Andrés Manuel López Obrador

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Andrés Manuel López Obrador (born 13 November 1953) is a populist Mexican politician.

He was the Head of Government (Jefe de Gobierno) of the Federal District (commonly called "mayor of Mexico City" in the English-language press) from 2000 to 2005. He is currently the candidate to the presidency of Mexico of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD)-led coalition (Alliance for the Well-Being of All) in the 2006 elections.

López Obrador was previously a member of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) in his home state of Tabasco. He left the PRI following internal disputes and joined the PRD Partido de la Revolución Democráticawhere he was later the president at the state and national levels.

In the media, López Obrador is frequently referred to by his initials AMLO and as el Peje an abbreviation of pejelagarto, a species of fish from the Lepisosteidae family, found in the state of Tabasco.

Currently Lopez Obrador is the leading candidate in the polls for the presidential election to be held on Mexico in july 2006.

Background

López Obrador was born in Macuspana municipality, in Tabasco. He became interested in politics at an early age and studied political science and public administration at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) before joining the PRI and collaborating actively in Carlos Pellicer's campaign for the governorship of Tabasco.

In 1977, he was selected to head the government's Instituto Indigenista (Indigenous People's Institute) of his state, where he promoted the publication of Indigenous literature. In 1984 he relocated to Mexico City to work at the Instituto Nacional del Consumidor (National Consumers' Institute), a government agency.

Although he worked for a time for Tabasco governor Enrique González Pedrero, López Obrador resigned his post and membership in the PRI to join the new dissenting wing of the PRI led by Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, which would later be transformed into an independent party, the PRD. He ran for office in Tabasco in 1988 under this new banner.

After losing that election, López Obrador served as PRD president in Tabasco until 1994, when, after losing a bid for the Tabasco governorship (to PRI's Roberto Madrazo, in a highly disputed election) he launched a run for the head office of his party. He led the PRD from 2 August 1996 to 10 April 1999.

Head of Government of Mexico City

On 29 March 2000, he entered the Federal District's Head of Government (Jefe de Gobierno) race. Jefe de Gobierno, a position with a status between that of city mayor and state governor, is arguably the second most important elected office in Mexico. His candidacy was contested by political opponents who claimed he was not really a resident of the capital city, but the allegations were dismissed. Mexico City became a PRD stronghold since with Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas's victory in 1997, and López Obrador won the elections of 2 July 2000, with 38.3% of the popular vote. Running as the "coalition candidate" of the Alliance for Mexico City, he defeated Santiago Creel of the PAN (33.4%), Jesús Silva Herzog Flores of the PRI (22.8%), and other minor-party candidates. Marcelo Ebrard, today one of López Obrador's closest political allies, declined to run as the candidate for the new Center Democratic Party, so as to facilitate his victory.

Public image

Thanks in part to his demagogic practices during his time as Head of Government, López Obrador has become one of the most recognizable and popular politicians in Mexico. Like most populist politicians, his policies appeal to lower- and middle-income citizens.

To support his public relations campaign, López Obrador crafted an image of frugality and honesty. He resides in a modest apartment near UNAM's main campus and owns a 1990's Nissan Sunny B13 . However, his son drives an expensive armored SUV always followed by bodyguards. According to published polls, he is considered the most honest of the three primary contenders for the Presidency.

López Obrador's reputation was tarnished when several high-profile officials and members of his party were involved in a series of scandals dubbed the Videoscandals. More recently evidence of his afinity with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has plagued the media further affecting his image.

Political agenda

As mayor, López Obrador followed a 70's like policy of heavy public spending aimed at gaining popular support. The Mexico City public debt increased drastically during his tenure to support programs theoretically designed to achieve social justice, combating crime, promoting real-estate construction, and expanding the transportation system. However, during his majoral time crime in Mexico City reached record levels and social programs were limited to vote generating activities.

To expand and promote PRD's leftist principles he also founded the first new university in Mexico City in three decades, the UACM, which confers engineering, humanities and social sciences degrees. Students are admitted via a lottery, with the only prerequisites being Mexico City residency and completion of the previous education level. Academic level has been questioned and opposition claims it was yet another one of his PR moves.

