Mexican Left Vows to Prevent Mexico's Annual "State of the Union" Address

The Herald (Mexico) ^ | August 31, 2006 | Jonathan Roeder

[StJacques]

PRD vows to block Informe

BY JONATHAN ROEDER/THE HERALD MEXICO
El Universal
August 31, 2006

Though presidential spokesman Rubén Aguilar on Wednesday said he trusted that President Vicente Fox´s annual State of the Nation Address (Informe) will be received with respect by congressmen, a top official from the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) countered that "at least 10" ways of preventing the speech from being delivered were under consideration. Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo, the PRD´s secretary-general, said he and three other party leaders will decide "exactly two hours" before the event on Friday what action will be taken.

"There will be no address," Acosta said, speaking to a small group of reporters from his tent in the capital´s central Zócalo, where PRD members and supporters have been camped out for a month. "(Fox) is going to have to leave through the back door."

"For the first time in the 200 years that there have been presidential addresses, there will be no speech," he said. "He doesn´t deserve one."

He said the party will not attempt to physically attack Fox, and any actions will be peaceful.

The tradition of the presidential address, closely tied to the pomp and officiousness of the decades in which Mexico was ruled by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), is among the most important dates on the nation´s political calendar. The president generally lists his government´s accomplishments and lays out work to be done.

Friday will be Fox´s last Informe, as he leaves office on Dec. 1. Last year, he gave the speech on top of catcalls and protests from opposition lawmakers.

This year, the PRD aims to derail the event in protest of what they say was a fraudulent presidential election. The party says Fox illegally helped to swing the close contest in favor of Felipe Calderón, of his conservative National Action Party (PAN). Calderón´s uncertified lead over left-leaning Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the PRD stands at 240,000 votes out of 41 million cast.

The PRD is also angry over a move by the PAN to place one of its own deputies at the head of the presiding board in the lower house of Congress - effectively preventing the PRD from officially responding to Fox´s Informe.

The head of the board in the Chamber delivers a response to the annual Sept. 1 address. On Tuesday, the PAN, with the help of the PRI and the Green Party, pushed their own lawmaker, Jorge Zermeño Infante, into the position. By tradition, a member of the second force in the Chamber, which presently is the PRD, would respond to the Informe.

Acosta confirmed that actions were being planned both inside and outside Congress, where the address is given.

"It´s the job of our deputies to manifest their disagreement and indignation inside the legislative building," Acosta said.

Earlier Wednesday, Fox´s spokesman Aguilar said the president is still planning to make the speech in person.

"We trust in the civility of the lawmakers," he said.

The Informe is only one potential flash point in the PRD-PAN confrontation that has shaken the nation since the July 2 election. Another is Sept. 16, Independence Day, when the PRD plans to hold a "constitutional convention" in the Zócalo - despite the traditional military parade that arrives at the square in the morning and the president´s annual "grito" from the National Palace the evening before.

PRD officials on Wednesday said they don´t seek a confrontation with the military, but they would not reschedule or relocate the convention.

Military officials have also said in recent weeks they will not change their route, which traditionally runs down Reforma Avenue, currently blocked by PRD protest encampments.

With the Federal Electoral Tribunal likely to declare Calderón as president-elect in the coming days, the PRD has said it will decide the future of its protest movement on Sept. 16. The convention delegates could decide to form a sort of parallel government and elect a "legitimate" president, or continue with their civil resistance movement.

[StJacques]

This is a real showdown in the making. President Vicente Fox has guaranteed that he will give his annual Informe, which is the Mexican equivalent of the "State of the Union Address," while the PRD and its allies have guaranteed that he won't. It's one or the other and nobody's giving an inch right now.

There are no fewer than one dozen articles up on the Mexico City El Universal site covering the suspense leading up to Fox's address. The PRD has officially asked him not to give the address and to simply send it in written form to the Mexican congress. Fox has refused. The reports are that he intends to arrive at the congress by bus, but the PRD and their allies in the recent elections have vowed to block his access to the grounds of the legislature. Added into all of this are a number of unions who were already planning to demonstrate on a host of issues outside of Lopez Obrador's challenge to the election and there is quite a scene developing.

Since the news is coming up very rapidly and I am a little busy right now with work-related matters, I'm going to wait until either late this afternoon or early this evening to put up a post recapitulating what has been posted on the Mexican web sites. So look for it then.

