Mexico's Opposition Candidate Pena Nieto Winning Election: Exit Polls

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25. WaPo: Outgoing President Calderon reportedly fears staying in Mexico

Outgoing President Calderon reportedly fears staying in Mexico

President Felipe Calderon has been telling guests that he and his family are likely to leave Mexico to live abroad after his term expires in December. It will be too dangerous to remain, he warns in private conversation, because powerful drug mafias might come after him.

By William Booth

MEXICO CITY — In meetings, President Felipe Calderon has been telling guests that he and his family are likely to leave Mexico to live abroad after his term expires in December. It will be too dangerous to remain, he warns in private conversation, because powerful drug mafias might come after him.

For the commander-in-chief of Mexico's U.S.-backed drug war to suggest he has not provided enough security to live in his country is a stunning revelation — and may be seen as either an admission of failure or evidence of just how hard he has fought and how far Mexico needs to go.

As Mexicans go to the polls Sunday to vote for his successor, Calderon finds his legacy battered, his ruling party unpopular and its standard bearer, the energetic former education secretary Josefina Vazquez Mota, trailing in third place in the preelection surveys.

Limited to a single six-year term, Calderon remains personally popular, with his ratings hovering around 50 percent. Yet two of every three Mexicans recently surveyed say the country is headed in the wrong direction. According to a spokesman, Calderon is "considering a variety of options both at home and abroad . . . to contribute to finding solutions to global problems." They say "security will not be factor."

more: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2018578571_calderon02.html