RSS Feed
June 29th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda While open to modernizing state-owned oil giant Pemex, he is against partial foreign ownership. He also pledges to wind down the army’s role in the drug war.
Lopez Obrador began his career working with indigenous people in his home state before helping to found the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) in 1988.
As mayor of Mexico City from 2000 to 2005, Lopez Obrador built a loyal base by establishing social welfare programs and infrastructure projects.
But critics say the PRD candidate, who appears older than his 58 years, is hot-headed and undemocratic.
This stems, in part, from his failed 2006 bid. After losing the election by a whisker, he claimed the vote was rigged and called supporters out in protest, clogging parts of the capital for months. It was a protest campaign that alienated some voters and failed to prevent Felipe Calderon from taking office.
Lopez Obrador has been less confrontational in this election campaign, reaching out to business leaders and preaching a message of love and understanding.
He has nonetheless failed to dent Pena Nieto’s double digit lead in most polls after indifferent showings in televised debates and interviews.
Would-be first female president
Mexico’s ruling conservatives pinned their hopes on a career politician to become the country’s first female president, but internal divisions and dissatisfaction with the government’s record have undermined Josefina Vazquez Mota’s bid.
Trailing in third place in most polls, her hopes have steadily faded. The petite 51-year-old campaigned on a pledge to continue Calderon’s policies. She also played up the gender card to woo female voters she calls “warriors,” and has promised to look out for families.
Travelers run for cover as cops kill cops at Mexico City airport
She won support from grassroots voters in the PAN and beat out Calderon’s perceived favorite — former finance minister Ernesto Cordero — in a February primary vote.
Hector Guerrero
/
AFP – Getty Images
Seeking to show dynamism, she gave interviews on the campaign trail while exercising on a training machine in the gym. But as her campaign faltered, she showed signs of strain. At one rally speech she had to sit down after feeling faint.
As a federal deputy, Vazquez Mota — who became her party’s leader in the lower house of Congress — vigorously backed Calderon’s reforms, but her efforts to see them through the legislative process often foundered on opposition from the PRI.
This did not deter her from setting out ambitious policies during the campaign, such as listing up to 49 percent of state oil firm Pemex on the stock exchange.
But backing the government’s drug war strategy has proved a liability due to discontent over the violence. More than 55,000 people have been killed since Calderon deployed the army against drug cartels after taking office at the end of 2006.
Vazquez Mota, a former education minister, extols her role as a mother of three daughters in a 27-year-long marriage.
Courting female voters, she promotes the cause of women’s health and education. Her proposals include lengthening Mexico’s short school day so mothers have more time to work.
Hoping for votes from the PAN’s strong Roman Catholic base, she opposes abortion but she also opposes jailing women for terminating pregnancies, a practice in some of Mexico’s states.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
Posted in 
Tags: 