[StJacques]

A Mex-Elex ping for you all.

I'll be posting an update on all of this later today.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

After reading this morning's page 1 WSJ story about this, I hope the Mexican authorities don't play into the radicals' hands and bust heads, because they certainly could do it.

[FastCoyote]

Wait till the revolution starts and we see a a really masssive influx of illegal - oooops - I mean undocumented workers.

[Dog Gone]

If anyone actually thinks the left is more "tolerant" than the right, they need to think about this story.

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

After reading this morning's page 1 WSJ story about this, I hope the Mexican authorities don't play into the radicals' hands and bust heads, because they certainly could do it.

They should just laugh at them. Leftists have no sense of humor about themselves.

[rovenstinez]

START YOUR ENGINES..... I wish the MSM really pounced on the REAL name of the loser is Manuel Andres Lopez Obrador. WHY does everyone insist it is Andres? Can someone PLEASE tell me? But, then the New York Times has called upon Manuel Andres Lopez Obrador to step aside. We will see if they have real clout. Fox will give the address on TV, and no one will even notice where he gives it.

[StJacques]

"If anyone actually thinks the left is more "tolerant" than the right, they need to think about this story."

What you have just posted is about as close as one can get to the pure truth. The protest encampments which have shut down the center of Mexico City, the temporary seizure of the turnpike toll booths and harassment of city-to-city traffic, the temporary shutdown of several of the bridges connecting Mexico to the U.S., the disruption of the vote counting three days after the election, the seizure of a PAN party deputy in Tabasco that was tantamount to kidnapping, and much much more have all occurred without retaliation from the national government because Mexico truly does recognize freedom of expression and will not hold itself up to the world as repressive. But put the shoe on the other foot and see the truth. The Left is not about to permit anyone to answer them publicly.

[Enterprise]

I've noticed that in the last few days this has been getting wider coverage. Thanks to you, those who have followed your posts are already up to speed!

[facedown]

...PRD members and supporters have been camped out for a month.

I wonder who is financing all this?

[StJacques]

Are you saying Fox will NOT go to the legislative grounds at San Lázaro to give the address?

[Jubal Harshaw]

Holy cow. His initials spell out "MALO" (= "bad" in romance languages and Latin). Spooky.

[StJacques]

"I wonder who is financing all this?"

Check out this post for some details of the financing and support Chavez and the larger Latin American Left have given Lopez Obrador.

I should add to that by the way that the PRD controls the Federal District Government in Mexico City and they have been providing some aid directly to the protest encampments.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The Obradoristas appear to be losing steam and support over the last several weeks. Federales wading in with billy clubs would serve to re-radicalize the losers.

[StJacques]

"I've noticed that in the last few days this has been getting wider coverage. Thanks to you, those who have followed your posts are already up to speed!"

No one sneaks up on us at Free Republic.

[Shuttle Shucker]

If they let MALO and his Leftist goons win this battle, the Lefties may hunger for far more after believing in themselves again. Give 'em an inch an they wanna take a mile...

Fox is gruff, and not a very accomplished political diplomat as his frequent clashes with Congress demonstrated. I admire how he brought down the national debt but anyhow, his gruffness may work to his advantage this time. If anybody can fight through this it's probably Fox. Others might be pansies in comparison to that rancher. The question is, does Fox have the will to fight through tomorrow. And will somebody try to shoot him?

[livius]

This is incredible. It is so similar to the way the Bolivian left managed to bring down the legitimately elected president of Bolivia. Particularly similar is the fact that the security forces are divided, with the local police seeming to be on the side of the PRD.

How do you think Mexico is going to handle this? I don't see any way it can be handled without violence, since the left is obviously planning to riot in the "anti-globalización" type of riot they like so much. I am certain there are a lot of non-Mexicans there, as well, and not just other Latin Americans, but the entire wandering left that always seems to be able to afford air tickets to stir up trouble in any part of the world.

[PLK]

The left-wing loonies in the U.S. are probably cheering on the Obrador craziness and regreting giving up when Al Gore wanted to steal the election.

My guess is the next close presidential election here in which a Pubbie wins is going to lead to this very same thing.

[driftdiver]

nice to see that our closest neighbor is has such a stable govt. also good that we have such a solid border.


/sarc

[pgyanke]

My guess is the next close presidential election here in which a Pubbie wins is going to lead to this very same thing.

If you'll forgive a shameless self-plug, that was precisely my point with this post.

