A youth dressed in a black Che Guevara T-shirt carried a banner of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico's most revered religious icon, reading, "The mother of Mexico is with AMLO." (Reuters, 7-16-06)
Very dramatically...Andres Manuel called for...another demonstration in two weeks, which will be enormous, but also called to strengthen -- there are now encampments in front of each one of the 300 electoral districts in the offices all over the country -- and called to reinforce them and make them into autonomous bodies that can take decisions on civil disobedience and civil resistance. His call was for civil resistance, and we’ll see the beginning of that this week. I expect it will take the form of boycotts and informative picket lines, before it gets to the point of blocking highways... (Democracy Now!, 7-17-06)
Hard Rain Journal 7-18-06: Update on Disputed Mexican Presidential Election
By Richard Power
On Sunday, 7-16-07, at least 1.1 million people, and perhaps as many as 1.5 million, rallied to the cause of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) in his challenge to the official results of the disputed Mexican presidential election on Sunday, 7-2-06.
The massive turnout is significant for several reasons:
It is more than twice as large as the estimated size of the rally two weeks ago.
If it was 1.5 million, or even 1.3 million, it was the largest political demonstration in Mexican history. (Lopez Obrador held a rally of 1.2 million to protest attempts to keep him off the ballot last year, which had been considered the largest.)
And ironically, it is 1 million + plus votes that informed observers, such as independent journalist Al Giordano of Nacro News Bulletin, estimate as Lopez Obrador’s actual margin of victory.
The next rally will be held on 7-30-06, just before a decision is expected on Lopez Obrador’s call for a recount.
For Lopez Obrador and his supporters, the number one priority must be to get either an honest manual recount, or a new election. But if these remedies are denied, they should at least discredit Calderon’s certification as the winner, and de-legitimize his authority to govern. And if they succeed in the latter, they will have accomplished something that Al Gore dared not attempt in 2000, and that John Kerry, incredibly, did not even contemplate doing in 2004.
Greg Palast elucidates:
Traveling the USA, I'm asked again and again 'Why don't Democrats stand up when their elections are stolen?'[SNIP] Why? Elections are the radical tool of the working class -- the great leveler of the powerless against the too-powerful. But the candidates themselves, both Republican and Democrat, tend to come from the privileged and pampered class. Votes are just the surfboards on which their ambitions ride.
Right now in Mexico's capitol, nearly a million ballots sit in tied bundles uncounted. That's four times the "official" margin of victory of the ruling party over Lopez Obrador. Supposedly, they're "votos nulos" -- null votes, unreadable. But, not surprisingly, when a few packets were opened, the majority of these supposedly unreadable votes were Lopez Obrador's.
If you think that's a Mexican game, think again. Because that's exactly what happened in Florida and Ohio.
Greg Palast, 7-14-06
Here is some insight from Amy Goodman’s interview with John Ross of The Nation, Counterpunch and La Jornada, who is on the scene:
AMY GOODMAN: Well, John Ross, talk about the election and what you know at this point of the charges of fraud. And what is the process that will take place now?
JOHN ROSS: There is an electoral tribunal, nicknamed the TRIFE, because the Federal Electoral Institute is the IFE and the tribunal is the TRIFE. It has another name, actually. Andres Manuel’s people have submitted the complaints, anomalies in 53,000 out of the little over 130,000 polling places in the country, and those will all be arriving at the court this week. The notification was filed last week. And they’re also, at the same time, trying to disqualify the election on the basis of some structural inequalities, everything from the way the media handled this to the intervention of the President, which was patently unconstitutional, throughout the election, and other structural anomalies that made this not a level playing field. And the court does have the ability to do that. This is a court of seven justices. It was established in 1996, basically as a result of the great election fraud here in 1988 and eventually evolved into this tribunal. It has been quite active. The judges, seven of them, as I mentioned, over the past ten years have annulled elections and called for recounts in elections and done that on a statewide basis and on a district basis. They have never been faced with this in a presidential election. They do have the powers to either order a vote-by-vote recount, as Lopez Obrador is calling for, or to annul the entire election. And really the purpose of these enormous -- and I just can't describe how enormous they are -- meetings, as they are called, informative meetings, assemblies, informative assemblies, is really to impress upon these seven judges that this is an historic moment in Mexico -- it really does feel like an historic moment -- and they have an historic responsibility here to do what the people demand, which is to open up the ballot boxes and count the votes one by one.
AMY GOODMAN: John Ross, you have said that Lopez Obrador is considering calling on all PRD elected officials not to take office December 1, if the ballots aren’t recounted, a strategy that could trigger a constitutional crisis.
JOHN ROSS: Well, that’s one of the options. There’s many options here, and I think we’re working on some of the first levels here, and that would only, of course, come after the court had not ordered a recount or if they had confirmed the Calderon election. Very dramatically yesterday, Andres Manuel called for, as I mentioned, another demonstration in two weeks, which will be enormous, but also called to strengthen -- there are now encampments in front of each one of the 300 electoral districts in the offices all over the country -- and called to reinforce them and make them into autonomous bodies that can take decisions on civil disobedience and civil resistance. His call was for civil resistance, and we’ll see the beginning of that this week. I expect it will take the form of boycotts and informative picket lines, before it gets to the point of blocking highways...
Amy Goodman Interviews John Ross, Lopez Obrador Leads Over 1.1 Million Supporters in Mexico City to Call for Presidential Vote Recount, Democracy Now!, 7-17-06
I will continue to monitor this important story, and report on major developments. To follow it more closely, go to Greg Palast and Narco News Bulletin.
RELATED POSTS:
GS(3) Thunderbolt 7-10-06: Will the Disputed Mexican Election Lead to Insurrection? Lessons for Mexico from the US, and Lessons for the US from Mexico
GS(3) Thunderbolt 7-7-06: Mexican Presidential Election Still in Doubt
GS(3) Thunderbolt 7-3-06: Greg Palast on the Case in the Mexican Presidential Election
Hard Rain Journal 6-28-06: NYU Law School's Brennan Center Reports E-Voting Software Attacks are a Real Danger
SPECIAL EDITION: “Until this issue is burning on the mind of every citizen” -- Words of Power Interviews Mark Crispin Miller
Words of Power #22: Election Fraud As Information Warfare, and a National Security Issue
Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and http://www.wordsofpower.net. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net
Greg Palast, Information Warfare, Cyber Security, Voting, Elections, Election, Vote, Vote Fraud, fraud, cybercrime, cyber crime, Mexico