Coop média de Montréal
Journalisme indépendant
Can you support independent journalists with $5? donate today!
Manifestacion Montréal-México No estan Solos (Montreal-Mexico Demonstration: We are not alone)
Video by: MrGeosolis on youtube
Text by: Tim McSorley
Dozens of people, as seen in the video above, participated in a protest in Montreal this week against the recent Mexican elections. The results of the July 1 elections are being contested both by opposition parties and by social movements, who claim massive voting irregularities place the result in question. The vote saw PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party or Partido Revolucionario Institucional) candidate Enrique Pena Nieto win with about six per cent of the vote. But his main opponent, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (the former mayor of Mexico CIty who's candidacy is backed by a coaltion of left-leaning parties) has levelled accusations of massive vote-buying.
The PRI held power for 71 years before losing to opposition candidate Vincente Fox in 2000. Refered to in 1990 as the "perfect dictatorship" by Peruvian wirter Mario Vargas Llosa, the party has faced accusations of corruption and state violence throughout it's history (including the shooting of student protesters just before the 1968 Summer Olympics).
One of the main social movements against Pena Nieto's candidacy, referenced in the video, is Yo Soy 132 (I am 132).
The movement began when students at the Universidad Iberoamericana denounced the candidate when he visited the campus on May 11, 2012, mainly for his decision to order police to intervene in a protest while he was governor of the state of Mexico in 2006; police killed two of the protesters and injured others during the raid. The mainstream media claimed that the protesters at UI were working on behalf of opposition candidates and we not students.
The protesters responded by filming a video showing 131 of them with their student ID cards. As a sign of support, others began saying they the 132nd student, eventually becoming Yo Soy 132. Student leaders frm this movement have submitted a report to Mexican election officials with accusations of over 1,000 voting irregularities.
A major protest against the election results was called to take place today, July 7, in Mexico City.
About the poster
322 words
Comments
Translation
Submitted by Tim McSorley on Sat, 07/07/2012 - 12:44.
My Spanish is too weak to translate what is being said in the video properly. If anyone has the time to translate some of what is said, especially during the interview at the end, that would be great.
The site for the Montreal local of The Media Co-op has been archived and will no longer be updated. Please visit the main Media Co-op website to learn more about the organization.