[Dane]

nancy pelosi and howard dean are taking notes.

[Kenny Bunk]

It is so similar to the way the Bolivian left managed to bring down the legitimately elected president of Bolivia

Good point, had skipped my mind. Obviously a coordinated effort between FARC, Chavez, and this guy, which means the CHICOM are bankrolling this, with an eye to controlling Mexican oil.

Question: What is happening outside the DF?

[StJacques]

I'm going to respond to all of you at once.

Regarding how Mexico will handle this; I actually think they will get through this particular event ok. This is something of a momentary rage and, with particular reference to Kenny Bunk's question here, it is primarily concentrated in the Federal District of Mexico City and its immediate environs, and maybe less so in the Federal District itself than used to be the case. This is NOT playing well across the country at large.

And Shuttle Shucker, I think you have it right when you write that Fox may be particularly well-suited to handle this sort of problem. I doubt we'll see anyone get shot, but the prospect of widespread clashes between the Federal Preventive Police (PFP) and the demonstrators is by no means off the table.

[Obie Wan]

Why does every group of political a-holes have to have the name Democrat in their title ???

[Kenny Bunk]

.....when Al Gore wanted to steal the election.

Al did manage a bit of a coup in that he got everyone to take their eye off the massive vote fraud in states other than Florida.

For example, no one talks about the Democrats outright theft of Pennsylvania, or Missouri, or Wisconsin. OTOH, every one knows about the Republicans intimidating the African American voters of Ohio.

Can you imagine that? Those SOBs actually tried to restrict a federally protected endangered minority group to one measly vote apiece ... after all those poor people have been through!

[livius]

Thank you. I'm not a big TV watcher, and the only paper I read is my local (small town) paper to find out about local stuff - I get most of my information on-line. Does anybody know if the Mexican situation is getting much TV or newspaper coverage here in the US?

[StJacques]

"Does anybody know if the Mexican situation is getting much TV or newspaper coverage here in the US?"

I am seeing a little more, and what I particularly notice is that the New York Times has finally begun to pay more attention, which sends a signal to the rest of the MSM that it's okay to watch what's going on in Mexico right now. And I am still shocked that their editorial page called upon AMLO to back down.

Mexico is right on the edge of a major meltdown but my actual expectation is that the Left will back down because it doesn't want to be prevented from holding its "National Democratic Convention" in Mexico City on September 16. A violent clash tomorrow would end that possibility. But all it will take is one demonstrator going off the deep end at just the right/wrong moment and all that could change.

[StJacques]

And almost as a side story, pay attention to this everyone, when you ask yourself how close Mexico may be to a real widespread meltdown.

The crisis in Oaxaca may be getting worse. The following photo was taken in Santa Catarina Ixtepeji, Oaxaca today where armed uniformed guerrillas stopped traffic so as to distribute literature calling for the immediate ouster of the PRI Governor of the state, Ulises Ruiz (who frankly should step down in my opinion). The pamphlet was supposedly signed by a whole number of guerrilla groups, including the Zapatistas (EZLN), but I actually doubt that they are as involved as the pamphlet claims, because they tend to stay out of politics, nor am I convinced that many of the other so-called "guerrilla groups" who signed the pamphlet are anything more than three angry failed university students yelling in a rural tienda. But someone is getting active and, well, there you have it.



And though I'm not translating the article, here is its link:

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/372235.html

[CedarDave]

Trying Babel Fish translation:

A group of encapuchados bursts in into the community of Santa Catarina Ixtepeji, where they distributed a panfleto, signed by supposed guerrilla organizations, in support to the magisterial and popular movement in the state

Notimex The Universal Oaxaca, Oax. Thursday 31 of August of 2006

14:22 Into support to the magisterial and popular movement in Oaxaca and demand of the resignation of Ulises governor Ruiz, a group of encapuchados with arms burst in into the community of Santa Catarina Ixtepeji, in the deviation to the population of the Latuvi, where they distributed a panfleto.

The document, signed by supposed armed organizations, was distributed by 12 people who dressed clothes military type and carried firearms. The group showed its coincidence with the demands of the Popular Assembly of the Towns of Oaxaca (APPO), the EZLN and the organizations of "the Other Campaign". "We celebrated with deep satisfaction, waking up of the popular masses that burst in into the streets" points the panfleto.

