Mexico, R.P., Peru, et al

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
7/10/2006



The recent Mexico elections was marked by what its opposition calls massive “fraud”: three million votes “lost” at a crucial moment (part of what we call here as “trending”) then found again but of which 500,000 would not be counted, 900,000 votes “voided”, irregularities in 50,000 out of 130,000 polling stations recorded, opposition votes found in dumps sites and opposition areas shut out from voting (like re-districting here). The 243,000 wining margin could be easily overturned by a ballot-by-ballot recount but the official electoral body refuses (like in the Philippines, 2004).

The battle is between PRD’s Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a.k.a. AMLA, against Felipe Caldreron of the incumbent President Fox’s PAN. Obrador, former Mexico city mayor improved lives of the poor and senior citizens, and opposes privatization of Mexico’s oil, gas and electricity resources. Calderon is stand-in for Fox who was billed as the “great reformist president” six years ago who never “really reform Mexico's stratified social class system and monopolies on power” as international reporter Georgic Geyer described in BBC.

The official electoral body IFE is naturally controlled by the ruling party PAN. Investigative journalist Alfredo Jalife-Rahme of the “Rebelion” says the favorite pastime of IFE’s head Luis Carlos Ugalde Ramirez is “magic”. The computer programs used in the crucial preliminary electoral count software was purchased from Hildebrando, brother-in-law of PAN candidate in the elections Felipe Calderon. Ugalde’s prior job was at a right wind group think tank CIDE, he also arranged the purchase of the election software from Calderon’s brother-in-law. All in the family!

500,000 Mexicans rallied protesting the election fraud and demanding a ballot-by-ballot recount. The case is being elevated to the highest court. While the Mexican masses are waging the struggle to overcome the election fraud, U.S. and Western media have been hailing Caldreon as the winner and sending congratulations. The Washington Post editorialized the Mexican election as “clean” and demanded Obrador accept it, at the same time the PAN and mainstream media demonizes Obrador as a “threat” due to his 500,000 man rally!

Why should mass demonstrations become a threat to “democracy”? We have become familiar with this line under Gloria Arroyo’s regime too. When the masses protest they become threats to democracy, but when minority elite cliques steal elections everyone is expected to accept it? Obrador says the mammoth rally demanding a recount is only the beginning, “Should it be the case that they block us in the mass media, we will have direct communication with the citizenry" through informational committees being set up.

Obrador urged to mobilize peacefully, without blocking highways, and without succumbing to provocations. He said the rallies "in defense of democracy" would not cease until the vote was actually counted and not just the tally sheets reviewed just as the Comelec and Gloria’s minions in Congress did for the 2004 elections controversy. The controversial Mexican elections comes in the long wake of similar “hung” elections in Philippines (FPJ vs. GMA, Peru (Humala vs. Garcia) and other countries where transition from U.S. backed plutocratic regimes to popular leadership were about to transpire.

Venezuela Headline commentarist Stephen Lendman that the troubles besetting the Mexican election shares common ground with the Colombia and Peru 2006 elections where he say “In each case, the outcome was ‘arranged’ and known in advance before voters went to the polls. They're what economist and media and social critic Edward Herman calls ‘Demonstration Elections’ -- the characterization and title he gave his 1980s book analyzing and documenting sham elections in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Vietnam.”

“Professor Herman is an expert, and although his book was written over 20 years ago, it's clear little has changed except for the added sophistication … to make elections turn out the way they wish. …Elections that only appear democratic happen throughout the developing world wherever the US has a strategic interest, which these days means everywhere. But they also happen in at least some developed countries, most notably the last two US presidential elections.” And where they fail to manipulate elections they launch “people power” as against Estrada in 2001 and Ukraine in 2004.

Lendman cites longtime Mexico observer John Ross saying “… the fine art of election theft … certainly was in evidence on July 2 as that election just completed and final results announced on July 6 looked just like the one held there in 1988 when Cuauhtemoc Cardenas (son of the country's last leftist president from 1932 - 38) ran against the US choice Carlos Salinas of the ruling PRI… until … President Vicente Fox of the National Action Party (PAN). Both those parties represent wealth and power so it was of little concern to the US which of them runs the Mexican political system.”

The Filipino people must learn from the historical and country-by-country experiences where election frauds by the ruling elite continue to be perpetrated and perpetuated. Honest elections is easy to have so long as there is not powerful bloc intent to cheat, and its seldom the opposition that is with the power to cheat. In the U.S. where the plutocrats are intent on control through Bush they have cheated to ensure victory, but in India where genuine democracy prevails even an election with 600-M voters can be smooth and quick.

(Tune in M-W-F 6-7pm to 1098AM; T-Th 7:30-8:30am to 1242AM)