Two Weeks Before Mexico’s Presidential Election, “Democracy” is Questioned in Oaxaca

Mexico is 14 days away from the July 2 presidential election, a near dead-heat race between three candidates: the leftist leaning populist, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the center/right Vicente Fox predecessor, Felipe Calderon, and the old guard conservative candidate, Roberto Madrazo. The winner of the 6-year term will have significant control over purging corruption, the direction of Mexico’s economy under NAFTA, the U.S./Mexico immigration debate, and the creation of the jobs and social services necessary to keep the more than one in five Mexicans living in extreme poverty from either migrating north or – perhaps more troubling for Mexican democracy – from rioting in the streets. While the world, and the U.S. in particular, is confident in the secure democracy that Mexico has been creating during the past 12 years – especially during the past 6 years under the anti-corruption efforts of current President Vicente Fox – Mexicans are much less confident in their own system of governance. The violence that erupted between teachers and state police in Oaxaca on Wednesday, June 14, suggests that their fears may be warranted. Or maybe the violence is a prerequisite for the real “democracy” yet to come?

SNTE and PRI Were Once Bedfellows
Since May 22, the Syndicate of National Education Workers (SNTE by its Spanish acronym) of the state of Oaxaca has been on strike to demand a $17 weekly increase in their minimum wage. At the end of May, the Oaxacan State Governor, Ulises Ruiz - who is a member of the notoriously corrupt and entrenched PRI party - attempted to negotiate with the teachers by offering to provide 15% of the demanded salary increase, but the teachers refused. Ever since, the teachers have been camped out in tents and other temporary living quarters in the center of the historic downtown of Oaxaca’s state capital awaiting renewed negotiations. While the violence that erupted last Wednesday between Oaxacan state police and the teachers represents a new phase in the political decay of the PRI party, the tensions are not new to Oaxaca or to the country as a whole.

Ironically, the politicized SNTE and the conservative Oaxacan Governor Ruiz both hail from the conservative PRI party, which until the late 90´s single-handedly ruled Mexican politics through a system of patronage and corruption that has characterized Mexican politics since Cortez divided and conquered the Aztec empire in 1519. Since PRI was the only “legitimate” ruling party, the SNTE was established as an ally to the PRI in the early 1940´s with the hope that in return for voting patronage, the PRI government would augment salaries and protect teachers’ rights.

Despite this alliance with the ruling party, over the past 60 years, the SNTE has been a staging ground for battles and division between various camps within the PRI party. Most recently, as other legitimate political parties such as the PAN and PRD have begun to offset the power of the Priistas, SNTE´s relationship with the PRI party has become increasing adversarial. In fact, under the current leadership of Elba Esther “Gordillo” Morales, the SNTE has taken an anti-Priista position and threatened to vote for its competitors in the coming 2006 election.


Violence
After three weeks of the SNTE’s protests and strike in Oaxaca’s Zócola (main square), last Wednesday at 4:00 a.m., the Oaxacan state police, camouflaged in regular city busses and armed with assault rifles, metal bars, and patrol dogs, stormed in to remove peaceful protestors from the SNTE. The forceful removal was aided by state helicopters that circled the historical downtown dropping tear gas on a ten by ten block radius. About two hours after the police tore down the protestors' tents, ravaged their food, and managed to force the teachers out of the main square, the teachers re-grouped and launched a counter-attack against the police. Using rocks, sticks, and moving cars to return the blows and humiliate the state police, the teachers were able to regain control of the Zócalo by 9:00a.m.

The PRI-led police intervention was bloody, unexpected, and politically untimely. Eyewitnesses recount seeing remnants of broken radios, leftover food and clothing, dried blood, and beat-up cars. The violence shut down Oaxaca for the entire day, leaving many of the tourists (the engine of Oaxaca’s economy) without a place to sleep or to eat.

