has not stopped more than 150,000 protesters from taking to the streets of Mexico City in support of their mayor.

Below are several news reports concerning this story, more will be added as the situation develops.

A link to a BBC video showing the Mayor adressing protesters in Mexico City can be found here.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's Congress voted on Thursday to force the country's most popular politician to face trial, a move that could knock the leftist out of next year's presidential election, threatening political stability.

Deputies voted 360 to 127 to strip Mexico City mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's immunity from prosecution so he can be charged with contempt of court in a minor land dispute.

Lopez Obrador is now likely to be fired as mayor and go to jail pending trial. He would probably be banned from the race to replace President Vicente Fox at July, 2006 elections if found guilty.

President Vicente Fox's National Action Party joined forces with the main opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party to push out the mayor, an austere former Indian rights activist who vows to help Mexico's tens of millions of poor if elected.

He is accused of disobeyeing a judge's order in 2001 to halt work on a road to a hospital through a disputed plot of expropriated land on the outskirts of the city.

Lopez Obrador, extremely popular in Mexico City for his public works and welfare programs, heads opinion polls for the presidency, often by as much as 10 points.

His rise worries business leaders and some in Washington, wary of a leftist like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in charge of a country of 100 million people on the border with the United States.

The mayor has pledged to run his campaign from behind bars if need be, leading to months of political and legal wrangling that foreign investors fear could create a full-blown crisis.

"I am going to defend myself and I hope to count with the support of men and women of goodwill who believe in freedom, justice and democracy," he said in a speech to the deputies.

Leftist lawmakers shouted, "You are not alone."

[Source]

MEXICO CITY, April 7 (Reuters) - About 150,000 Mexicans poured into the streets on Thursday to support Mexico City's leftist mayor, who furiously decried a drive to knock him out of the 2006 presidential race as an assault on democracy.

Chanting protesters packed the capital's Zocalo, one of the world's biggest squares, in a sea of yellow balloons and homemade banners. Police helicopters hovered above but the mayor repeatedly ordered the crowd to be calm.

"We are about to see an attack against the democratic advances that have been won with so much sacrifice by the people of Mexico," Lopez Obrador said.

Mexico's most popular politician accused President Vicente Fox and business leaders of exploiting the minor legal charges to keep him from leading a "great movement of transformation ... for a new economy and new politics."

Described by critics as a populist like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Lopez Obrador promises to reduce the huge income gap in Mexico if he becomes president. Buoyed by the popularity of public works and welfare programs in Mexico City, he holds a double-digit lead in opinion polls for the 2006 vote.

The Mexico City crowd reflected Lopez Obrador's broad appeal, with indigenous women in bright red tunics and old men in business suits standing side by side. A man in a cage wearing a plastic mask resembling Fox was paraded through the square to shouts of "Burn him! Burn him!"

Just as the march was starting, Fox left on a plane to attend the pope's funeral in Italy.

Local media and observers estimated the crowd numbered about 150,000 people.

[Source]