In solidarity with the Mexican people we reprint this excerpts from the pamphlet written by the AMLO team to review the electoral fraud in Mexico.
The Judgment of Inconformity
On the 12th of July of 2012, the electoral coalition Progressive Movement, composed of the Democratic Revolution Party, and the Labor and Citizen’s Movement Party presented its “Judgment of Inconformity” in favor of annulment of the presidential election of the United States of Mexico. The Judgment declares to the Electoral Tribunal “the declaration of non-validity of these elections for violation of the constitutional principles of legitimate elections and free suffrage,” as well as the “cancellation of the registration of candidacy of Enrique Peña Nieto for surpassing limits of expenditures on the campaign.”
And now what?
The testimonies presented in the pages of the Judgment show some of the practices employed before and during the elections of 2012. The inducement and purchase of votes, the murky financial operation designed to channel funds to dubious entities in order to favor a candidate, the use of events and media that represent the power structure with the purpose of propaganda, but above all, the alarming overshoot on financial limits of funds destined for campaigns, were principal means utilized on this occasion in order to bring about a result that favors the powerful of the country.
Across its history, Mexico has been a country taken advantage of by its elites. The formalities of the political institutions, the proceedings which are supposedly democratic have served to legitimate those who rule, and in this manner, to maintain the status quo. Only the forms of control have changed.
There exists in Mexico an economic and political, financial, trade unionist, intellectual combination more powerful than that which England held at the height of its power. They have been able to accomplish this because they hold economic power and the control of the majority of the media so that they can impose their decisions and above all, their vetoes.
This constellation of interests decided a long time ago that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador could not have access to power. Obrador favors the small and medium sized interests and only opposes the evasion of fiscal responsibility and the monopolies. For him to achieve political power would not happen because the entrenched interests well know that a leader with an alternative plan for the nation, a plan that opposes mercantile interests, does not accept the corruption of the prearranged decisions.
It is all about a plan that makes for the biggest repudiation of corruption since the times of Benito Juarez. All the resources of the power structure are insufficient to buy him off. For these reasons, he is anathema to them.
Recently, what has become clear is that despite the plethora of parties and varied candidates, the elite are united. Confronted by threats to their interests, the various actors unite. The fact that Felipe Calderon and Enrique Peña Nieto converse amicably, reveals their unity and is an insult to Mexicans. We ought to thank Calderon for confirming what Lopez Obrador has been saying for years: that the PAN and the PRI are one. Despite cosmetic differences, they represent an incontrovertible unity of interests.
What next? The response to this, the key question of our time, is in the hands of the public of Mexico and in particular of its youth. I do not believe that it will be the electoral tribunals, the political parties (although their role is essential), nor even any single person who will necessarily determine the future. Only the people, the conscious people, the firmness ad determination of the youth that are now in the vanguard of the critical response about our society, only they will determine the future… We ask for hundreds of thousands, millions of men and women, unarmed, but determined to change the reality of the country.
Will there be enough citizens determined to uphold the democratic principles and stay the hand of illegal practices and murky arrangements? Or will we enter into a period where corruption and exploitation of the weak will have free reign?
The response is with the people and its youth: they are our hope and the vanguard of our history.
You can download the complete pamphlet, www.amlo.org.mx
