PRESS RELEASE
1.5 Million Rally Against Fascism in Mexico City: López Obrador Calls for Twice As Many July 30
MEXICO CITY, July 16 (EIRNS)—addressing over a million and a half people who overflowed Mexico City's Constitution Plaza (the Zocalo), Andres Manuel López Obrador escalated the fight for a "vote-by-vote, polling station by polling station" recount of the Presidential elections. We are millions of Mexicans prepared to enforce our rights, "and this is the most powerful force," he told the historic rally. López Obrador outlined the next three steps of the mobilization: (1) to increase the encampments set up outside each of the 300 electoral district offices where the ballots are stored, not only to ensure that the ballots are not further tampered with, but as centers for organizing the population; (2) to carry out, starting this week, the first acts of "peaceful civil resistance," whose details will be decided by a citizens' committee which is to be formed; and (3) to come back to Mexico City Zocalo in two weeks, on July 30—this time with twice the number of participants.
The Mexican police admit 1.1 million participated in the Sunday rally, but López Obrador personally told the crowd at the end of his speech that more than 1.5 million people were present—the largest demonstration in Mexican history. Not one act of violence occurred throughout the march and subsequent rally.
The day started at dawn on Sunday morning, when over 100,000 Mexicans from around the country began entering Mexico City, after having gathered at five points outside the city the night before, sending campaign organizers scrambling to get additional blankets and food, as the turnout was even larger than they had foreseen. Entering the city in columns of cars, trucks, and buses, flanked by people walking, and, in at least some cases, led by people on horseback carrying giant yellow flags (the color of López Obrador's party), the caravans took on the appearance of parades. At 10:40 A.M., López Obrador led off a 14-kilometer (almost 9 miles) march from the Anthropological Museum to the Zocalo, as the central plaza is known. Many people were wearing yellow shirts, and the most common slogan was eminently Mexican: "No al Pin__ Fraude," which, slightly cleaned up, translates as "No to the G__-Damned Fraud!"
in his relatively short speech, López Obrador presented new elements indicating the depth of the fraud perpetrated in the July 2 election. For example: the campaign's review of the tally sheets filed from the 130,788 polling stations has found that 60% of those sheets have so-called "arithmetical errors," that is, that there are thousands of tally sheets in which the number of votes cast and unused ballot totals is greater or smaller than the blank ballots provided that polling station; thousands of tally sheets where the total number of votes is greater or smaller than the ballots actually deposited in the ballot boxes; and other thousands where the total votes plus the unused ballots was greater or smaller than the voter rolls.
In other words, López Obrador summarized, there are nearly 1.5 million votes that are not backed up by ballots. The tally sheets do not reflect the real vote—as we found in those places where the votes were recounted, where consistently Calderón received 1-200 more votes, and we 100 fewer votes, per polling station reviewed.
Evidence of this fraud has been submitted to the electoral court. They have the basis to order a recount, López Obrador said. I call upon the candidate of the right [Calderón] to be responsible, and accept a vote by vote recount of every polling station in the country. Our adversaries should stop hiding behind "legalistic arguments."
Excerpts from López Obrador's July 16 Speech
"My profound appreciation to all of you, for your presence in this Second Informational Assembly. From the bottom of my heart, thanks to those who have come from the different regions of the country, marching, in caravans, or on their own, in all cases of their own free will and paying their expenses with their own resources.
"You and I know that this whole effort is not in vain. The causes that we are defending are of great historic significance for Mexico.
"You are here not only to support a person, but to defend the inalienable right of the people to freely elect their government. We are not only fighting for the recognition of our legitimate victory in the Presidential election, but for a higher cause, to enforce democracy in our country.
"We cannot accept a regression, a setback of democracy. We cannot accept that through illegality, money, and cheating, a group with privileges wants to impose an illegitimate president.
"We cannot accept the cancellation of the right of the people to a better life, through the democratic path.
"We cannot allow them to take away our right to hope. Therefore, I repeat, the general objective of this movement is the defense of democracy."
[López Obrador here presents the evidence of fraud, summarized above.]
