Leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador swore himself in as Mexico's "legitimate" president and launched a parallel government, promising to legally limit the power of big corporations and the "neo-fascist oligarchy" that he said now controls Mexico.
"I pledge ... to serve loyally and patriotically as legitimate president of Mexico," Lopez Obrador said during a ceremony on a blustery, bone-chilling Monday afternoon in the capital's main central plaza, the Zocalo -- just 11 days before president-elect Felipe Calderon is sworn in as the nation's legal president.
"I pledge to protect the rights of Mexicans ... and ensure the happiness and welfare of the people," the former Mexico City mayor told an estimated 100,000 supporters -- a smaller crowd than that generated by previous Lopez Obrador events.
PHOTO: AP
The ceremony, which took place on the national holiday commemorating the Mexican Revolution, opened the latest chapter in Lopez Obrador's unsuccessful battle for the presidency.
He claims fraud and dirty campaign tactics were responsible for Calderon's narrow victory in the July 2 vote, and his parallel government could spend the next six years calling for the kind of street protests that have already prompted travel warnings from the US embassy.
Rosario Ibarra, a human rights activist and senator for Lopez Obrador's coalition, placed the red-green-and-white presidential sash across his shoulders. While the action lacks legal recognition, Lopez Obrador hopes to assume the moral leadership of millions of poor Mexicans.
His parallel government, with a 12-member Cabinet, will not collect taxes or try to make laws, and it will rely on donations.
Lopez Obrador plans to spend three days a week in Mexico City and spend the other four days touring Mexico in order "to create the most important citizens' organization in all our history."
But his movement's first action will be to try to prevent Calderon's Dec. 1 inauguration ceremony.
"We are going to make Calderon realize at all times that he is an illegitimate leader," said 55-year-old Lopez Obrador supporter Beatriz Zuniga, an unemployed professor of Latin American studies. "He's got a limited amount of time. This man will not finish his term."
Calderon insisted again on Monday that he will attend his swearing-in ceremony at the national Congress despite Lopez Obrador supporters' threats to disrupt it.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS