Mexico: Getting Ugly or Winding Down?

Mexico's press reports this morning that protesters supporting AMLO seem to be ignoring his calls for 'peaceful demonstration,' and instead struck the car of President-elect Calderon yesterday. According to El Universal, 7 people - women and youths - cursed, struck windows, and kicked the car that Calderon was riding in, after he left a meeting with union leaders.

AMLO, who has said before that the IFE, the PAN and others are creating a climate where violence might occur, called the incident a 'legitimate defense,' and said that if Calderon 'is imposed' upon the people as President, instability will continue. When specifically asked to condemn the act, he refused. He said that he would instead condemn 'electoral fraud.' He said that unless there is a full recount of all the votes, that Calderon will be an 'impure' President. He said that the only reason that Calderon is resisting a nationwide recount is that he knows he lost.

It looks like AMLO wants to make this as ugly as possible.

At the same time, El Universal also reports today that Spain's El Pais and USA Today have criticized AMLO for bringing pressure on the legitimate political process. According to El Universal, both dailies (paraphrasing) called upon AMLO to stick to the legal process for challenging election results, without using public protests to influence it.

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