As part of his PR program aimed at improving his image on crime fight, López Obrador hired Rudy Giuliani to, in theory, craft a zero-tolerance policy. Unfortunately, nothing of relevance happened following the highly publicised move.

He directed the restoration and modernization of Mexico City's old city center, the Centro Histórico, which has 16th-17th century buildings and a large number of tourist attractions, yet had been badly maintained, overcrowded, and crime-ridden in the last few decades. He led a joint venture with Carlos Slim, Latin America's richest man, and a native of the Centro Histórico, to expropriate, restore, rebuild and gentrify large parts of the area, creating attractive shopping and residential areas for middle- and upper-income residents.

López Obrador used fiscal policy to encourage private sector investment in housing. He has granted construction firms tax breaks so as to make projects more financially attractive. This strategy has led to the construction of more condominiums and office building during his tenure, than during any other period in Mexico City history. New condos have emerged in the upscale neighborhoods of Polanco and Lomas, as has Torre Mayor, the tallest building in Latin America. He has also facilitated the construction of low-income housing throughout the city by making credit more easily available.

López Obrador embarked on a series of actions to improve the city's traffic flow. To increase the capacity and speed of the city's two main thoroughfares, Periférico and Viaducto, he added sections of second stories to their existing infrastructure. This led to such a noticeable improvement in traffic congestion that similar public works are planned. An express bus service, the Metrobús, based on the successful Colombian model, was built down Avenida Insurgentes, cutting through the city some 20 km from north to south.

While the PRI and the PAN initially criticized some of López Obrador's programs, they have recently begun to design their own versions of his projects. Fox publicly criticized the monthly assistance checks to the disenfranchised, yet he had his Sedesol Secretary, Josefina Vázquez Mota, prepare and implement a very similar program to be applied nationwide; unlike López Obrador's program, the national program would be means-tested. The governor of the State of Mexico, a member of the PRI, has also recently announced an assistance program.

Legal and political controversies

see Desafuero, also in this section
see Videoscandals

After enacting his "zero-tolerance" policy of crime, he saw his law enforcement record stained by the lynching of federal law enforcement officers doing an undercover investigation on 2004. The city's chief of police, Marcelo Ebrard, and the Federal Secretary of Public Safety, Ramón Huerta, were both accused of not organizing a timely rescue effort. After a thorough investigation, López Obrador gave Ebrard a vote of confidence, despite a request from President Fox that López Obrador relieve him of his duties. Later, using his constitutional powers, Fox fired Ebrard, in what critics believe was a politically motivated move to derail his political future. Huerta, a close friend of President Fox, remained in his position. There is an ongoing federal inquiry into the matter. López Obrador later appointed Ebrard as Secretary of Social Development, and supported his candidacy in the PRD primary for the mayor of Mexico City.

The opposition charged that the aging subway system was neglected (see metro). However, funds assigned for its maintenance were diverted to the construction of the new upper-levels of major routes in the city. These diversion of funds caused an increase in malfunctions and downtime. López Obrador partly financed some of these infrastructure improvements with funds from the federal bank, Banobras.

López Obrador's detractors argue that a legal dispute with a Spanish company has the potential to become a major problem. Eumex signed a contract enabling it to provide street publicity with former regent (before López Obrador's post existed) Óscar Espinosa Villarreal. López Obrador's government sought to revisit the contract, citing its unusually favorable terms. Eumex was granted a court order allowing it to install street publicity until the matter is resolved, but it was prevented from doing so at least once, raising the possibility of sanctions against the López Obrador government. The matter is being litigated in the courts.

In July 2004, after several months of kidnappings (including some celebrities) throughout the country, many non-governmental organizations called for simultaneous marches in state capitals and Mexico City to protest the high level of crime throughout the country. López Obrador criticized the large march, citing the reduction in criminal activity during his tenure. Both before and after the march, the city government distributed a comic series, Tales of the City to give citizens a different view of his accomplishments. In the comic book, López Obrador's opponents are described as "dark forces" attempting to undermine his accomplishments and weaken his commanding lead in presidential polls. (President Fox also used a comic book, "Building the Future", to counter what he perceived a media bias against his many accomplishments.)

