MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Political turmoil brewing in Mexico

Mexico's political left is rallying behind the capital's mayor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador the early presidential front-runner who could be knocked out of the race this week if Congress lifts his immunity from prosecution.

Top authorities and rank-and-file of Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) gathered Sunday at the Expo Reforma convention center among them the party's founder, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, a three-time contender for the presidency.

Mr. Lopez Obrador claims the legal proceedings against him, which could end his political career if he were to be prosecuted and convicted of contempt of court in a land dispute, were part of a conspiracy to destroy him politically.

"Even with campaigns to discredit us, they have not been able to take away our popular support", underlined Mexico City's mayor.

"In the city over 80% of residents support us and in the country, according to nearly all the polls, we are at least 15 points ahead of the possible candidates from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the ruling PAN (National Action Party)" which voted against him in Congress.

Mr. Cardenas who apparently also is a 2006 presidential and has differences with the PRD leadership nevertheless came to express support for Mr. Lopez Obrador.

"I've come to express my solidarity with comrade Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. To make clear my position and condemn injustice, dirty tricks and the smear campaign against a comrade who the government wants to deprive of his rights" said the veteran leader. Mr. Cardenas along with the PRD rank and file considers that President Vicente Fox administration is twisting the law in an attempt to politically cripple Mr. Lopez Obrador, who most of the polls show as the favorite to win the presidency in 2006.

In May 2004 the Mexican Attorney General's Office (PGR) formally asked Congress to lift the mayor's immunity so he could be prosecuted for contempt of court under a statute described by the Los Angeles Times as "rarely invoked". More specifically, the PGR accuses the head of Mexico City's municipal government of refusing to heed a judge's order that he halt construction of a hospital access road on a disputed lot of land. Mr. Lopez Obrador denies the substance of the charges and says the entire proceeding is aimed at keeping him out of next year's presidential contest.

Though theoretically autonomous, the PGR is part of the Executive branch and Attorney General, Rafael Macedo de la Concha, was appointed by President Vicente Fox. Limited by law to a single term, Fox, the conservative who ended the PRI's 71-year reign, hopes to see a member of his own party succeed him.

The PRD has organized mass gatherings to show support for Mr. Lopez Obrador, including a demonstration at the capital's main Zocalo Plaza for next Thursday, when the vote to strip him of immunity from prosecution is scheduled to take place.

Meanwhile President Fox' travels coordination office secretary Nahum Acosta was sent to a maximum security jail following his sentencing for cooperation with organized crime.

Mr. Acosta was found to have passed information about Mr. Fox's domestic and overseas trips to the Mexican drug lords cartel, raising fears of an assassination attempt against the Mexican president.