Monday, November 27, 2006

 

Mexico, Shadow Governments and Loyal Oppositions

 

By Allan Wall

 

While Vicente Fox makes ready to leave office as President of Mexico, and Felipe Calderon prepares to take office on December 1st, another politician — losing candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) — has “taken office” as the so-called “legitimate president” of Mexico.

 

The scene for this event was the Zocalo (the main Mexico City plaza) and the date was November 20th.  Before an assembled multitude of fans, AMLO was “inaugurated.”

 

Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez closed out the ceremony with a song to delight the multitude.

 

But wasn’t that a violation of strict Mexican laws which prohibit foreigners from getting involved in politics?  After all, foreigners have been expelled from Mexico for simply marching in demonstrations.  But here was the silver-tongued Silvio, singing in a very political ceremony in the Zocalo.

 

The nonintervention issue came up prior to the election several times.  Calderon’s PAN (National Action Party) accused the AMLO campaign of getting help from Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, while AMLO’s PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution) raised Cain when former Spanish leader Jose Aznar visited Mexico and endorsed Calderon.

 

Certainly in a real presidential inauguration there are visiting heads of state, and that’s not considered intervention.  But the participation of Rodriguez in AMLO’s inauguration would seem to be questionable.  I guess what people are against is not so much foreign intervention, but foreign intervention that helps the other side!

 

Anyway, what does AMLO intend to do as the “legitimate president” of Mexico?

 

He plans to travel around the country and make proposals.  Lopez Obrador has already floated several of his proposals, and some of them are good — at least as far as recognizing the problems Mexico faces.

 

AMLO is absolutely right that Mexico must tackle the tax evasion problem.

 

Too, Lopez Obrador points out the vast differential in the profit margin within the same corporations for the same services, in Mexico and abroad. In banking for example, Banamex/Citigroup has 33 percent profits in Mexico and 24 percent in the United States, while wireless services provider America Movil (Telcel) has 50 percent profits in Mexico, 25 percent in Brazil, and nine percent in Argentina.  This is a legitimate issue, though whether or not Lopez Obrador has a solution is another question.

 

AMLO has also proposed the elimination of monopolies.  But which monopolies would he be referring to?  Surely not the biggest Mexican monopoly of all — PEMEX, Petroleos Mexicanos, the oil, gas and petrochemical giant?

 

Breaking up the PEMEX monopoly would conflict with another AMLO proposal — no privatization of PEMEX.  AMLO will probably oppose even the modest and probably inadequate PEMEX reforms favored by Calderon.

 

Lopez Obrador’s  “term” as “president” has just begun, so you can expect plenty more proposals in the future.  Not that there isn’t something to be said for proposals from a loyal opposition.

 

The United Kingdom has a “shadow cabinet,” composed of opposition party leaders. Now Labor is in power, so the Conservatives have their “shadow cabinet,” headed up by the party leader (who’s the shadow Prime Minister). The Cabinet has a Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, a Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, a Shadow Home Secretary, a Shadow Secretary of State for Defense, and so forth.

 

The idea is that each opposition secretary “shadows,” or follows, the activities of the real cabinet secretary with whom he corresponds.  The aim is to critique government policies, provide alternatives, and add to the political discourse.

 

This is all part of the concept of a “loyal opposition.”  But such a mantle would be hard for AMLO to don, after having rejected his election defeat and sent all the country’s institutions “to the devil.”  Lopez Obrador has called the Mexican government a “neofascist oligarchy,” and said that to accept its rules is “an act of treason to the people of Mexico.”

 

So whatever the merits of AMLO’s proposals, he is not presenting his “presidency” as a “loyal opposition.”

 

Several important questions can be asked about his movement.

 

Would Lopez Obrador have more success advancing his agenda within the political system?    Or is it advanced by rejecting the system and calling himself the “legitimate president?”

 

Is Lopez Obrador really more interested in advancing the well-being of his fellow Mexicans or in advancing his own ego?  And, in AMLO’s mind, is there any difference?

 

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Allan Wall, a MexiData.info columnist, recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.  He currently resides in Mexico, where he has lived since 1991. He can be reached via e-mail at allan39@prodigy.net.mx.