The following year, in July 2005, López Obrador criticized a series of TV spots made by a non-governmental organization, México Unido Contra la Delincuencia, as an attack against him, possibly orchestrated by former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari. These spots showed testimonials from celebrities and others who had suffered kidnappings: actress Martha Cristiana recounted the abduction of her children, a man described how his four fingers were amputated by his captors, and Talina Fernández remembered the death of her daughter, actress Mariana Levy, due to a heart attack caused by the sight of an armed man in her vicinity. López Obrador asked the organizers of the march and the TV ad campaign to disclose their funding sources. They have refused.

Desafuero

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Main article: Desafuero

Desafuero refers to, in Spanish, as the process through which a government official's immunity (fuero) to criminal prosecution is removed. This process does not denote guilt or innocence; it simply indicates whether enough evidence exists to warrant a criminal inquiry. The following discussion is based specifically on Mexican law on desafuero.

We should preface our discussion of the desafuero by describing the political environment in which it unfolded. Ever since mid 2003, when the first polls indicated that López Obrador held a substantial lead in the presidential election, officials from the PRI and the PAN repeatedly made references to López Obrador, stating that his fuero should be removed so that he could respond to criminal charges. In late December 2004 during a private gathering with friends, Marta Sahagún (wife of the president of Mexico) stated that by April 2005 López Obrador would no longer be Mayor of Mexico City, as he would have to leave his office in order to face charges..

Chronology

9 November 2000: Rosario Robles, his predecessor, expropriated a patch of land from a larger property called El Encino, in Santa Fe, Cuajimalpa, to build an access road for a private hospital.

11 March 2001: The landowner sued the Federal District on the grounds of improper expropriation. He was granted a federal judicial order barring further construction until the matter was definitively settled. Construction, the proprietor alleged, prevented access to his property. According to prosecutors, López Obrador knowingly disregarded this order several times. Under Mexican criminal code, this is a misdemeanor.

January 2005: López Obrador's intention to run for President became clear. Meanwhile, the Attorney General resurrects the case and sends it to Congress for evaluation.

Late February and March of 2005: As the desafuero vote in a congressional sub-committee approached, the federal government initiated a media campaign against López Obrador. Fox had his Secretary of the Interior, Santiago Creel, run a series of media spots which attempted to draw comparisons between López Obrador and common criminals. Despite the media campaign, the overwhelming majority of Mexicans believed that the desafuero process was politically motivated.

1 April 2005: López Obrador lost the first battle in a vote taken by a sub-committee of four deputies, enabling a desafuero vote by the full Chamber of Deputies six days later.

7 April 2005: López Obrador defended himself in an address to the Deputies. After a long session in which he accused President Fox of being behind the process, the Chamber of Deputies voted to remove the fuero 360 to 127. The final tally amounted to a party line vote, with the PRI and the PAN voting to remove his fuero. The PRD, Lopez Obrador's Party, voted unanimously against the resolution. López Obrador saw his constitutional immunities lifted. The loss of his constitutional immunity appeared to be the beginning of a protracted legal and political struggle that would expose certain shortcomings in the Mexican legal system. After the deputies' vote, the Asamblea Legislativa del Distrito Federal (local legislative body) precipitated a constitutional crisis, claiming it was that body which should have voted on the desafuero; the federal deputies' filed their own complaint, arguing that Congress was the appropriate body to consider the desafuero. The Supreme Court agreed to consider both appeals, thereby allowing López Obrador to remain Head of Government, while simultaneously being subject to prosecution. Editorials in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Financial Times all considered the desafuero a bad decision.

8 April 2005: López Obrador quits office. The local government is temporarily headed by López Obrador's Secretary of Government Alejandro Encinas.

Two local deputies from the PAN, the ruling party, paid the bail so López Obrador would not be incarcerated. López Obrador called the bail a "cowardly act" and refused to accept it as it came from the hands of those that promoted the "desafuero". A judge later rejected the charges and the bail on technical grounds.

