MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mexico's controversy could internationalize.

Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who was stripped of his immunity from prosecution last week, said Sunday he would take his case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

Mr. Lopez Obrador said his purpose was to avoid losing his political rights if he was prosecuted which could prevent him from running for Mexico's presidency in 2006. "In the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, to which Mexico is a signatory and which is an international treaty, it was established that political rights could only be lost if there was a conviction," the mayor said.

The head of the congressional committee that recommended stripping the mayor of immunity, Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) Congressman Horacio Duarte, but who voted against the motion, backed the mayor's efforts.

Mr. Duarte said that if Lopez Obrador, also a PRD member were to be prosecuted, he would push for a hearing to prevent the suspension of his political rights and, if necessary, the case would be taken to the IACHR. He said Mexico and El Salvador are the only countries in the Americas whose laws called for the suspension of civil rights once an indictment was issued. In all the other countries, according to Mr. Duarte, individuals can only be stripped of their civil rights if they are convicted of a crime. Under Mexican law, Mr. Lopez Obrador will lose his political rights if he is finally indicted.

Legislators voted 360-127 last Thursday to strip Mr. Lopex Obrador's immunity who is accused of ignoring a court order to halt construction of a road on disputed land. The vote suspends his political rights, making him ineligible to stand for office. It also removes him from the post of mayor, though it is unclear as to when that suspension takes effect. The lifting of his immunity left the mayor exposed to possible arrest in coming days.

Nevertheless Mexico's most popular politician has vowed to continue his quest for the presidency from jail, if necessary. Mr. Lopez Obrador also contends that the legal case against him is politically motivated and is a political plot orchestrated to bar him from running for president. President Vicente Fox's administration and his political conservative party PAN, have repeatedly denied the accusations and that it was simply a matter of demonstrating that no individual is above the law.