Conservative Felipe Calderon, making his final push for the Mexican presidency a week before elections, warned that his chief rival's economic policies will bring a repeat of the financial debacles that plagued the country in the past.
In his last Mexico City event before the July 2 vote, Calderon told 100,000 raucous supporters in the cavernous Estadio Azteca soccer venue on Sunday that, despite pre-election polls showing the race too close to call, he expected to win by 1.5 million votes.
He stressed a central campaign theme that his chief rival, leftist former Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, would push the country into a financial crisis of the kind that brought currency devaluations and widespread unemployment in the 1980s and 1990s.
PHOTO: AFP
"Our adversaries represent an alternative of hate and slander," said Calderon, who is running with Mexican President Vicente Fox's National Action Party. "They want to cheat Mexicans with lies that they will magically increase their wages."
Polls show Lopez Obrador about even with Calderon among Mexico's electorate. In third place is Roberto Madrazo, whose Institutional Revolutionary Party controlled Mexico's presidency from 1929 until a stunning loss to Fox six years ago. Fox is barred by the constitution from running again.
Lopez Obrador, who was in Hidalgo and Guerrero states on Sunday, will wrap up his campaign at a rally in Mexico City's grand central square, the Zocalo, tomorrow, the last day campaigning is permitted before the vote.
Calderon decided to avoid the capital tomorrow in part because it is the base of support for Lopez Obrador, who was a popular mayor before resigning in July to seek the presidency. He has responded to Calderon's attacks by branding the ruling-party candidate a career politician and mouthpiece for the rich.
With his wife and three small children in tow, Calderon spoke on a stage built to look like an X marking a ballot. He promised to protect the environment, create jobs to reduce illegal immigration to the US and provide universal health care while improving education.
Calderon also gave a nod to his party's Roman Catholic base, saying: "I am ready for the responsibility that's coming. I'm prepared professionally and spiritually for the task."
The rally had a carnival atmosphere with men on stilts waving flags bearing the candidate's name, while supporters, many wearing white Calderon T-shirts, danced to drum beats and waved balloons and placards in the surrounding stands.
Outside the stadium, women in low-cut T-shirts gyrated to music blaring from speakers and some supporters donned Calderon masks.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of