It’s a Dark Day for Mexico
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
For those who may not know this México had presidencial elections yesterday and the general population in not happy with the results so far.
You see, in order to fully understand the reaso why you need to know a little bit of Mexican history.
The History of Mexican Democracy
OK This goes a long way back but I will try to keep it short.
I guess it all starts after the Mexican revolution when there is a new constitution in place in which the most important changes are that no person can serve more than one sentance for the same crime, and that no president will ever be re-elected. The reason for this change in the constitution is the previous administration of president Porfirio Díaz (man on the right) who re-elected himself about 7 times (Not sure if this is the actual number but you get the picture) through bribery and violence.
About 10 or so years after the revolution 2 politic parties take place, the PRI (Revolutionary Institutional Party) ans the PAN (National Action Party). The PRI was more focused on economical growth and being competitive with the rest of the world and the PAN was an ultra conservative group interested in joining the church and the government.
The first honest elections the PRI party won the elections, but much like Porfirio Díaz this new party retained it’s newely aquired power throug intimidation, violence, controling the media and buying votes. From 1929 to 2000 the PRI party had retained power over Mexico through these foul tactics, and in 2000 the PAN party won the first election in which no intimidation or bribery took place.
After this time of change the PAN party turned around and did the exact same thing the next presidential term, bribing polititians, buying votes and contoling the media.
Yesterday we had elections and you can feel the anger and frustration in the general public but more than that the willingnes to participate and being a part of the comunity. In the previous elections over 50% of the Mexican population did not vote, but this time people prepared for it, people couldn’t talk about anything else.
In all my life I had never seen people get so involved with the presidential elections, you can almost smell a change in the air, and it mells good. But yesterday we were able to see the first rock in the way of this new change.
Why today is a Dark Day for Mexico
Most people were suporting a party called the PRD (Democracy Revolution Party), of course on the news they said the old monster PRI was on top of the charts but on the streets, on the internet, on every single civil pole made the PRD was up by a considerable margin.
Yesterday after the elections the preliminary results show that the candidate for the PRI party Enrique Peña Nieto was ahead by 6 points, later that same day through unofficial sources we learn that some people were giving away money in exchange for votes, food, washing machines, houses. People stealing balots, people causing violence in order to destry ballots, and bribing the people countin the votes to show different results.
The final results will be revealed in 2 days yet the PRI party and Enrique Peña Nieto are celebrating as if the results were final, since I woke up this morning all I have been hearing is how friends and people I known were offered money for their vote or for changing the results. So today I say it is a dark day for Mexico because Enrique Peña Nieto and the PRI party do not realize that people will not put up with this any longer.
Today thanks to the internet we are able to see the reality of the situation, the things they don’t show in the news. Mexico will not accept another imposition, Enrique Peña Nieto has underestimated the people and their ability to respond in a positive and constructive way.
This is not the same country and this kind of opression will not stand.
Enrique…México no te quiere.