WORLD NEWS | Mexican president belittles pro-democracy protesters

MEXICO CITY, Feb. 27 (AP) — Mexico’s president lashed out Monday at demonstrators who protested weekend cuts to election funding, belittling their concerns about threats to democracy and dashing any hope he could try to ease rising political tensions.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who appeared to revel in the conflict, insulted the tens of thousands who demonstrated in Mexico City’s main square, calling them thieves and Allies of drug dealers.

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“The number of pickpockets stealing wallets has increased in the Zocalo, but what do you want, so many white-collar criminals in one place?” López Obrador said at a news conference every morning.

At the root of the conflict is López Obrador’s plan, approved by Mexico’s Senate last week, to cut salaries and funding for local electoral offices and scale back control over operating and monitoring polling stations. civic training. The changes would also reduce sanctions for candidates who fail to report campaign spending.

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López Obrador denies the reforms are a threat to democracy and says the criticism is elitist. He believes funds should be redirected to help the poor.

López Obrador mocked the protesters’ slogan “Don’t touch the INE (National Electoral Institution)”, saying their slogans were “Don’t touch corruption”, “Don’t touch privilege”, “Don’t touch drug lords”. government” “

“They don’t care about democracy, what they want is the continuation of the oligarchy, the rule of the rich,” the president said.

Demonstrators say changes to electoral laws approved last week threaten democracy and could mark a return to past vote-rigging practices. There were also few good things to say about López Obrador during Sunday’s demonstrations.

“He was on the path of socialism, communism,” said Fernando Gutierrez, 55, a small businessman. “It’s clear from the aid to Cuba,” Gutierrez said. López Obrador has imported coronavirus vaccines, medical personnel and stone railroad ballast from Cuba, but has no interest in socialist policies at home.

Sunday’s demonstrators mostly wore white and pink – the colors of the country’s electoral body – and chanted slogans such as “Don’t touch my vote!” As in a similar but larger protest on Nov. 13, the demonstrators appeared to be a little wealthier than those attending regular demonstrations.

The heated nature of the debate has caught the attention of the US government.

“Today, in Mexico, we’re seeing a major debate over electoral reform that is testing the independence of elections and the judiciary,” said Brian A. Nichols, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs. ) wrote on his Twitter account. “The United States supports independent, well-resourced electoral institutions that strengthen the democratic process and the rule of law.”

López Obrador said on Thursday he would sign the changes into law, although he expected court challenges. Many in Sunday’s protest expressed hope that Mexico’s supreme court would overturn some of those changes, as the court has done with other presidential initiatives.

Lorenzo Cordova, director of the National Electoral Institute, said the reforms “are aimed at cutting thousands of people who work every day to ensure credible elections, which of course puts future elections at risk.”

The president’s tough resistance to the judiciary, as well as regulatory and oversight agencies, has raised concerns that he is seeking to revive the old PRI practice, which twisted the rules to keep Mexico’s presidency for 70 years until it was in the U.S. lost in the election. 2000 election.

Elections in Mexico are expensive by international standards, in part because, by law, nearly all legal campaign funding is provided by the government. Election agencies also issue secure voter ID cards, the most widely accepted form of identification in Mexico, and monitor voting in remote and often dangerous corners of the country.

López Obrador remains popular in Mexico, with an approval rating of around 60%. While he was unable to run for re-election, his Morena party won next year’s national election with a sweep, while the opposition was thrown into disarray.

Part of his popular appeal came as an attack on well-paid government bureaucrats, angered by the fact that some top election officials are paid more than the president. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)