President Vicente Fox on Thursday defended his decision to back away from divisive criminal charges against Mexico City’s mayor, reassuring Mexicans and foreign investors that the 2006 presidential campaign will not be marred by protests and instability.
By doing so, however, he may have done the opposite of what critics accused him of wanting to do: He may have ensured that presidential hopeful Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will enter the campaign’s final stretch as an uncatchable favorite.
“He looks to me unstoppable at this point,” said Federico Estevez, a political analyst at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico.
A day after Fox announced the resignations of his attorney general and several other top prosecutors, Mexico’s political parties and potential presidential contenders were pointing fingers and recalculating strategies to adapt to what many see as a new political ballgame.
Lopez Obrador welcomed Fox’s decision to “review” charges of abuse of authority that federal prosecutors had lodged against him, leading to huge demonstrations and accusations that Fox was trying to eliminate the popular mayor from next year’s race.
Fox’s spokesman confirmed Thursday that the forced resignations and legal review were intended to end the disruptive confrontation by finding a way to ensure that Lopez Obrador will appear on next year’s ballot despite the charges.
Many analysts believe that a newly named attorney general will drop the charges accusing Lopez Obrador of ignoring a judge’s order to stop building a road to a hospital, something he denies.
The mayor, reading a statement at his regular morning news conference Thursday, credited the hundreds of thousands of people who marched through downtown Mexico City on Sunday for pressuring Fox into a retreat.
“We see with very good eyes the decision taken by the citizen president, Vicente Fox,” Lopez Obrador said. “Yesterday’s decision is the fruit of the effort [and] participation of the people.”
At the same time, Lopez Obrador’s Democratic Revolutionary Party said it would be ready to resume protests if the charges were not withdrawn. The president and mayor will probably meet to discuss the situation when Fox returns from an international trip next week.
Fox, speaking Thursday to Canadian and Mexican business executives, said restoring confidence in Mexico and its democratic process is the reason behind his decision.
“We have cleared away the clouds, we have ended the uncertainty and we are assuring that the electoral process of 2006 will go on with absolute respect for the law,” Fox said.
Yet some of the initial reaction was fierce. Two lawmakers from Fox’s right-wing National Action Party, or PAN, called for the resignation of Interior Secretary Santiago Creel, who oversees the attorney general’s office and is one of the PAN’s leading presidential hopefuls.
Roberto Madrazo, another presidential hopeful who heads the former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, held a news conference to condemn Fox’s “preferential” treatment of Lopez Obrador and insist that Fox not meddle any further in the campaign.
One big question was how Fox’s government would get around the legal charges against Lopez Obrador. Under Mexican law, no one can run for office with criminal charges pending against him.
Analysts said parts of the legal case are weak, providing several possibilities to have it dismissed. Fox’s aides said another possibility is to let the mayor stand trial and proceed quickly with a legal reform proposed by Fox so that indicted persons can run for office.
Meanwhile, the mayor, widely seen as a victim of a political plot, is emerging from the crisis with a double-digit lead in opinion polls, a lead that has nearly doubled since the crisis began.
While it is still early in what will undoubtedly be a contentious campaign, many say Lopez Obrador can thank the Fox government’s perceived bungling for his head start.
“With enemies like these, Lopez Obrador doesn’t need friends,” said Jorge Chabat, a political analyst with the Center for Investigations and Development of Education.
———-
hdellios@tribune.com
