Politicos Visiting Oaxaca

According to the political writer Pedro Echeverría V[1], Carlos Salinas de Gortari, a “known thief and assassin” came for a press opportunity in Oaxaca to aid the PRI governor. By coincidence López Obrador was in the midst of his weeks-long tour of the poorest Oaxaca towns.

Actually, Echeverria says, Salinas comes to remind the PRI politicos that he was their major promoter, permitting them to obtain positions that let them get rich.

The press celebrated him, along with Televisa, as he has begun to promote “the doll” Peña Nieto for the Presidency. (Noticias calls peña Nieto “the puppy”. )

Of the 500 deputies which make up the Congress, the PRI will have in the new session 237 seats, the PAN 143; the PRD 72, the Green 21 and the others 27.  With 14 deputies more, the PRI could have won a majority. Echeverria asks, “What is that telling us? That AMLO, in spite of having visited …all the towns in the nation, his vote of 7 or 8% may indicate that his path should not be electoral…he has given magnificent results in the mobilization of masses based on their deepest felt demands…it seems that the electoral route is fully controlled by the media and the business community”.

During the publicity war of the politicos AMLO made a pledge to visit every municipality in Oaxaca governed by usos y costumbres, i.e., local internal rule. With 418 such municipalities, Oaxaca has more than any other state, and many maintain deep resistance to the governing PRI; those under PRI cacique rule present the highest marginalization in Oaxaca. The battle, predominantly indigenous, to save what is left of their natural resources, is now the new front in the war against the government. Civil organizations step up to help the people fight off the government, while the teachers give moral and verbal support.

AMLO toured several days, (reported by Floriberta Faustina in Noticias August 2, 2009), kissing babies (see photo) along the way. The tour took place despite the PRI caciques’ attempts to keep him out by encouraging town authorities to deny AMLO permission to appear in the Mixteca region. According to report, people in areas remote from media access did not recognize AMLO when he got out of the car, and had to be reassured. He was accompanied by Senator Gabino Cue of the Convergencia Party who bad-mouthed the present state government, an act previewing the political alliances shaping up. Meanwhile the PAN has suggested that if Cue looks like the best bet to win the governorship, they will support him. So much for principles.

AMLO is the good guy, talking about his Alternative Project for the Nation to change the “difficult conditions” under which the general population lives. “Arriba los de abajo y abajo los de arriba”, he proclaimed, “Up with those from below and down with those above”, a stirring pronouncement echoing the 2006 movement, but sadly not understood by many who don’t know Spanish. The weekend trip covered fourteen remote mountain towns, where AMLO made no secret of his concern for the next presidential election.

Not to be outdone, former (and thoroughly discredited) president Carlos Salinas de Gortari came to Oaxaca “as a tourist” by way of his private airplane, to buy artisan pots and incidentally visit Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (URO). One might make the wild guess that they wanted to chat about URO’s designated successor, José Franco Vargas, referred to in the popular press as “El Chucky”, and considered to have been the force behind the repressions of 2006 and the “dirty war”.

More important is the PRI presidential comeback; Salinas supports the candidacy of Enrique Peña Nieto; whether he’s called a doll or a puppy, he’s their guy.

In the same newspaper showing AMLO, we learn that Salinas consumed grasshoppers, a local delicacy, in the center of the city. When asked if he knew that AMLO was also in Oaxaca he said Oaxaca was still beautiful despite AMLO’s presence. According to Echeverria’s version, when asked if he knew AMLO was in the state, he asked Who’s that? and guffawed.

Fotos:

1. AMLO - Noticias

2. Salinas - Agencia Reforma