The six supposed organizations who sign the document - Popular Brigades of Liberation, Brigade of Execution 2 December, Insurgent Organization First of May, Group Revolutionary Francisco Javier Mine, Democratic Tendency Revolutionary Army of the Town and Revolutionary Movement Bright Barrientos- Cabins indicate that they remain in alert status to respond a possible intervention of the forces of security in conflict of Oaxaca.

The group of armed men limited itself during his appearance to give copies of the panfleto without conducting violence battles, and he did not confirm if he will have other immediate actions.

[Reaganez]

It is so similar to the way the Bolivian left managed to bring down the legitimately elected president of Bolivia
Good point, had skipped my mind. Obviously a coordinated effort between FARC, Chavez, and this guy, which means the CHICOM are bankrolling this, with an eye to controlling Mexican oil.

Question: What is happening outside the DF?

---

Before everyone stats comparing Mexico with Bolivia and Ecuador lets keep something in mind.

The Native Indians(the extreme poor) are a majority in Bolivia and Ecuador. Not so in Mexico. In Venezuela they had a democracy for almost 50 years and the two established parties were seen as corrupt and utter failures. Democracy was seen has having failed and they turned to the Strong-Man on Horseback;Hugo Chavez.

Mexico has only been a democracy for six years. People still overwhelmingly support democracy. Mexico is neither Bolivia,Ecuador nor Venezuela.

These protest are largely contained to one major street and the major plaza in Mexico City. The more the left goes ape-shit the more their support falls and the more support for the government/PAN rises.

No need to appease the LEFT nor to Bust heads.

Standard Riot control practices are needed. Water Canon,Tear Gas, and removing people from sensitive areas without taking a stick to the head.

[CedarDave]

...Popular Brigades of Liberation, Brigade of Execution 2 December, Insurgent Organization First of May, Group Revolutionary Francisco Javier Mine, Democratic Tendency Revolutionary Army of the Town and Revolutionary Movement Bright Barrientos-Cabins...

With names like these, they definitely sound like Communist/Marxist groups.

[A CA Guy]

If they were people on the side of justice, they would NOT need their faces hidden.
That is the outfit of terrorists we see in that picture.

[StJacques]

I want to post a comment in support of Reaganez's contention that everyone should be careful not to draw too quick a comparison between Mexico and the larger Latin American situation.

I think there are two things which must viewed separately; Mexican society and the Mexican Left.

Contrary to the negative view so many Americans have of Mexico, the truth is they are a much more advanced society than many outside the country understand. There is a very strong Mexican middle class which is quite sophisticated, it has popular spokesmen and leaders who are genuinely sophistacted intellectuals, and they do not have a lot of patience with rabble rousers in the streets because they support the rule of law. That's the plus side. The problems are that development in Mexico is concentrated primarily in the northern states and near the numerous commercial centers elsewhere. There are a lot of impoverished Mexicans, but the ones that matter in the scenario we are discussing are primarily concentrated in and around major urban centers. The rural poor are also numerous, but they are not very active politically and are spread out over a wide enough area that it is difficult to envision them as a "threat" in the sense of which you would imagine the poor elsewhere in Latin America.

The Mexican Left on the other hand, is something different than what it used to be. I have posted on several threads that what is genuinely new about this presidential election in Mexican politics is that the Mexican Left has now formed close ties with the larger Latin American Left; including Cuban, Venezuelan, and Bolivian circles. There is a lot of evidence supporting this which has been revealed on this board in numerous posts across multiple threads. The danger here is that the Mexican Left may realize that their opportunities are slipping away and they may feel that the time to act is now and I expect that their supporters elsewhere in Latin America will encourage them, with deeds and financing, to press the issue now. That could lead to widespread confrontation and violence could be a part of that but I would expect that kind of conflict to remain concentrated in the southern Mexican states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, some portions of Guerrero and possibly more northwards in Tabasco. But I do not see much chance of the conflict spreading much farther than that.

So when you examine the possibilities for widespread conflict arising out of this post-election controversy, do understand that there are both social and geographical limits impeding its diffusion beyond the areas I pointed out.

And do not think for a moment that the Mexican Left is not working these very calculations right now. There will clearly be a number of them who would welcome just such a conflict, but they will not succeed.

[Tench_Coxe]

So I guess they're headed for a Mexican Standoff.

[StJacques]

Terrorists?

