weare132

This blog was created to inform people about the current political situation in Mexico and to support the student movement “Yo soy 132”. Its main focus is “Yo soy 132”  but it also contains information about other relevant topics, such as Atenco and Televisa. The idea behind this project is to give a general overview of why the movement was created, what it stands for and what is has achieved so far. In order to understand any social movement, one needs to understand the context and the circumstances that led to its creation. This is an attempt to explain “Yo soy 132”.

Recent news and  information regarding Mexico’s presidential election and the movement “Yo soy 132” can be found under POSTS.

Fight against imposition:

At the present time the PRI presidential candidate, Enrique Peña Nieto (EPN), has been recognised by the Federal Electoral Tribunal (IFE) and by the Mexico’s head of state, Felipe Calderon, as the winner of the presidential election. On official government statements the elections where referred to as normal and non-violent,  the reality differs. Political parties, social organisations and the student movement “Yo soy 132” documented several irregularities, violent acts and mass vote buying. This allegations where presented to the Federal Electoral Tribunal, who has until September to give an answer to the claims.

A big part of Mexico’s population refuses to accept Enrique Peña Nieto as the legitimate winner of the electoral process. Peña Nieto is part of the PRI party, who ruled our country under an oligarchic regime for more than 70 years. Sustained in power in part by the support received by media outlets, the last episode of this monopolistic rule includes the innumerable irregularities that have been present throughout these elections.

Months before the election the Guardian, a the British news paper, published a series of articles and documents linking Enrique Peña Nieto to Televisa, one of the two networks that control media in our country. The story was trending topic on Twitter and on various other social networks, but most of the press and news in Mexico decided to overlook it.

The vast majority of the pre-election polls showed Enrique Peña Nieto ahead of all other presidential candidates by more than %10 of the total votes, the election results gave a difference of only %6. Showing that the media and press where providing bias information.

The day after the election thousands of people crowed Soriana supermarkets all over the country. They had been given gift cards in exchange of their vote. These events supported the claims of the runner-up in the presidential election, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, who started a legal process to invalidate the election results.  The Guardian wrote:

“The Federal Electoral Tribunal has until 6 September to resolve all formal complaints, with most observers expecting it to ratify Peña Nieto’s win in large part because, while smaller than many expected, his margin of victory of 3.3m votes is still substantial.

To hold any weight in the tribunal, allegations of vote-buying must be supported not only by evidence of gifts given, but also proof of pressure applied to ensure these resulted in votes. Evidence of media bias is even harder to link directly to quantities of ballots cast. Mexican law punishes campaign overspending with fines alone.”

The electoral results and the irregularities occurred during the electoral process gave birth to mass protests all over the country. Unions, the student movement “Yo soy 132”, indigenous groups, such as the  “Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra”,  and general people have decided to join forces to fight the imposition of Enrique Peña Nieto as the president of Mexico. A National Convention was held on the 14th and 15th of July in San Salvador Atenco. Over 2000 representatives of approximately 300 social groups from all over the country attended the meeting. The Convention’s aim was to articulate and organise the social resistance against this imposition. Action will be taken now, but it will be of particular importance to know what will happen after the 6th of September, when the verdict of the legal investigation against the PRI will be given.

 

If you want to know more about the political situation in Mexico before the election watch Denise Dresser lecture, “Mexico 2012 and Beyond”, at the Centre for Latin American Studies, CU Berkeley. Where she spoke about the current political and economical situation in Mexico. She analyses the Peña Nieto model, the return of the PRI, the war on drugs and other key pieces in Mexico’s present, past and future.