{"id":556831,"date":"2018-04-04T09:20:04","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T15:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=556831"},"modified":"2018-04-05T06:07:10","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T12:07:10","slug":"presidential-frontrunner-offers-mexico-a-new-deal-in-ciudad-juarez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/04\/presidential-frontrunner-offers-mexico-a-new-deal-in-ciudad-juarez\/","title":{"rendered":"Presidential frontrunner offers Mexico a new deal in Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Andr\u00e9s

L\u00f3pez Obrador campaign photo<\/p>

Mexican presidential frontrunner Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador on Sunday in Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez.<\/p><\/div>\n

Defying local fears of a poor turnout because of the Easter holiday, the people arrived by the thousands. They were old, young, students, teachers, workers, indigenous and non-indigenous, believers and non-believers. Entire families came in tow.<\/p>\n

Withstanding a hot sun warming up Easter morning, enthusiastic supporters of Mexican presidential frontrunner Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador, or AMLO as he is popularly called, gathered at the Benito Ju\u00e1rez Monument near downtown Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez, where their man delivered a stinging critique Mexico’s economic model and proposed sweeping changes he said will benefit the nation’s financially struggling majority.<\/p>\n

While waiting for L\u00f3pez Obrador to speak, maquiladora (border export factory) worker Jose Lopez said he liked the three-time presidential contender because “he’s more transparent than others.” Like many juarenses,<\/em> Lopez said low wages and high living costs make getting by a difficult proposition. “You buy a television in December and you pawn it in January,” Lopez said. “(AMLO) can solve some of the problems we have here, like hunger and delinquency.”<\/p>\n

Glenda Simental also works in a maquiladora, earning the equivalent of about $77 per week. The single mom said she grappled not only with rising food costs but expensive school fees for her children, despite a law that prohibits schools from charging mandatory fees. \u201cYou have to work a lot. It\u2019s not easy to support kids in school,” Simental said. \u201cMany principals won’t allow students in without paying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Declaring her reasons for supporting L\u00f3pez Obrador, the 16-year resident of Ju\u00e1rez said simply, \u201cHe has good proposals\u2026 we want a change.”<\/p>\n

As people filed onto the monument grounds, a taped tune of the popular Mexican rock\/ska combo Panteon Rococo, La Carencia<\/em>, played to the popular mood. Now as then, the 2002 hit song\u2019s words resonate with many:<\/p>\n

“…Now you can’t get ahead<\/em>
\nAnd dozens and dozens of years have passed<\/em>
\nWell, in a globalized world<\/em>
\nThe poor people have no place<\/em>
\nAnd scarcity is up<\/em>
\nAnd wages down…”<\/em><\/p>\n

Besides colorful T-shirts and caps representing the three political parties that form AMLO’s “We Will Make History Together” electoral coalition, banners from other organizations and social movements peppered the campaign site, displaying the presence of the small farmer-based National Ayala Plan, the Popular Socialist Party, Progressive Social Networks of Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez and, of course, the former Mexican contract workers, or braceros<\/em>, who continue struggling for compensation owed to them for work in the U.S. decades ago. The latter meet weekly at the Benito Ju\u00e1rez Monument in a stubborn effort to keep their movement alive even as many of the old farmworkers die off.<\/p>\n

Taking a humorous swipe at stories that have attempted to link L\u00f3pez Obrador to Russia, a sign held above the crowd read “Russian Teachers for AMLOvsy.” In addition to people from other parts of Chihuahua state, L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s supporters came from the United States — including from Santa Fe, Albuquerque and El Paso.<\/p>\n

Professor L\u00f3pez Obrador?<\/h3>\n

Attired in a plain white shirt and casual slacks, L\u00f3pez Obrador took to the stage. After several weeks of an official time-out decreed between the primary and general phases of the 2018 election campaign, the candidate’s Easter Sunday appearance in Ju\u00e1rez marked the kick-off of his general campaign, which will last almost three months until election day on July 1, per electoral ground rules.<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez Obrador’s three opponents also held Easter day events: Ricardo Anaya at a famous religious center and migrant-sending region in the state of Jalisco, Jose Antonio Meade in tropical Yucatan, and Margarita Zavala in violence-torn Mexico State.<\/p>\n