My man, Reuters would be the first to tell you they represent "a disaffected segment of the Mexican population not willing to trust the democratic political process to provide them with the hope and opportunities they wish to achieve."

In other words, only sensible people refer to those guys as "terrorists." LOL!

[samadams2000]

Ah..its called the "state of the cesspool" speech.

[Centurion2000]

The reports are that he intends to arrive at the congress by bus, but the PRD and their allies in the recent elections have vowed to block his access to the grounds of the legislature.

This is one time when I think that Vincente Fox should commute by tank.

CRICKEY! ..... after doing some research, Mexico has ZERO main battle tanks in inventory.

[untrained skeptic]

Oh no! The leftists are on strike again!

Does productivity go up or down when that happens?

If they prevent the people who actually work from getting to work, then productivity will likely go down, otherwise productivity is likely to stay about the same while they are on strike.

[StJacques]

Okay, now for a rundown of the day's events in Mexico City, where the tension is mounting over Fox's scheduled address to the Mexican national congress tomorrow.

First; have a look at a translated excerpt from this article from the Crónica de Hoy Mexico City newspaper web site, in which the PRD are discussing the possibility of taking the rostrum away from President Vicente Fox during his speech:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PRD prepares pincers to harass Informe

Even though the decision will be made Thursday night, Deputies of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) advanced the proposal that among the options which they are analyzing is the taking of the rostrum during the sixth Informe of President Fox, [and] "the lobby, the hall and to make use of the rights under law which we have as federal deputies," a legislator who asked to remain anonymous said.

--"It will be a surprise. Without doubt it will be a surprise for President Fox to whom we will protest strongly, mainly for his insistent intervention in the electoral process." "That, without a doubt, we are not going to forgive" another Deputy said.

--"What type of surprise? Will you show blankets, masks, will you interrupt him?"

--"We will see then. But even Fox cannot imagine what we have within our hands. One cannot approach the Presidency without first 'bearing oneself well.' He did everything possible to merit our putting up a fuss as a worthy spectacle for his acting as Felipe Calderon's campaign manager."

Though the parliamentary coordinator of the federal deputies of the PRD, Javier González Garza, stated that come this Thursday they will discuss in the national congress the manner in which they will conduct themselves during the sixth Government Informe of Vicente Fox, he announced: "We, the members of the PRD, always comport ourselves well."

--"How will you act this Friday?"

--"We have no idea what it is that we're going to do next Friday, when the work of the 40th Legislature begins and President Fox comes to deliver the sixth Government Informe. We all have doubts . . . I don't know what is going to happen Friday. The outgoing Deputies who will be outside the parliamentary enclosure said that they will support their fellow party legislators "they have the legal right and we must remember that [the Constitution's] Article 61 contemplates this as such. They are going to make use of the right to be in the area and to speak with full freedom."

"It is an "appointed" fact that they will exercise this legal right which empowers the use of the rostrum and to protest to Fox not only for his intervention in the electoral process but also that he has surrounded the Chamber of Deputies [with a federal police presence] and for that reason we have presented a complaint in the National Commission of Human Rights and, of course we will protest to him face to face."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well; that's interesting, isn't it? Now how about this for a response? The PAN party's Senators, PAN Deputies are also mentioned but evidently the Senators are the tough guys, have agreed to form themselves into a group to prevent any physical approach of the PRD Deputies to Fox's person during his speech. I'm not kidding.

This is an excerpt of an article at http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/372266.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PAN Senators delineate the defense of Fox

. . . The Senator-elect of the PAN party, Marko Antonio Cortés Mendoza, confirmed that this afternoon the PAN party will sharpen its strategy to protect President Vicente Fox from the aggressions which he can suffer this Friday in his sixth and last Government Informe, in a meeting which was called by their coordinator Santiago Creel Miranda.

The legislator for Michoacan explained that each one of the 52 Senators of the PAN party and their 206 Deputies already know what task to carry out tomorrow during the Informe; that strategy will be sharpened over the next few hours.

The scenarios are several and they are prepared for them.

Among the strategies which the PAN bench has analyzed is not to rule out blows from the other side but to affirm that the blue and white [i.e. the PAN party] will not respond to any act of violence.

"The legislators of the PAN party will not fall into provocations," he said.

He stated that in the case of receiving blows, the cameras will register the acts of the PRD members.

He said he does not know if President Fox will come to San Lazaro by helicopter or if he will make the journey by truck. . . .
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The PRD responded that Fox is in no danger of any violent acts, but would not make clear what actions the PRD legislators would take during the speech.

