Posted on 02/27/2005 5:24:43 PM PST by NormsRevenge
MEXICO CITY — President Vicente Fox and popular Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador exchanged barbs during separate speeches Saturday in an ongoing political battle whose outcome could have a major impact on the 2006 presidential election.
Fox, in his weekly national radio program "Fox With You," repeated his now-routine warnings against a return to "populism" and the state-run programs of Mexico's past, an indirect, but obvious reference to the mayor, whose popularity stems in large part from his large-scale handout programs and public works projects. The mayor also supports a return to a more oil-based, state-supported economy.
Exercising such a vision would turn back the clock on the numerous economic and social advances that have been made since Fox took office in 2000, the president said.
"We have to be very, very careful with ... populism," he said, in a reference to 71 years of consecutive rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which for decades employed large handout programs as a way of maintaining political control.
"This idea of the (free) market that many question and refer to pejoratively, is not as bad as they say," added Fox, who as a candidate with the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, made history as the first non-PRI candidate elected to office since 1929.
"On the contrary, I think it gives opportunities to the people, the consumer: the power to choose, to use their money and consume in a much more effective manner."
Lopez Obrador, during a speech in central Puebla state Saturday, lashed out again at Fox as he has done in the past, challenging the president to make it clear to whom he is referring when he makes disparaging references to "populism."
The mayor went on to criticize Fox's policies at home and abroad, calling the president's foreign policy meddlesome and insisting that Lopez Obrador's first task as president — if he runs — would be to put Mexico's own house in order. The mayor also has accused Fox of exercising an authoritarian hand much like that wielded by the PRI.
Fox and Lopez Obrador have been going at it since last March, when videotapes were made public showing aides to Lopez Obrador engaged in corruption.
The mayor insists that Fox and his administration were behind the release of the damning videos and that they now are trying to strip him of his immunity from prosecution as a public official in order to block a run for the presidency.
Fox and his cabinet members have vehemently denied the allegations. The federal attorney general's office, which operates under Fox, has asked Mexico's congress to strip Lopez Obrador's immunity due to his alleged failure to obey a judge's order in a local land use case.
Lopez Obrador continues to lead nearly all polls for the 2006 presidential contest even though he has not yet formally declared himself a candidate.
Fox is prohibited by law from seeking re-election when his six-year term ends in 2006. He is widely perceived to be pushing the presidential nomination of his current interior secretary, Santiago Creel.
Great find!
A three-word oxymoron.
Is this mayor friends with Hugo Chavez?
Sounds like one big cluster you know what down there in Ol' Meheeco. I don't know enough about it to know who is right, but I do know that none of them, including Fox, has made it decent enough for people to want to stay. Kick me if I'm wrong but immigration from Mexico sure hasn't slowed down any since Fox has been running the show.
"Exercising such a vision would turn back the clock on the numerous economic and social advances that have been made since Fox took office in 2000, the president said."
Yes, that is why people are fleeing your country in records numbers mr. fox.
Who do I root against more here?????
Neither side.. :-)
Da Mayor ain't clean if you look at his background,, and why is Fox exporting his citizens to the US and not helping them make a go in Mexico?
Presidente Fox must be doing something right, Mexico is now issuing work permits to her neighbor's to the south of her.
Are you implying that Mexicans began entering this country only after Fox became preidente?
Then where does the peso stop? Today, anyway. ;-)
I know , we had problems before Fox.
He sure isn't discouraging opening direct US Treasury social security spigots from the US to Mexico tho, is he?
Here's where some unique and knowlegable insight into Mexican politics from Fitz would be beneficial to us all. Oh, that's right - he's been banned.
(information vacuum)
"...PRI, which for decades employed large handout programs as a way of maintaining political control."
dat's funny!
reminds me of the chicago, kansas city, nyc ... mobs and the democrat party.
My thoughts exactly. FITZ was always polite and had a lot of class. Strictly a political banning.
Ping-4-later
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