Mexican president disparages pro-democracy demonstrators

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador appeared to revel within the battle, hurling insults on the tens of 1000’s of people that demonstrated over the weekend in Mexico City’s major plaza, calling them thieves and allies of drug traffickers.

By Associated Press: Mexico’s president lashed out Monday in opposition to demonstrators against his plan to chop election funding, belittling their issues about threats to democracy and dashing any hopes that he would attempt to ease rising political tensions.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador appeared to revel within the battle, hurling insults on the tens of 1000’s of people that demonstrated over the weekend in Mexico City’s major plaza, calling them thieves and allies of drug traffickers.

“There was an increase in the number of pick pockets stealing wallets here in the Zocalo, but what do you want, with so many white-collar criminals in one place?” Lopez Obrador stated at his every day morning press briefing.

At the basis of the battle are plans by Lopez Obrador, which had been authorised final week by Mexico’s Senate, to chop salaries and funding for native election places of work, and reduce coaching for residents who function and oversee polling stations. The modifications would additionally scale back sanctions for candidates who fail to report marketing campaign spending.

Lopez Obrador denies the reforms are a menace to democracy and says criticism is elitist. He argues that the funds must be redirected to serving to the poor.

Riffing on the protesters’ slogan “Don’t touch the INE (National Electoral Institute),” Lopez Obrador stated their slogans had been “Don’t touch corruption,” “Don’t touch privileges,” “Don’t touch the Narco Government.”

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“They don’t care about democracy, what they want is to continue with the oligarchy, the rule of the rich,” the president stated.

Demonstrators say the electoral regulation modifications authorised final week threaten democracy and will mark a return to previous practices of vote manipulation. Few at Sunday’s demonstration had any type phrases for Lopez Obrador, both.

“The path he is taking is toward socialism, communism,” stated Fernando Gutierrez, 55, a small businessman. “That’s obvious, from the aid going to Cuba,” Gutierrez stated. Lopez Obrador has imported coronavirus vaccines, medical employees and stone railway ballast from Cuba, however has proven little style for socialist insurance policies at house.

Sunday’s demonstrators had been clad largely in white and pink — the colour of the National Electoral Institute — and shouted slogans like “Don’t Touch my Vote!” Like the same however considerably bigger protest on Nov. 13, the demonstrators appeared considerably extra prosperous than these on the common demonstration.

The heated nature of the talk drew consideration from the U.S. authorities.

“Today, in Mexico, we see a great debate on electoral reforms that are testing the independence of electoral and judicial institutions,” Brian A. Nichols, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western hemisphere affairs, wrote in his Twitter account. “The United States supports independent, well-resourced electoral institutions that strengthen democratic processes and the rule of law.”

Lopez Obrador stated final Thursday that he’ll signal the modifications into regulation, although he expects courtroom challenges. Many at Sunday’s protest expressed hope that Mexico’s Supreme Court would overturn a number of the modifications.

Lorenzo Cordova, the pinnacle of the National Electoral Institute, has stated the reforms “seek to cut thousands of people who work every day to guarantee trustworthy elections, something that will of course pose a risk for future elections.”

The president has pushed again in opposition to the judiciary, in addition to regulatory and oversight businesses, elevating fears amongst some that he’s searching for to reinstitute the practices of the previous PRI occasion, which bent the principles to retain Mexico’s presidency for 70 years till its defeat within the 2000 elections.

Tyler Mattiace, who researches the Americas for Human Rights Watch, stated it was “disappointing” that Lopez Obrador determined to make main modifications on the one a part of Mexican democracy that’s clearly working.

Vote counts have turn out to be way more dependable because the nationwide electoral institute was based within the Nineties, and the company licensed Lopez Obrador’s personal victory in 2018 elections.

“It is worrisome that all this comes just before the 2024 elections, in a context in which the president has shown very little tolerance for those who don’t agree with him,” stated Mattiace.

Elections in Mexico are costly by worldwide requirements, partially as a result of virtually all authorized marketing campaign financing is, by regulation, provided by the federal government. The electoral institute additionally points the safe voter ID playing cards which might be essentially the most generally accepted type of identification in Mexico, and oversees balloting within the distant and infrequently harmful corners of the nation.

Lopez Obrador stays extremely fashionable in Mexico, with approval scores of round 60 per cent. While he can’t run for reelection, his Morena occasion is favored in subsequent yr’s nationwide elections and the opposition is in disarray.

Part of his fashionable enchantment comes from railing in opposition to high-paid authorities bureaucrats, and he has been angered by the truth that some high electoral officers are paid greater than the president. But Lopez Obrador has additionally overtly criticized oversight and regulatory businesses, the courts and congress.’

The opposition, tarnished by corruption scandals, has struggled to compete with the president’s fashionable spending and handout packages.

Rubén Salazar, the director of the Etellekt Consultores agency, stated there’s “a lack of leadership in the opposition to mount a defense of all these institutions like the INE and the Supreme Court.”

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Published On:

Feb 28, 2023