In addition to all of this there are numerous articles up I am not referring to which essentially give the back-and-forth over the course of the day. What it all comes down to is that Vicente Fox is determined that he will give his address in person in the Mexican congress in spite of any intimidation to the contrary.

More to come as it happens.

[CedarDave]

Do you know what time this is all supposed to happen tomorrow?

[StJacques]

"Do you know what time this is all supposed to happen tomorrow?"

No and I just checked several of the articles to see if the exact time was given and none of them posted it. I remember watching one of these addresses with the sun still shining outside so it might be a late afternoon address.

Maybe rovenstinez can help us.

rovenstinez, what time will Fox give his Informe?

[livius]

What it all comes down to is that Vicente Fox is determined that he will give his address in person in the Mexican congress in spite of any intimidation to the contrary.

That's good. I didn't particularly like Fox - I'm sure he achieved some good things, against heavy odds, but I felt that his personal eccentricities sometimes prevented him from being more effective. And he really didn't do what he could have to develop a good relationship with the US, particularly considering how favorable to him Bush was initially. But I think he has laid the groundwork for changes in Mexico, moving it out of its semi-socialist dysfunctionality and into a more modern economic and political form. And I am impressed by the way he has handled himself during this whole event.

[StJacques]

I think I agree with your overall analysis of Fox. He has disappointed me in some areas too, including his missed opportunity of showing some creative thinking and forming a good relationship with the U.S. that could have created opportunities for him that he failed to see.

It seems to me that Fox doesn't show very much until he's pushed. He's a confrontational type of politician. He's in his element now.

[Codename - Ron Benjamin]

Oaxaca today is kind like Lebanon in the 80's.

[StJacques]

I have news of Convergencia, one of the three political parties forming Lopez Obrador's For the Good of All coalition, "marking its distance" from AMLO. This is at:

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/372311.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Convergencia marks its distance from AMLO's movement

Luis Maldonado, President of the [party's] political institute, clarified that his party will leave the For the Good of All coalition with the same autonomy with which it entered it.

The Convergencia party today marked its distance not only from the For the Good of All coalition, but also from the movement headed by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Luis Maldonado, President of the [party's] political institute, clarified that "we entered an electoral coalition with the PRD and the PT with autonomy, and at the end of the process we will leave this alliance with autonomy as well, but not with cowardice."

Through an official communication, the directorate of Convergencia indicated that the movement of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is a national social movement "for dignity and democracy, but it is not a route for a political party."

Nevertheless, "whoever personally wishes to participate in it, can do so with complete freedom, but the party must continue by the institutional democratic route."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a stronger statement than the one a few days ago in which the legislative coordinator for Convergencia stated that he viewed the legislative arena as the proper point of focus for his party, not street protests. In the above statement the President of the Convergencia party directorate states that his party is "leaving" the For the Good of All coalition because the path it is now pursuing is "not a route for a political party."

I get the feeling that there are a few who are clearing away from AMLO so as to minimize the effects of the public reaction against him.

[Enterprise]

That's a good sign. Someone has enough sense to see the potential catastrophic consequences of going outside the bounds of an election, and a judicial system. Crossing my fingers.

[Enterprise]

"it has popular spokesmen and leaders who are genuinely sophistacted intellectuals"

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I am definitely impressed by the elegance of the wording of the statements that came out of the courts. These are decidedly well educated people!

[StJacques]

"These are decidedly well educated people!"

Calderon is himself a good example; an economist with a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard. I have Googled a number of names from important players in this whole affair and on many occasions I have been impressed with what I have found.

[CedarDave]

Unfortunately, what we mostly see coming across the border are the poorer people, farmers, laborers and such, and generally uneducated. Our whole impression of Mexico comes from contact with these people and it is generally not favorable, especially when a bad element commits crimes. I would hope that Calderon can make a difference in moving the country away from the third-world model that most Americans view it.

[StJacques]

Dave;

I finally found some information on when this all goes down tomorrow, as you requested.

The article at:

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/372327.html

contains details about the ceremonial procedure in which each party picks a leader to make a public statement on the party's "posture" in the upcoming legislative session, who will speak, when they will speak, etc.

It says that Vicente Fox is due to arrive at the legislature at 19:00 hours, or 7:00 p.m., equivalent to Central Time U.S.