Mexican candidates protest government election fraud

Scan page 12

12 SOCIALIST ACTION AUGUST 1988 Cuauhtémoc According to Sergio Rodriguez, a leader of the Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT), The July 6 elections in Mexico produced PRI government ministers, understanding what many feared but most expected: a monumental fraud to ensure the "victory" that Cárdenas had won, offered Cárdenas of the ruling-party presidential candidate, five posts in the cabinet if Cárdenas agreed Carlos Salinas de Gortari. to accept the election of Salinas de Gortari.

According to the official tally, produced Cárdenas is said to have angrily rejected the over one week after the actual vote, Salinas offer. de Gortari obtained 50.4 percent of the Cárdenas has initiated a national vote, while the two major challengers, campaign, the "journey for democracy and Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas of the National popular sovereignty," to denounce the Democratic Front and Manuel Clouthier of fraudulent elections and to demand that the the National Action Party (PAN), obtained real returns be made public and respected. 31.1 percent and 17.1 percent respectively. Based on the estimates of his poll-watchers Rosario Ibarra, candidate of the Popular throughout the country, Cárdenas claims he Unity coalition and the only socialist was robbed of some 3 million votes. candidate to challenge the three capitalist On July 16, close to half-a-million politicians, obtained 0.6 percent of the people gathered in the downtown Zócalo vote, according to the Federal Electoral (main square) of Mexico City to hear Commission. Cárdenas, Mexican Socialist Party (PMS)

Ibarra used the ballot status of the leader Heberto Castillo, and Rosario Ibarra Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT) to field her candidacy. The PRT, the Mexican section of the Fourth International, actively supported her campaign.

Ibarra's official vote, due to widespread fraud, was significantly below the 1.5 percent required for political parties to maintain their ballot status and receive (continued from page 16) government funding. Unless reversed, this means the PRT will lose its legal ballot force, and mass arrests to coerce Palestinian status. merchants to adopt Israeli-determined Elections to Mexico's National Congress schedules. Fisher continues: were also held on July 6. The official tally 'The army has admittedly given up its gives the ruling Revolutionary Institutional intensive effort as a lost cause. The new Party (PRI) 260 seats in the Congress, schedule (determined by the clandestine with the remaining 240 seats apportioned revolutionary leadership) of commercial to the two opposition capitalist formations. activity is more or less permanent, The PRT, which had elected six deputies certainly in the main centers of business, in the last elections six years ago, appears conceded a senior source in the occupation not to have won any seats in the congress. authority."

At press time, three weeks after the A further dimension of the de-facto elections, the government has still not institutionalization of the Palestinian announced the PRT's congressional vote. revolution is that the population buys Palestinian manufactured goods only and is Cárdenas was the winner boycotting Israeli items. Once banned The official votes, however, have little to cassettes featuring songs of praise to the do with the actual votes cast. Literally Intifada and "the revolution in all of thousands of cases of fraud have been Palestine" are ubiquitous. Dan Fisher documented and published extensively in reports that a barber told him, "I sell 50 of the opposition and international press. these tapes a day."

It is widely accepted that Cuauhtémoc Bethlehem had once been earmarked as a Cárdenas, the son of the populist ex- fast-growing shopping center for Israelis president Lázaro Cárdenas, won the presi- from Jerusalem and surrounding Jewish dential election by a substantial margin. In suburbs. The Jerusalem Post only one year fact, five days after the elections, some PRI ago used to carry a special section officials in the Federal Electoral Commis- highlighting Bethlehem stores and sion publicly acknowledged that Cárdenas restaurants. "Today the sight of a car with a had won. telltale yellow Israeli license plate is rare in Likewise, the rate of participation, which Bethlehem," the Post article states. on the evening of July 6 was supposed to be one of the highest in the history of the Successful tax boycott country, nearly 80 percent, fell to about 51 Economic life throughout the occupied percent when the elections were announced. territories "has ground down to a miniThe delay in publishing the official vote mum." The tax boycott ordered by the is commonly attributed to infighting in the underground revolutionary leadership has inner circles of the PRI over what results to virtually eliminated Israeli control: "Tax announce and how to announce them. collections are off by more than 50 percent, Carlos Salinas de Gortari protest the massive fraud.

In her speech to the rally, Ibarra described how the government had offered to give her more votes than she had won in two electoral districts in order to take votes away from Cárdenas. She also urged continued mass mobilizations against the illegitimate PRI government.

"Commitment to democracy"

Ibarra's position on the elections was spelled out more fully at a press conference on July 9, where she stated:

"We consider Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas the president of our country. We take this position despite our ideological differences —in fact, because of our ideology, since we are firmly convinced that the only way to achieve socialism is through a clear commitment to democracy.

"And today in Mexico the fight for democracy involves precisely defending the said the senior civil administration source."

The "civil administration" is run entirely by army officers. Palestinians indicate that tax collections have virtually ended, wiping out the $250 million annual budget. All West Bank "development projects" that is, projects run by the army, have had to be frozen. Draconian measures have been attempted by the military authorities to little avail.

The city of Tulkarm was placed under curfew for 25 days. Tax collectors went from door to door. The military confiscated hundreds of automobiles and personal possessions.

The "civil administration" source confessed to Fisher:

"This is now the main character of the Intifada-the striving to disconnect Palestinian society from all symbols of sovereignty of the voters. We think that those who voted for Cárdenas did so in the firm conviction that it was necessary to defeat the PRI.

"We share this view entirely, although we do not agree with the governmental alternative represented by Cárdenas. We say explicitly that if Cárdenas were president, we would be part of the intransigent opposition to him, outspokenly supporting a socialist alternative."

Attack on PRT

The government's attack on the PRT was equally bold. According to PRT leader Sergio Rodriguez, the PRT is widely believed to have obtained close to 2 percent of the vote. This vote total is smaller than the PRT had hoped, a result of the groundswell of support for the populist Cárdenas, whose father had nationalized the oil industry and deepened the agrarianreform program during his 1934-40 term of office.

"In the city of Hermosillo, just to give you one example of the fraud," Rodriguez told Socialist Action, "Rosario Ibarra only obtained 250 official votes. But we have over 500 members in this city. We know for a fact that at least 1500 people voted for Rosario in Hermosillo."

Rodriguez explained that the PRT has not been demoralized by the election results or the prospects of its losing its ballot status. "We have been out in the streets every day, leading the mass protests against the fraud," Rodriguez said. "We have put out over 1 million PRT flyers explaining our views. Our paper has appeared three times a week."

Rodriguez stated that the PRT is calling on the newly elected Congress to call for new elections. He also announced that Rosario Ibarra would soon be initiating a speaking tour throughout Mexico to expose the government's fraudulent elections.

In the next issue of Socialist Action, we will be publishing an extensive interview with Rosario Ibarra on the meaning of the recent Mexican elections.

population under the cover of a new war, the pretext of which will be a missile threat from Syria and Saudi Arabia.

The new declaration by Bassam Abu Sharif on behalf of Yasir Arafat offering direct negotiations with Israel on terms akin to Camp David will also be examined along with the recent proposals by Zionist liberals such as Jerome Segal for a demilitarized dependent Palestinian state with a national anthem and flag acceptable to Israel.

----- pull-quotes -----

Don't miss an issue!