
PROTESTS PLANNED AS MEXICO'S CALDERON TAKES OVER PRESIDENTIAL PALACE
Felipe Calderon took charge of Mexico's presidential residence Friday at midnight, saying he won't let planned protests deter him from taking the oath of office at a ceremony attended by foreign dignitaries including Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Ref. https://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/200...o-calderon.html
QUOTE |
Calderon opts for midnight swearing-in By MARION LLOYD MEXICO CITY - With opponents threatening to block today's inauguration before Congress, Mexico's incoming president took power in an unusual midnight ceremony behind the closed doors of the presidential palace. In a symbolic act lasting less than 15 minutes and broadcast on Mexican television, Mexican President Vicente Fox took off the red, white and green presidential sash, and said it had been an honor to serve. Fox embraced incoming leader Felipe Calderon, who swore in his security Cabinet, including the secretaries of national defense, public security, government and the navy. Minutes later, Calderon made a few brief remarks, vowing to bring change to Mexico. "I'm not unaware of the complexity of the political moment ... but I believe it's time to put an end to the differences," he said. "I accept the responsibility to be president of all Mexicans, without distinction. "I invite all Mexicans to create a new chapter in their national history." |
QUOTE |
But several analysts called the ceremony a first in modern Mexican history, and said it sent a confusing message to the nation. "If this is his first act as president, and he does it at midnight and in the dark, it's a very bad start," said Marcela Bobadilla, a political analyst. "It would mean he's ceding to threats and blackmail." ... ... Calderon's troubles, some analysts say, don't bode well for his ability to govern. ''Never has a Mexican president taken office in such a position of weakness," said Jorge Zepeda Patterson, a political columnist. ''Never." ... ... Lopez Obrador's party holds the second biggest block in Congress, and it has vowed to fight Calderon's every move. Calderon ''will have the formal power, but not the real power," columnist Raymundo Riva Palacio wrote this week in El Universal newspaper. Political rivalries are not Calderon's only headache. He inherits a nation deeply polarized between rich and poor, and ravaged by drug violence that has claimed at least 2,000 lives so far this year, a record number, according to the Mexican media. |
International Level: Ambassador / Political Participation: 595 59.5%
Mexico is simmering on a number of different fronts, and responding with military strength:
QUOTE |
Posted on Mon, Feb. 19, 2007 Mexico deploying 3,000 troops to battle drugs By Mark Stevenson Associated Press MEXICO CITY - The Mexican government will expand its anti-drug raids to two states across the border from Texas, deploying more than 3,000 soldiers, sailors and federal police, officials said Sunday. The raids will cover Nuevo Laredo, a town across the border from Laredo, Texas, that has been bloodied by turf wars between drug gangs in recent years. Officials also said that in the two months since intensive raids began in central and western Mexico, they have destroyed almost as many opium fields as plots of marijuana, long Mexico's principal drug crop. "We have begun a frontal struggle against organized crime that has no precedent in the country's history," Interior Secretary Francisco Ramirez Acuna said. "We are recovering territory for our children." |
QUOTE |
"Operation Tijuana," the newly, fraudulently elected President, Filipe Calderon, called it. Another farce, a charade of action against crime and drug trafficers. De-facto martial law now exists in the northwest corner of Baja state. Over 3,000 troops and federal officers have moved into the region, disarming the entire 2,300 Tijuana police force. (As of Saturday, Jan. 6th, police in the cities of Ensenada and Playas de Rosarito still had their weapons.) Check points on the major roads and highways are manned by armed, nervous, young men ... the poor, mostly indigenous youth, are the few who can't buy their way out of compulsory military service. The busy, commercial road from Tijuana to Rosarito is clogged, backing up as local troops from Tijuana's 28th Brigade inspect cars and wave huge semi trucks through. Meanwhile, south of Rosarito, old Highway 1, opposite the toll road, is blocked by units from the Navy's 2nd Command District; while further south in Ensenada, federal agents with machine guns patrol the streets. |
QUOTE |
Mexico's Pemex faces drying field, no funds to update refineries Sergio Solache Republic Mexico City Bureau Feb. 17, 2007 12:00 AM MEXICO CITY - When an al-Qaida faction this week urged militants to attack U.S. oil suppliers in Mexico, Canada and Venezuela, it was a recognition of the powerful world role played by Petroleos Mexicanos, the Mexican oil monopoly. Government-owned Pemex is the United States' second-largest supplier of petroleum after Canada and ranks No. 6 among the world's biggest oil exporters. The threat by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula prompted the Mexican government to send troops to bolster security at pipelines and refineries on Friday. |
International Level: Ambassador / Political Participation: 595 59.5%
Respected Mexican journalist fired for addressing Calderon drinking rumor:
A group of leftist opposition congressmen unfurled a banner in the Chamber of Deputies bearing a large photo of a sleepy-faced President Felipe Calderon and the challenge: "Would you let a drunk drive your car? No, right? So why would you let him run the country?" Ref. Source 3
1,500 mourn Mexico's No. 2 official in Tijuana service
Far from Mexico's presidential halls of power, the country's late interior minister was honored Sunday in his native Tijuana by those who knew him best: family, longtime friends and fellow members of the National Action Party. Ref. Source 2