López Obrador loyalists march nationwide as thousands protest Enrique Peña Nieto

In Mérida, local PRD supporters gather at Monumento a la Bandera

With less than six weeks remaining before this country's July 1 presidential election, tens of thousands of Mexicans mobilized over the weekend to voice their opinions. Their was sporadic violence in locations, as at least 17 Mexican cities saw vigorous outpourings of protest against the man who appears likely to lead the nation for the next 72 months.

An aggressive PRI responds
The Institutional Revolutionary Party, often associated with a history of brutal repression in Mexico, lived up to its reputation for political brawling Saturday in the city of Córdoba, in Veracruz state. During a day filled with street protests and marches against race leader Enrique Peña Nieto, several demonstrators reported they were attacked and beaten by PRI loyalists. Some claimed that municipal police observed the assaults and did nothing. Veracruz, a hotbed of the most extreme narco violence, is run by a PRI state government. Similar reports of attacks directed at anti-EPN marchers came from Colima on Mexico's Pacific coast. The Colima state government also is in PRI hands.

As many as 46,000 anti-Peña Nieto demonstrators turned out in the nation's capital, reported security officials there. In Mexico City and other venues demonstrators said they won't tolerate a return to power by the party which ran Mexico with an iron fist for more than 70 years. PRI was ousted from office in 2000 by former president Vicente Fox, who forged a motley political coalition which is today's National Action Party (PAN). Peña Nieto remains the easy front-runner in the race, with the second place spot constantly a toss up between PRD and PAN.

Other anti-Peña Nieto marches were staged in Puebla, Villahermosa, Gauadalajara and Cancún. A local press source reported that about 500 protesters demonstrated against the tri-color candidate here in Mérida. Students and young people heavily populated all of the events, but there were plenty of others, too, including labor organizations. An anti-PRI rally was even held in New York City. Many marchers said they weren't demonstrating just against the party and its candidate, but what they claim is massively distorted coverage of this year's campaign by the media, particularly the giant Televisa network. Some allege that Televisa has been paid millions by PRI to present a favorable image of Peña Nieto.

AMLO forces hit the pavement
Meanwhile, Sunday was a designated day for supporters of Democratic Revolution Party candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador to take to the streets all over Mexico. Locally, a group gathered along Mérida's main avenue at 5:00 p.m. The crowd of a thousand or less was orderly, while standard-fare campaign speeches were delivered up by regional PRD functionaries. Volunteers handed out fliers, emphasizing AMLO's plans to trim the salaries of top government officials by half, create seven million new jobs (most of them targeted at younger workers) and generally tighten the nation's fiscal belt, which he argues is out of control. PRD says there will be regular López Obrador street rallies from now until July 1.

JVM accuses PRI of "student abuse"
On her own campaign swing this weekend, PAN nominee Josefina Vázquez Mota said that she "remembered well" the abusive treatment heaped upon students by successive PRI administrations for decades, and promised that she would no longer remain silent on the topic. Another PAN crusader blamed the 1968 execution of dozens of Mexico City students on the PRI regime then in power, and argued that the same mentality yet infects its ranks. Borrowing a strategy from the AMLO playbook, Josefina urged her frustrated supporters, a las calles! -- "to the streets," as she desperately tries to invigorate a listless campaign.

"Oh, the humiliiation of it all"
And where was New Alliance Party (PNA) nominee Gabriel Quadri de la Torre through all of this? Well, for at least three hours he was holed upon at an ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) control station at New York's JFK Airport. It seems the brusque agents didn't realize that he's a Mexican presidential candidate (then again, neither do many Mexicans). Quadri was eventually cleared to continue on this way to New Haven, Connecticut, where his son was awarded a master's degree in environmental studies at Yale today. The candidate returns to active duty combat in Mexico on Tuesday.

"YoSoy 132" protest arrives in Mérida: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/05/yosoy-132-protest-arrives-in-merida.html.
PAN, PRD reject cross demands to abandon presidential race: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/05/pan-prd-reject-cross-urges-to-withdraw.html.
Mexico's presidential campaign begins: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/03/mexicos-presidential-campaign-opens.html#more.
43 years after student massacre, Mexico officially declares a day of mourning: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2011/12/43-years-after-student-massacre-mexico.html.

Mérida snapshots
Two AMLO supporters plot their next move to defeat EPN, whom Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes characterized as an intellectual "lightweight" in December. Fuentes died last week, prompting Peña Nieto to deadpan, "I lament his passing, though we didn't always see eye to eye."

(In the interest of promoting international relations I tried to engage this young leftist in a conversation about the possible utility of Marxist economic models in a post-PAN Mexico, but she didn't seem particularly interested. Perhaps she was troubled by my non-peninsular accent.)