MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Thousands Protest Mexican President Fox

Shouting “the fatherland is not for sale,” some 80,000 peasants, union members and political activists demonstrated in the Mexican capital Thursday in, at times, a torrential rain against the electricity and tax reforms sought by President Vicente Fox.

The demonstrators, in what is believed to be the greatest protest ever against the Fox government, gathered at four emblematic points of the capital to stage a so-called "mega march" on the Plaza del Zocalo, the central square.

Thousands of participants, many of whom arrived in the capital from other Mexican states and most of whom were undeterred by the heavy rain, blocked major thoroughfares to protest government plans to open the electricity industry to private capital and reform the tax system.

Smaller protests that still attracted thousands of participants were held in other cities, including Guadalajara, Cancun and Monterrey. One incident during the protests resulted in the deaths of three teachers, whose bus was involved in an accident as they were on the way from Oaxaca to Mexico City to join the demonstration.

The most controversial government proposal seeks to extend the value added tax to include until-now exempt food, books and medicines. The fiscal reform, which has been stalled in Congress and is the object of continuing negotiations, caused division in the ranks of the governing National Action Party (PAN) and its two major opponents: the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).

The demonstration on the streets of the Mexican capital was monitored by more than 7,000 police officers, while several helicopters flew over the city throughout the day. The protest was joined by peasants, industrial workers, particularly from the electricity industry, union members and activists from all parties, who called on the Mexican people to protect national assets as provided by the Constitution.

Both signs and shouted slogans appealed for the defense of national sovereignty and the electricity industry and attacked the imposition of the VAT on food and medicines, while protesters paraded a huge straw figure with the mustache, cowboy pants and boots of Fox.

"In defense of national assets, we reject privatization," read a huge sign carried by the demonstrators, most of them union men, who marched from the Angel de la Independencia.

"Fox, the fatherland is not for sale ... better to sell your ranch," read another sign.

Maria Helena Villatoro, of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, or UNAM, told EFE that she joined the protest because "structural reforms can affect family assets." "We support the protests for all the humiliations that peasants are suffering. This march is the beginning of a series of demonstrations against the tax reform," she said. She added that opening the electricity industry to private capital would cause rates to soar, putting the national industry at risk.

Former Mexico City Mayor Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, considered the "moral leader" of the PRD, led another group of protesters. He said he hoped Fox would understand that the "majority of the Mexican people is against handing over the electricity industry to foreigners." He charged that Fox lies when he says that there are not enough funds to generate and supply electricity with the current system.

Fox, for his part, said at a public ceremony in the city of Morelia that he respected demonstrators protesting his structural reforms. "I think that something we Mexicans can feel proud of is the progress in making Mexico a country where the rule of law and freedom are growing realities," he said. He added that "the debate on the future of this industry depends on the strengthening of the state companies themselves, without privatization." Fox said that his purpose was "to ensure the supply of electricity" by allowing private investment in the industry without selling off state power companies.