Calderon defies Mexico protests before taking power

[cal04]

Mexican President-elect Felipe Calderon defied leftist protesters on Thursday by vowing to hold his inauguration in Congress, risking clashes with lawmakers who claim he stole the July election with fraud.

Calderon, a conservative, refused to back down to his opponents, who are planning rowdy demonstrations to disrupt the swearing-in ceremony on Friday and have told him to go somewhere else to avoid trouble.

"On taking power, I will go to Congress, not on a whim or because of political strategy, but simply because the constitution demands it," he told reporters.

(snip)
"I don't see how they can have a ceremony like the ones they have announced, unless they drag us out of here with a crane or by force," said Javier Gonzalez Garza, who leads the PRD in the lower house Chamber of Deputies.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N30206702.htm


Rival legislators have camped out in an effort to block the platform where Felipe Calderón intends to be sworn in as president tomorrow.

[Kagemusha]

1. UFO catcher perhaps?

Just asking.

[mom cat]

2. The protest of this sham inauguration is going to be a sight to

behold. Lets just pray that the same thug/police/military that broke the Oaxaca protest are not there to stir up violence.

[IndianaGreen]

3. Calderon is as illegitimate as Bush in 2000

and he will be challenged by all sectors. I wish him a miserable and short presidency.

[Peace Patriot]

4. I love these guys. They make me long for real representation in our own

Congress.

"'I don't see how they can have a ceremony like the ones they have announced, unless they drag us out of here with a crane or by force,' said Javier Gonzalez Garza, who leads the PRD in the lower house Chamber of Deputies."

Stop the puppet presidency! Stop the lies! Stop the killing! Stop the torture! Stop the grand theft of our treasury!

Hey, we've got a ceremony coming up, too. The. State. Of. The. Union.

Drag us out of here with a crane or by force!

Don't you wish that had been the response to the "Help America Vote Act" (and a number of other things)?

I can't imagine what Bush will have to say for himself that even the Republicans would want to listen to. Wouldn't you just love it if they all turned their backs? Or denied him the stage?

Drag us out of here.

Ah, me.