Mexico: Deja vu all over again

Al Giordano reports that the "desafuero" attempt by President Vicente Fox and his allies in the PAN and PRI parties to remove Mexico City's mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador from next year's presidential election has a very close precedent from 1910. In that year, President Porfirio Diaz used a very similar approach to remove a rival from the competition--but the masses, led by General Emiliano Zapata, rose up and overthrew Diaz.

Girodano quotes Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos:

“The desafuero against the Mexico City governor would turn back the clock almost a century on the calendar. To be more precise: to 1910. It would mean, in fact, the anullment of the electoral path to come to power. That’s it. No more. Disrespecting and trashing the history of Mexico, the President’s office is paternally using the judicial system and the political class continues with its stingy calculations to divine if the check will cover the ridiculous act that it will commit.

“The desafuero is not only illegitimate: It is also illegal. When the government ministry, the presidency, the Supreme Court, the PAN, the PRI and that part of the PRD that became a business by appearing to be of the Left, announce stridently that the law is above all things, all they do is augment the public rancor that accumulates from below. The more ads, press conferences, and sophist speeches and declarations by the ministry of government and the presidency, the desafuero is still illegal and doesn’t withstand the minimum legal scrutiny. It is no more than a trick. They know that the desafuero can’t be sustained legally, but they also know that the spider’s web of laws in Mexico can hide what is illegal… behind laws. They already did this when they passed the indigenous counter-reform of 2001…

"If they can take someone out of the presidential race, what stops them from putting anyone who opposes them in prison? After all, these are the laws: made for illegitimacy… It’s not just that the desafuero is, in the strictest sense, a ‘preventative’ coup d’etat (as some have already called it) and that if 2000 put forward the idea that elections are the route to Power, 2006 will be the ratification that any means (listen up: any means) necessary are valid to achieve the ends…

“No, it’s not just about that. It’s about an injustice. And every honest man and woman must oppose an injustice, and, in this case, oppose this injustice. We, the Zapatistas, not only oppose the desafuero, be it judicial or media-driven, that annuls the possibility that a man or woman can come to power by peaceful means. We also call on everyone to protest, at their own time, place and style, against this injustice. What’s more, I’ll let you know that we are discussing the ways (take note: nonviolent) in which we will demonstrate to oppose this coup d’etat.

Vicente Fox is a Clinton-Bush style globalist tool of the corporations, ever seeking ways to lower wages and take land from people for the benefit of corporations. The desafuero attempt seems to embody the meaning of "crisis:" danger plus opportunity. This blunt attempt to literally lock up next year's election could well backfire on Fox and the corrupt corporate PAN and PRI parties. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that this will be allowed to happen unimpeded by Washington--in fact, Condiliar is due to visit Mexico City next week.

Giordano's Narco News has other stories on the Mexican desafuero attempt (I haven't read them yet):
Banamex at Core of Fox-López Obrador Dispute – But AP Protects the Bankers
Meltdown in Mexico: Ten Days that Changed the Wind
Mexico Poll: Fox-Creel Attacks on López Obrador Have Backfired
Condoleeza Rice vs. Democracy in Mexico