Chavez ignores Calderon and praises Lopez Obrador

Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez reiterated Sunday in Caracas that his government “does not recognize the president elect of Mexico” who he said “represents a desperate extreme right which appeals to all sorts of dirty tricks”, although “it’s difficult to see them hail victory”.

“We do not recognize the government of Mexico or its president elect because many strange things happened their”, said Chavez interviewed by the Latinamerican television Telesur.

Chavez recalled that president elect Felipe Calderon and “the desperate right”, blasted against him during the (Mexican) electoral campaign with the purpose of presenting left wing candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as “Satan”. Lopez Obrador claimed electoral fraud and has headed a civil peaceful resistance movement that was proclaimed Saturday “President” by his followers.

“We’re most concerned with what is happening in Mexico but I believe the situation reflects the ongoing struggle in Latinamerica for changes”, added Chavez. Venezuela and Mexico have frozen bilateral relations, including the recall of ambassadors, following an exchange of epithets between current president Vicente Fox who Chavez calls the “empire’s pup”.

But Chavez is confident that a new Mexico is in the process of being born in Mexico City’s main Zocalo square with the “Conservative, right wing forces” in retreat and contracting.

Zocalo is witness to a new “call for liberty, for independence, Pancho Villa is back”, said Chavez.

On Saturday defeated leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador from the Democratic Revolution Party, PRD, was declared Mexico's "legitimate president" by tens of thousands of his supporters who gathered in the Zocalo.

"It is an honour to represent you. I will do so with humility and conviction, I will not betray you, I am not going to betray the people of Mexico" Lopez Obrador told the crowd.

Organizers of the event said some 1.2 million "delegates" from across Mexico turned out filling the gigantic plaza and surrounding streets.

Lopez Obrador's supporters rejected the "usurpation" of power and refused to recognize Felipe Calderon, who was declared the winner of Mexico's July 2 presidential election by Mexico’s Federal Electoral Tribunal over a week ago.

Delegates refused to allow Lopez Obrador to be merely the "coordinator of peaceful civil resistance" and named him "president of Mexico" with the power to name a shadow Cabinet, live in the "seat of government" in Mexico City and raise funds, organizers said. Lopez Obrador said he accepted the post of alternative president because he opposed "the imposition and rupture of the constitutional order" through electoral fraud.

He said accepting the Calderon administration would lead to "indefinitely postponing democratic change in the country and continuing with the same game as always".

Lopez Obrador plans to be sworn in by his supporters on November 20, just days before president elect Calderón’s official ceremony December first.

Mexico's TRIFE ruled earlier this month that Calderon from President Vicente Fox's ruling National Action Party, or PAN won the presidential seat by only 233,381 votes, 0.56% of the 41 million cast.

Despite certifying Calderon's triumph, the electoral tribunal said that Fox had improperly intervened in the campaign to aid his fellow rightist and that Mexico's leading business federations had violated election laws with their attacks on Lopez Obrador.

AMLO, as Lopez Obrador is known, alleged the results were fraudulent and has continued to demand a full recount, refusing to recognize the tribunal's decision.

However candidate Calderon took full advantage of Chavez interference in Mexican politics when he openly supported Lopez Obrador and used offensive language against President Fox.

For weeks Lopez Obrador supporters have been staging protests in the capital that even disrupted some official events. Fox was forced to deliver his final state-of-the-nation address on television after a protest by leftist legislators prevented him from addressing Congress.

The president personally handed over a written copy of his speech on Sept. 1 in the lobby of Congress but did not enter to deliver his speech inside because leftist legislators had occupied the stage and refused to leave.

Lopez Obrador's National Democratic Convention was organized to coincide with the celebration of Mexico’s September 15/16 independence holidays in the Zocalo.

Mexico City’s Chamber of Commerce estimated that the downtown protest sits in and camps caused losses of over 700 million US dollars and 3,800 jobs. The latest survey by the Consulta Mitofsky polling firm shows that opposition to PRD grew from 30 to 39% between July and August, while Lopez Obrador's disapproval ratings climbed 10 percentage points.