24 April 2005: A popular rally in support of Lopez Obrador takes place at the Zócalo in Mexico City. It had an estimated attendance of 1.2 million. Although the numbers and its spontaneity were disputed by his political opponents, analysts agree that this political rally was the largest in Mexican history. López Obrador had promoted different forms of protest against the desafuero as early as the case against him started. This included the production of posters featuring phrases like "No al desafuero" or "No al Golpe de Estado". He also coordinated political and grassroots movements in Mexico and abroad.

27 April 2005: President Fox announced changes in his cabinet, a re-evaluation of the legal case against López Obrador and proposed a constitutional amendment so civil rights are only suspended until a citizen is found guilty. As of February 2006, these changes have not passed Congress. A new Attorney General is appointed.

4 May 2005: The new Attorney General's office announced they would drop contempt charges against López Obrador on a technicality. In summary, it declared, he was guilty but his unique post as "Head of Government", of recent creation, had not been incorporated in all the laws. The law only had provisions for governors or municipal president). Lopez Obrador was neither. Hence, the wording of the relevant article made it unclear if a penalty for his crime exists. The announcement was refuted by criminal law experts. On the one hand, they contended, because there is a clear penalty due legal precedents. On the other hand, they claimed, the Attorney General cannot declare guilt nor innocence, even less interpret the law. Thereby, the Attorney General could not drop charges due to the nature of the offense and because charges were filed by a private company. The company followed the suit.

December 2005: Chief Justice Mariano Azuela further criticized the case dismissal. He said that neither the President nor Congress can declare innocence nor close the matter for political reasons, as he claimed Fox did. (According to published reports, Supreme Court Justice Mariano Azuela had discussed the desafuero of López Obrador with President Fox as early as late 2004, well before Congress took action, a highly irregular act.)

January 2006: Marisela Morales, the Attorney General's official directly in charge of the case since the beginning, left her post at the unit responsible for prosecuting crimes committed by government officials. With her departure, all high-level officials in charge of the case have been replaced, but the Attorney General's office did state, shortly after Azuela's speech in late December, that charges against López Obrador are still pending.

Presidential campaign

In September 2005, López Obrador was nominated as presidential pre-candidate for the PRD for the 2006 general election after the "moral leader" of the party, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, declined to participate in the internal elections when polls showed López Obrador had 90% party support.

His political platform can be found in the book "50 commitments". It can be viewed, in Spanish, at López Obrador's official web site.

His platform built on populist and demagogic practices has attracted the support of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. In fact, López Obrador has begun to openly embrace a two way speech in which he tries to attract both the radical left while in other forums he assumes positions consistent with a center-left candidate.

References

Publications

Unless otherwise noted, in Spanish and published in Mexico.

Los Primeros Pasos (First Steps)
Del Esplendor a la Sombra (From Splendor to Darkness)
Tabasco, Víctima de un Fraude (Tabasco, Victim of Fraud)
FOBAPROA: un expediente abierto
Entre la Historia y la Esperanza (Between History and Hope)
Un proyecto alternativo de nación (An alternate nation project) ISBN 685956979
Contra el desafuero: mi defensa jurídica (Against the lifting of executive immunity: my legal defense) ISBN 9685957908

External links

Site in English
Official site
Support site against the desafuero process
Description of Obrador's magnetism by authors Elena Poniatowska and Paco Ignacio Taibo II on Democracy Now! program

News articles

Waiting for López Obrador: Latin America's Political Outlook Latin Business Chronicle
Mexico mayor runs into the buffers (BBC News)
Greetings from Mexistan (Washington Post opinion column)
Template:InSpanish El Universal

Preceded byRosario Robles Berlanga	Head of Government of the Federal District 2000—2005	Succeeded byAlejandro Encinas Rodríguez
Preceded byPorfirio Muñoz Ledo	President of the Party of the Democratic Revolution 1996—1999	Succeeded byPablo Gómez Álvarez

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