Socialist Action /June 2000
Manuel Aguilar Mora Begins Presidential
Campaign with Tour of Guanajuato, Mexico
The following article describes the opening week of the campaign of
Manuel Aguilar Mora, presidential candidate of the Socialist Coalition,
the Mexican revolutionary socialist bloc.
The bloc includes organizations with which Socialist Action has maintained
close fraternal relations-the League for Socialist Unity (Liga de Unidad
Socialista-LUS) and the Socialist Workers Party (POS). The basis of the
campaign was explained in our last issue.
By Jorge Bojalil
MEXICO CITY-Manuel Aguilar Mora began his tour of the Mexican state of
Guanajuato [traditionally a conservative Catholic state and the home base
of Vicente Fox, the candidate of the right-wing Catholic party, the PAN].
On May 5, Manuel arrived in Irapuato, where he meet with a group of teachers
from sections 13 and 45 of the SNTE [teachers' union].
On May 5, along with Cuauhtehmoc Ruiz from the leadership of the Socialist
Workers Party (POS), he participated in two rallies. The first was in the
National Teachers University of Irapuato. The second was at the plenary
session of the Union Civica Salmantina Francisco Villa de Salamanca, where
he was introduced by the leader of the union, Renee Ramirez, and by the
teacher Maura Vazquez, a member of the Frente Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional
(FZLN).
On Sunday, May 7, Manuel went to Leon and San Francisco del Rincon. In
the first city he met with comrades from the Liga de Unidad Socialist (LUS)
to organize a future visit to the town. In San Francisco del Rincon, the
home base of some of the most reactionary elements in the country, he carried
out an intensive campaign, accompanied by Lavier Mirles, Ladislao Torres,
and other members of the FZLN and the Socialist Coalition.
For more than an hour, he explained to a group of 200 students at the
Universidad La Salle del Bajio the reasons for his independent revolutionary
candidacy. He had a lively discussion with the audience. Later, he gave
two speeches, one in the Constituyentes preparatory school, where he spoke
to 200 students who engaged him in a thoughtful dialogue.
In the headquarters of the debtors' association, El Barzon, the Socialist
Coalition held a press conference for the local media. The busy day ended
with a talk at the Comboniano seminary (named for the missionary Comboni)
in which Manuel explained the reasons for his campaign. He got an enthusiastic
reception from about 20 students with whom he ate dinner.
On May 10, there were two rallies in Irapuato. In the morning, he explained
to an assembly of pupils at the Ignacio Manuel Altamirano preparatory school
the political reasons that led the Socialist Coalition to run an independent
presidential campaign. Afterwards, there was a press conference for the
media in the city of Irapuato.
The following day, Manuel went to Mexico City for a campaign rally in
the San Juanico neighborhood, near the Northern Sector underground cable
center of the light and power company. [One of the main struggles in Mexico
today is the fight of the electrical workers against the privatization of
their industry.]
In the evening, he attended the presentation of the book, "The Twenty
Mexican Octobers" by Sergio Tamayo, in the San Angel Cultural Center.
On Friday, May 12, he returned to Guanajuato, and presented the platform
of the Socialist Coalition to the students at the Irapuato school of the
University of Leon. That evening, he spoke to the students of Irapuato's
Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores, the only public institution
of higher learning in the city.
In the evening, he went to Salamanca and met with a group of teachers,
oil workers, and members of left organizations. In this meeting, the Socialist
Coalition delegation explained its political strategy and called for independent
revolutionary socialist unity. He returned to Irapuato in the evening and
had a meeting with activists from other organizations in the city.
On Saturday, May 13, Manuel returned to Mexico City and took part in
a rally for the release of the American Black political prisoner journalist
Mumia Abu Jamal in front of the U.S. embassy.
At the same time in Guanajuato, a week of intense activity culminated
in a rally in front of the U.S. consulate in support of Mumia and in protest
against the persecution of undocumented Mexican workers in Arizona.
Socialist Action /June 2000 |