Although more than a week later there is still no official count of injured or dead, the reports suggest that at least 70 teachers and 30 policemen were injured from impact wounds, asphyxiation from tear gas, and concussions, and that somewhere between 0-9 civilians died (the teachers are saying that between 3-9 died but the state government continues to declare that there is no known proof of any deaths.) As described recently by a local Oaxacan, the entire scenario seemed like it was out of Iraq – or another country without a democratically elected government or its accompanying protections for the people against the state. In his words, “How could it be possible that in this century, at this point in the “democratization” of Mexico, there could be such a violent attack by the police against a peaceful civilian protest?” Perhaps more troubling for state Governor Ulises Ruiz, this Oaxacan continued, “While I was not particularly interested in the teachers´ movement beforehand, I am 100% in favor of their politics now.”

Is This “Democratic” Progress or a Setback?
A week since the attack, the teachers strike continues and negotiations remain at an impasse, and the movement’s popularity grows to include more mainstream groups. The SNTE held another mega protest in Oaxaca and another in Mexico City last Friday to demand nothing short of Governor Ruiz’ head on a stick. From now on, the teachers refuse to recognize the local governor and will only associate with Federal authorities. Despite the growing anger of the protestors who continue to chant, “Ulises will fall, Ulises will fall!” and the loss of more than $13 million in the tourism industry over the last month (not to mention the continued loss of class time for the state’s public school children), it is unlikely that much will change before the July 2 presidential elections. Vicente Fox’s PAN administration knows that such civil unrest will hurt the Presidential PRI candidate, Roberto Madraza, and in turn, may help the current ruling party’s candidate, Felipe Calderon, to win on July 2.

The political game aside, however, the SNTE’s complete dismissal of the local PRI government and the growing popular support for their movement throughout the country may be a sign of growing democracy – and yes – even stability. The civil unrest in Oaxaca is really an outcome of the gradual dismantling of the corrupt “papa PRI government,” and the patronage relationships that entrenched unions like the SNTE had with the all powerful PRI. In other words, what appears like a failure of democracy today, may actually be a necessary step towards the gradual removal of the authoritarian rule of the PRI and the growth of a Mexican political system characterized by more legitimate political parties.

Affect on the 2006 Presidential Election
The events in Oaxaca take the PRI Presidential candidate, Madrzao, out of the running for good, but rather than helping the original anti-corruption PAN candidate, Calderon, it appears to be helping left leaning PRD candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO). AMLO’s platform, “for the well being of all,” plays off of the democratic failures of the PRI and current ruling PAN parties, and Mexico is still a country wherein people vote on the defensive.

Many Mexicans shared a great hope that Vicente Fox, who won the 2000 presidential election ousting the corrupt PRI party for the first time in history, would end political corruption, create authentic democracy in Mexico, and address the many social needs of its people. Not surprisingly, six years of PAN rule has not ended the corruption and patronage that is entrenched in all levels of Mexican government. In addition, rates of poverty have continued to grow for the majority of Mexicans. As a result, the flicker of hope that had reigned during the 2000 election has burnt out for many Mexicans, who feel hopeless that any popularly elected government will clear corruption and address the glaring poverty and resulting violence that affect all levels of Mexican society.

Resigned over the failures of Fox’s PAN party to overhaul the political machine or to address the country’s social and economic problems, Mexicans are turning to the alternative. AMLO’s platform offers to revamp all federal social services, including health care, education, and elderly care. And, most importantly, he has managed to become the new “anti-corruption” candidate by promising to cut bureaucrat salaries and by attacking the original anti-corruption PAN party for various frauds committed in the last six years – including the now infamous cuñano incómodo (inconvenient brother in law) of PAN’s current Presidential candidate Calderon.

While the slow progress away from one-party rule in Mexico may be creating more divisions and unrest, isn’t this what democracy looks like? A multiple party state upsets the previous status quo, but it also creates political options for the Mexican people. The competition between the alternative parties will force them to become more accountable to the Mexican voters, but such competition will also create new political divisions and a divided senate that will find it difficult reach consensus. The slow process away from its politically troubled past will discourage many Mexicans from political participation out of hopelessness that they can make any difference in the future progress of their nation. Candidates, like the current front-running AMLO, will succeed by acting like political outsiders whose revolutionary views might once and for all overcome the “stank” of politics and the bureaucrats who serve them. Indeed, Mexico is moving – although slowly – towards that “stable” democracy that is celebrated in the United States. The real question, therefore, is will this new Mexican democracy provide for its SNTE, its rural poor, or those currently in Tijuana awaiting to cross to the other side?