AMLO’s Ju\u00e1rez speech was splashed with Mexican history, indigenous cosmology, nationalism and modern global politics and economics. He began his talk by reminding the audience how Paso del Norte (the old name of Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez) was the place where President Benito Ju\u00e1rez and his cabinet found refuge while resisting the conservatives and French invaders during the 1860s. In May 1911, the renamed city of Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez was the scene of the “decisive battle” of the Mexican Revolution that overthrew dictator Porfirio Diaz and led to Francisco Madero’s ascendancy to the presidency, AMLO said.<\/p>\n

“That’s why we decided to start our campaign here,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The 64-year-old politician also cited contemporary considerations for choosing Ju\u00e1rez, high among them the economic squeeze on the working class and the women’s murders, or feminicides, “that continue happening across the country… it wasn’t a coincidence that Pope Francisco came here more than two years ago.”<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez Obrador came to Ju\u00e1rez at a delicate and uncertain moment in the city\u2019s history. Though new businesses are opening and a smattering of tour buses is again visible on the streets, deep scars remain from the so-called drug war of 2008-2012 that left upwards of 12,000 murdered and tens of thousands or more displaced, according to various academic and media accounts. Although juarenses<\/em> are known for their tough spirit, many locals worry about continued crime and a new spurt in drug-related violence.<\/p>\n

In a lengthy discourse brimming with numbers that might even have passed as an economic professor’s lecture, L\u00f3pez Obrador slammed Mexico’s “neo-liberal model” of trickle down economics, blaming it for 30 years of economic stagnation while enriching a few at the expense of the many.<\/p>\n

Corruption, meanwhile, was “institutionalized” in the political realm, transforming graft and theft into “the principle function of political power,” the former Mexico City mayor maintained. Under a L\u00f3pez Obrador administration, the federal government would stop acting as \u201ca factory for the new rich,\u201d the presidential hopeful promised.<\/p>\n

As drones from media organizations hovered over the crowd, AMLO laid out plans for the rebirth of Mexico and a revival of the internal economy. \u201cThe national economy is going to produce what we consume here in Mexico,\u201d he insisted.<\/p>\n

In an astute recognition of Ju\u00e1rez as a magnet-like city that attracts migrants from across the Mexican Republic and beyond who preserve family ties back home, L\u00f3pez Obrador detailed proposals aimed at creating jobs by rebuilding earthquake damaged infrastructure in southern Mexico with human hands instead of machines; planting more than two million acres of fruit and timber-producing trees in the southeastern section of the country; running a bullet train in the international tourist haven of the Mayan Riviera; rebuilding ports on the Gulf and Pacific coasts; and deploying a new freight train for transporting the goods of the Asian trade to the U.S.<\/p>\n

For Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez and the northern border region, AMLO proposed a free trade zone similar to the special economic regimes that existed at different times in the northern frontier of Mexico dating back to the 1800s. The new zone would move Mexican customs regulations and inspections to about 18 miles outside Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez and other border locales.<\/p>\n

Eliciting applause, the onetime partner of billionaire Carlos Slim in the redevelopment of downtown Mexico City pledged breaks for the border, including the elimination of an income tax, the lowering of high gasoline prices to U.S. levels, and the slashing in half of the highly unpopular value added sales tax from 16 percent to 8 percent.<\/p>\n

Justifying the tax cuts, the candidate specifically mentioned the percentages of equivalent taxes charges in U.S. border states where many Mexicans shop, including New Mexico, saying the Mexican tax should conform to the neighbors’ taxes.<\/p>\n

