Mexico leftist knocks Fox in conservative heartland
Left-wing Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador lashed out at conservative rivals on their home turf on Saturday by saying President Vicente Fox betrayed the hopes of millions.
Lopez Obrador, leading opinion polls by up to 10 points, told a rally in the central town of Guanajuato that Fox failed to deliver the strong economic growth he promised. That has forced record numbers of Mexicans to emigrate illegally to the United States, he said.
“I am not going to betray the people. I am not going to let people down, I am not the same as Vicente Fox,” the leftist told a crowd of several thousand supporters.
Guanajuato, a pretty colonial town sunk in hills once rich with silver, is staunch Fox territory. His family ranch is nearby and he was once governor of Guanajuato state.
Fox, a former Coca-Cola executive, ended 71 years of one-party rule with his 2000 election victory, but he has failed to push economic reforms through Congress. Mexico’s economy is sluggish and drug gang violence is rampant.
More: today.reuters.com
Mexico conservative holds election lead in new poll
The conservative ruling party candidate in Mexicos presidential race has a 2-point lead over his main leftist rival, according to a newspaper poll published on Thursday that confirms a recent trend.
The survey by Excelsior newspaper gave Felipe Calderon 36 percent support compared with 34 percent for former Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. It was the first time Calderon has led the Excelsior poll, which last month showed Lopez Obrador ahead by 2 percentage points.
It follows a series of more closely watched newspaper polls that also showed Calderon moving ahead of the
Conservative has narrow lead in Mexico election chaos
A conservative former cabinet minister emerged as the narrow leader in Mexicos knife-edge presidential election today as the country tensed itself for an unsettling Florida-style recount.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a leftist former mayor of Mexico with a devoted urban following, trails Felipe Calderon, a pro-business, former energy secretary, by just over 1 per cent or 400,000 votes, according to preliminary results from the Mexicos official Federal Electoral Institute (IFE).
But the margin of victory is too small to declare an official winner, so the IFE will begin a vote-by-vote count across Mexicos 300 electoral
Mexico rules out poor relations with Venezuela
The Mexican Government downplayed Friday the possibility of worsening relations with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, accused of intervening in the electoral process.
"There is no fear that relations will be affected by these events," Rubén Aguilar, the speaker of President Vicente Fox, said during a press conference, Efe reported.
The Foreign Ministers of both countries have stated that "relations go smoothly and works continue on the possibility of solving the problem that emerged months ago," he explained.
Fox's conservative Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) claimed that Chávez is intervening in the elections for president
Mexico election race turns as conservative surges
Mexicos ruling party presidential candidate appears to be pulling away from his leftist rival after aggressive TV ads propelled his dramatic surge in an election race being fought on economic policies.
A closely watched poll in the Reforma newspaper on Wednesday showed Felipe Calderon, a conservative, with 40-percent support among probable voters and his left-wing challenger Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador trailing at 33 percent.
Lopez Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor who promises to put the poor first, had been Mexicos most popular politician for three years and was the clear election front-runner until
A leftist victor in Mexico race would be no trouble, U.S. says
Mexico's presidential election is more than six months away, but officials in Washington already are sizing up how the three leading candidates would mesh with the United States - including the possibility that the leftist former mayor of Mexico City could win it all in July.
In interviews, officials and scholars said the prospect that Mexico might elect a left-leaning president - as several other Latin American countries have in recent months, most recently Bolivia with its apparent election of Evo Morales - did not pose a problem for
"Indestructible" leftist challenges Mexico's big two
The leftist candidate leading Mexico's presidential race on Sunday brushed off growing criticism that he is a populist ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, saying he was "politically indestructible."
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who leads opinion polls by up to 9 percentage points, responded to his rivals' criticism as his party took on the ruling establishment in a local election in the country's most populous state.
President Vicente's Fox's conservative party accused Lopez Obrador on Friday of illegally receiving aid from U.S. foe Chavez. The leftist's party strongly denies that.
Former Mexican President Carlos Salinas warned against populism,
Mexicos new Congress could revive stymied reforms
The conservative PAN partys strong showing in Mexicos recent legislative elections could end a deadlock in Congress that stalled tax overhauls and other market-friendly reforms sought by outgoing President Vicente Fox.
The PAN, or National Action Party, won about 41 percent of the seats in Congress in the July 2 elections, taking the No. 1 position in Congress from the long-dominant centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which finished a weak third in the general elections.
Nobody expected before the election for the PAN to be that big in Congress, said Standard and Poors
Venezuela, Mexico withdraw ambassadors over spat
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused Mexican leader Vicente Fox of being a “puppy†of President Bush and said: “Don’t mess with me, sir.†Fox shot back on Monday that “we have dignity in this country†and demanded an apology.
Now the two nations are withdrawing their ambassadors.
The severing of diplomatic relations came after a week of verbal sparring that highlighted Latin America’s differences over free trade and relations with the United States. The conservative Fox tends to side with Washington on many issues, while Chavez, a socialist and populist, has been one of the hemisphere’s
Mexico conservative says on a roll to presidency
Mexicos ruling party candidate for president swaggered into his hometown on Saturday pledging to ride a new wave of momentum to victory after his solid showing in a televised debate and missteps by his main rival.
Felipe Calderon was welcomed by supporters as a hometown hero in the colonial city of Morelia, the Michoacan state capital where he was born, after he rose from underdog to apparent front-runner in the July 2 race.
On an evening campaign swing here, he capitalized on his native son status and belittled his main opponent, leftist Andres
Leftists in Mexico Continue Protests
Leftist activists blockaded bank headquarters and called for a march on the offices of federal prosecutors, as officials recount some of the ballots from Mexicos disputed presidential election.
Continuing a wave of protests against alleged electoral fraud, dozens of supporters of presidential hopeful Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador blocked entrances to the main offices of three foreign-owned banks in Mexico City, chanting Vote by vote! and Long Live Democracy!
The former Mexico City mayor is demanding a recount of all 41 million ballots from the July 2 election, instead of the partial recount of about 9