"I am absolutely certain that, if a recount of the votes is carried out, it shall be demonstrated that we won cleanly, legally, and legitimately in the July 2 elections.
"From this public plaza, I call on the candidate of the right to act in a responsible manner and accept, without any pretexts, the review of the tally sheets and the vote-by-vote recount in all of the polling stations of the country. If he maintains that he won, he has no reason to refuse. I recommend that he consider that all the waters of the oceans cannot erase the stain of a fraudulent election. I remind him, also, that Mexico, our great country, and its people, do not deserve an illegitimate President of the Republic, without moral or political authority."
"What is at stake is democracy and the political stability of the country. No one should be afraid of having the election cleaned up, resolved, and justified before the eyes of Mexico and the world.
"For the political, economic, and financial stability of the country—vote by vote, polling station by polling station!...
"To contribute to social peace—vote by vote, polling station by polling station!
"So that money doesn't keep winning out over the dignity and the morale of the people—vote by vote, polling station by polling station!...
"To strengthen the institutions—vote by vote, polling station by polling station!...
"To fend off irrational confrontation—vote by vote, polling station by polling station!
"To contribute to the reconciliation and unity of Mexicans— vote by vote, polling station by polling station!"
[López Obrador here lays out the three action plans, summarized above.]
"We are aware of the fact that our adversaries are betting, among other things, that our movement will become demoralized and wear out.
"I am of the conviction that not even the whole apparatus of the State, used for partisan purposes; not even all the money of a group with privileges; not even with all the manipulation they have set in motion; can smash the free, conscious, and responsible will of millions of Mexicans. Do not forget that we are millions of Mexicans, prepared to enforce our rights. And this is the most powerful force.
"As for myself, I say to you again: Have confidence that I will not betray the people of Mexico.
"I also have the conviction that I am not alone, because we are all together."
MEXICO CITY, July 16 (EIRNS)—A contingent of LaRouche organizers some 35-40 strong—including the LaRouche Youth Movement (LYM) from Mexico City and Monterrey—distributed 35,000 leaflets at López Obrador's historic rally today. The leaflet was LaRouche's July 10 statement on Mexico, and an announcement of the upcoming LaRouche webcast. Several other LYM contacts who went to the rally on their own, but not as part of our delegation, had said they, and in some cases, their families, would be making their own copies of the leaflet and distributing them. Other groups' leaflets were seen on the ground, but very few of LaRouche's were tossed away.
The LYM briefed people that LaRouche is fighting around the world to defeat the enemies of Mexico: the bankers who are also behind the attacks in India, and the escalation to war in the Middle East. López Obrador and Mexico have an ally in the United States, they said: Lyndon LaRouche. LaRouche is leading the world battle to stop the economic collapse. Only LaRouche dares to name the names of the enemies; only LaRouche's magazine EIR is publishing the full text of López Obrador's last speech at the Zocalo, marchers were told. When one person would take a leaflet, frequently everyone around them would demand one—"they were like piranhas!" one LYM organizer laughed. In several cases, people began reading the leaflet aloud to clusters of people around them—for the benefit of the elderly and the illiterate. Organizers noted that people who were clearly poor, and not well-educated, would pay close attention to the briefing on the situation in the world. In a number of cases, marchers from different states around the country asked for leaflets, saying they would make sure to reproduce them and distribute them once they got home.
The biggest LaRouche banner, 7 meters by 11⁄2 meters, and illustrated by the PAN symbol with a big swastika in the middle, read: "The Dog: Felipe Calderón. Its Owners: The Fascist Bankers. The Solution: LaRouche's New Bretton Woods. [signed] LaRouche Youth Movement." Another large banner was carried by one LYM member and her family (who also came to the rally): "Calderón Had a Premature Erection Result. [signed] LaRouche Youth Movement. Individual LYM organizers carried smaller posters and signs, ranging from: "All Progress in the Political Realm Must Originate from Nobility of Character. [signed] Friedrich Schiller," to Lincoln's famous statement that you can't fool all the people all of the time, to "There Is No Greater Injustice Than to Be Governed by an Unjust Man [signed] Plato."