AMLO’s border proposals put pressure on the other candidates to focus more attention on a region that, like the U.S. side, is often marginalized or misunderstood in national politics.<\/p>\n

In Ju\u00e1rez, L\u00f3pez Obrador additionally promised to double the minimum wage in the envisioned free trade zone in 2019, provide support to students and young people embarking on careers, scuttle a controversial education reform law, double senior pensions, pay farmers guaranteed prices, and extend internet and cellphone service to the entire country.<\/p>\n

His campaign pledges form a 50-point political program published in the newspaper of L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s National Movement for the Regeneration of Mexico (Morena) political party, Regeneracion,<\/em> which was distributed en masse at the Ju\u00e1rez campaign rally. In U.S. political terms, think New Deal.<\/p>\n

Critics deride the Tabasco-born politico as an irresponsible populist who will wreck the economy and lead Mexico down the path of Venezuela. In an important political shift, however, the campaign of L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s leading opponent, Ricardo Anaya of the conservative PAN party, is apparently shirking the Venezuela\/communist imputation in favor of one that likens AMLO to a Mexican historical figure: former President Luis Echeverria (1970-76), a man who is remembered for the economic crises and violent bouts of repression against opponents during his administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thesis of food self-sufficiency, of timber, of this and that authoritarian, nationalist or statist idea of L\u00f3pez Obrador, appear like two drops of water, those of Luis Echeverria,\u201d former chancellor and current Anaya campaign coordinator Jorge Castaneda told Proceso<\/em> magazine. \u201cThey aren\u2019t from (Hugo) Chavez, Evo Morales or the Kirchners. They are from Echeverria.\u201d<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez Obrador insisted in Ju\u00e1rez that revenue is available for his planned reforms, and it can be sourced by slashing the perks and privileges of the federal bureaucracy to the tune of almost $30 billion.<\/p>\n

Relationship with the U.S.<\/h3>\n

Inevitably, the left nationalist political leader addressed U.S.-Mexico relations, and without mentioning U.S. President Donald Trump by name, demanded a mutually respectful relationship between two neighbors.<\/p>\n

The international press coverage quickly picked up on L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s vow that he would not to allow Mexico to be a “pinata” for any foreign government. \u201cSocial problems aren\u2019t solved with walls or by force,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Less noticed by the international media were AMLO’s Ju\u00e1rez statements about the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Stressing that he was not against NAFTA, L\u00f3pez Obrador nevertheless criticized the pact for not living up to expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf NAFTA benefited Mexico, our economy wouldn\u2019t be stagnated,\u201d he told the crowd.<\/p>\n

The veteran political leader said it would be “convenient” to wait for the signing of a new trade agreement until after the July 1 Mexican election, with a new NAFTA containing provisions on wages and migration.<\/p>\n

More than a quarter century ago, immigrant advocates who had hoped the free trade agreement would encompass the immigration question were sorely disappointed when the NAFTA negotiators excluded the issue from the trinational pact.<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s Ju\u00e1rez comments came before President Trump again threatened to scuttle NAFTA and, in a surprise move, announced his desire to dispatch U.S. troops to the border. In response, AMLO said in the state of Coahuila on Monday that Mexicans would peacefully demonstrate their opposition, dressed in white, along the length of the border if the U.S. militarizes the region.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s announcement rapidly made headlines in the Mexican press as political actors swung into motion. Chancellor Luis Videgaray wrote on Twitter that the Mexican government had requested through \u201cofficial channels\u201d a clarification of Trump\u2019s statement, while Jose Antonio Meade, presidential candidate for current Mexican President Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto\u2019s ruling PRI party, tweeted that deploying U.S. soldiers on the border would constitute an \u201cinadmissible offense against our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet L\u00f3pez Obrador concluded his Ju\u00e1rez speech on an optimistic note, telling his listeners, \u201cI am confident the national crisis is ready to end and that nobody can obscure in a lasting way the name of Mexico or stop the cause of justice from triumphing.”<\/p>\n

