Mexico tortilla march organizers sideline leftist leader

[arcos]

Mexico tortilla march organizers sideline leftist leader

MEXICO CITY: Leftist leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has declared himself Mexico's "legitimate president," saw his strength wane as organizers of Wednesday's protest march against skyrocketing tortilla prices asked him to stay on the sidelines.

<snip>

The leftist leader tried to make a major public comeback by offering to lead the tortilla march, but he was forced to back down. He agreed to give his own speech in Mexico City's Zocalo plaza only after the organizers finish their evening rally.

"The idea is that we concentrate on the general objectives of the march and not on personalities," Gerardo Sanchez, president of the Permanent Agrarian Council, said on W Radio Tuesday.

<snip>

Since taking office Dec. 1, Calderon has drawn the greatest criticism for failing to control the largest spike in tortilla prices in decades. The national uproar has put him in an uncomfortable position between the poor and some agribusiness industries hoping to profit off the surge in international corn prices, driven mostly by the sudden explosion of the U.S. ethanol industry.

<snip>

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/31/america/LA-GEN-Mexico-Tortilla-March.php

[LeighAnn]

1. Don't we pay millions to farmers NOT to grow corn?

I know a wealthy couple who built a mansion on a piece of land that they never had any intention of farming, and last time I checked they were getting tens of thousands in farm subsidies. Their poorer cousins a few hundred miles away, who actually farm, get a few hundred a year.

Here's where you look...

http://www.ewg.org/farm/index.php?key=nosign

[struggle4progress]

2. Tens of thousands march in Mexico City to protest tortilla prices

7:50 PM CST on Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Associated Press

MEXICO CITY – Tens of thousands of trade unionists, farmers and leftists marched through downtown Mexico City on Wednesday to protest price increases for basic foods like tortillas – the staple of Mexico's poor.

The march represented a challenge to President Felipe Calderon's market-oriented policies and one banner read "Calderon stole the elections, and now he's stealing the tortillas!" But it was also a setback for his archrival, leftist leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who protest organizers prevented from speaking at the demonstration ...

"El Peje is the obvious leader of the poor," said housewife Carmen Rosete, 50, calling Lopez Obrador by his nickname, a reference to a combative fish from his home state of Tabasco.

Corn farmer Servando Olivaria saw it another way. "This is a spontaneous people's movement, with no political affiliation," Olivaria said. "Lopez Obrador can participate, but he should not head the march. He should not even speak about it." ...

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/mexico/stories/020107dninttortillamarch.109c34a.html