“It may be an ideal, a utopia, something unachievable, but we are now many, those of you who are here enduring the sun, and millions of more Mexicans who want peace with justice and dignity, sustainable development, the rule of law, well being, the good life,” he said.<\/p>\n

Thousands of supporters then joined in shouts of \u201cViva Mexico\u201d “President,” and “It’s an honor to be with L\u00f3pez Obrador.” They raised clenched fists and belted out the Mexican national anthem.<\/p>\n

The hefty turnout in Ju\u00e1rez marked a fresh chapter for the longtime presidential hopeful, whose previous runs witnessed weak support in the city and northern border region, historically divided between the PRI and PAN parties.<\/p>\n

\u201cL\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s movement has grown a lot in Chihuahua and Ju\u00e1rez,” said campaign activist Maria Eugenia Garcia.<\/p>\n

Team AMLO<\/h3>\n

Apart from L\u00f3pez Obrador’s wife Beatriz Gutierrez Muller, a platoon of prominent supporters including senatorial candidates from the Morena party accompanied their standard bearer to Ju\u00e1rez. Among them was Nestora Salgado<\/a>, a former commander of the indigenous-based community police in the southern state of Guerrero who was imprisoned by Mexican authorities in 2013, accused of kidnapping.<\/p>\n

Charging that Salgado was framed-up because of the crackdowns she led on organized criminal bands, supporters waged an international campaign for her freedom that drew the support of several U.S. congressional representatives. Released from prison in 2016, Salgado is now running for the Senate on the Morena ticket in Guerrero. Nonetheless, the first-time candidate is not sure she\u2019ll be able to campaign freely on her home turf.<\/p>\n

“I don’t feel secure campaigning there because of the threats that have been made against me,” Salgado told this reporter. A dual U.S.-Mexican citizen, Salgado credited the global grassroots for her release.<\/p>\n

“Freedom was the fruit of the social struggle, not only of the Mexican people but also the international organizations that recognized the arbitrariness of the detention,” she added.<\/p>\n

In the event of a heavy vote for L\u00f3pez Obrador and Morena, Salgado is virtually guaranteed a seat in the Mexican Senate, an electoral outcome that is viewed with trepidation in some quarters of Guerrero\u2019s ruling circles. If she\u2019s elected senator, Salgado vowed to be a “voice of the forgotten, to be the face of those who aren’t seen,” she said.<\/p>\n

Above all, violence in Mexico needs to end, the candidate said. “We all want peace. We all have to make it happen, because it’s not going to come on its own,” Salgado added.<\/p>\n

Though L\u00f3pez Obrador is leading in some polls by as much as 20 points, the political landscape could change between now and July 1. After the general campaign commenced on Easter weekend, radio and television outlets (not to mention social media networks) in Ju\u00e1rez and elsewhere in Mexico were immediately saturated with candidate spots. In a clear bid for the huge but slippery Millennial vote, one noteworthy spot features the boyish-looking 39-year old Ricardo Anaya chiding \u201cAndr\u00e9s Manuel\u201d for holding \u201cantiquated\u201d ideas.<\/p>\n

With a record of fraud staining previous elections, the L\u00f3pez Obrador campaign is putting great stock in monitoring polling stations and ballot counting. Accordingly, Morena activists were visible at L\u00f3pez Obrador’s appearance, recruiting attendees to defend the vote.<\/p>\n

“More than anything else, it’s citizens watching votes that are counted so the election is transparent,” said Morena representative Maria Eugenia Garcia. “The goal is to have citizens at every polling booth so they are taken care of.”<\/p>\n

Kent Paterson is an independent journalist who covers issues in the U.S.\/Mexico border region.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s supporters came to the rally from across Chihuahua State, and also from the United States — including Santa Fe, Albuquerque and El Paso.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2732,"featured_media":556846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2238,236],"class_list":["post-556831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2018-election","tag-mexico"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2732"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}