Mexico's far left MORENA achieves official recognition

The Left is alive and well in Mexico, and it comes in several flavors

Guadalajara -
Mexico's ultra left wing National Regeneration Movement (Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional, commonly known by its acronym MORENA) became a legitimate political party yesterday in Mexico City when it met minimum requisites set by the nation's Federal Election Insitute (IFE) for participation in federal and state contests.

MORENA was founded by two time presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador in September 2012, after he split with a consortium of leftist parties which supported his second run for Mexico's highest office in last year's election. AMLO breaks with leftist coalition, forms new party. Despite a slow start, López Obrador confounded political prognosticators by capturing second place in 2012 with 32% of the vote, leaving conservative National Action Party (PAN) contender Josefina Vázquez Mota - Mexico's first female presidential candidate from a major party - far afield.

The fiery leftist politician called last year's results a farce and a fraud, and rejected the IFE's Aug. 30 decision that the election had been conducted fairly, in accord with law. "Mexico's political system is held captive by white collar criminals," he said at the time. Manuel López Obrador is still in the ring, and still slugging. He called then president elect Peña Nieto and the incoming center left Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) administration a "band of evildoers."

In any case MORENA has met IFE requisites and is now a legitimate party, taking its place on the far left end of the political stage. The primary requirement was that it hold 20 state assemblies with at least 3,000 persons in attendance at each. Crowd sizes are monitored by IFE agents, and MORENA passed the participation test. López Obrador told supporters Sunday the party has almost 500,000 registered members across Mexico, and is a national political force to be reckoned with. MORENA recruited members in many Mexican cities, including Guadalajara. "Peña Nieto completely under the control of Obama," says MORENA official.

MORENA calls itself "Mexico's hope," and its slogan asserts "Only the people can save the people."

López Obrador denied MORENA is about his own political aspirations, and promised he would not use it as a springboard to launch a widely expected 2018 campaign for the presidency - his third try. López Obrador said MORENA's first goal would be to elect representatives to the federal congress in 2015. The IFE will award the party a registration certificate in March 2014, according to the candidate.

MORENA is unalterably opposed to pending energy reforms, as well as already passed education ones. Both are initiatives of president Peña Nieto's government, which will complete its first year in office Dec. 1. On Oct. 7 López Obrador called for acts of civil disobedience to protest administration plans to open Mexico's state controlled oil monopoly to private and foreign investment. López Obrador urges public protest over pending PEMEX reforms. Among AMLO devotees is Mexico's "grand dame of letters," who has won numerous literary awards during her long writing career. Elena Poniatowska, entirely out to lunch in New York.

Another prominent leftist leader, former Federal District (Mexico City) governor Marcelo Ebrard, is all but a declared candidate for president in 2018. Last year he said it would be disastrous for Mexico's Left to field two presidential candidates in the same election, but his comments are not expected to deter López Obrador. Ebrard is a member of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), which is to the political left of PRI but far less radical than MORENA. PRD critics - especially Manuel López Obrador - complain that it has become little more than an obliging branch of PRI, disposed to support most of the major programs and policies of the party which holds Mexico's highest office (EPN two for three on reform packages).

Nov. 3, 2012 - Mexico's presidential campaign 2018 already underway

López Obrador; MORENA
Sept. 21 - Opinion: Andrés Manuel's vision for Mexico
Sept. 19 - Opinion: Mexico's Left determined to shackle the nation to the past
Sept. 1 - Manuel López Obrador: Peña Nieto has been a "disaster"
Aug. 3 - Manuel López Obrador: no to marijuana legalization
Jul. 29 - Mexican Left lambasts poverty war: "a massive failure"
July 15, 2012 - Spain's El País blasts López Obrador
July 13, 2012 - Manuel López Obrador fires in all directions, demanding a new election

Energy reform
Nov. 3 - Forbes praises Peña Nieto's "courageous" energy policy
Sept. 23 - Energy reform debate opens in Mexican Senate; warnings of foreign takeover of PEMEX
Sept. 21 - "The fix is in" on energy reform, says AMLO: new laws "designed for foreign business"
Sept. 20 - Without energy reform, Mexico will need more than half a century to reach U.S. output

Education reform protests
Aug. 19 - Continued teacher strikes idle almost a million students in Oaxaca
Aug. 25 - Opinion: PRI government shows no resolve against thug teachers
Aug. 29 - Teachers' union calls for nationwide strike
Aug. 30 - Oaxaca education at the mercy of omnipotent syndicate
Aug. 31 - Oaxaca freezes pay of striking teachers
Sept. 2 - Mexico's House of Deputies passes education reforms
Sept. 3 - Mexico's Senate passes education reform bill, as labor unions threaten civil disobedience
Sept. 4 - Oaxaca governor holds tough and refuses to pay dissident teachers
Sept. 4 - Teachers' union ups the ante, calling indefinite strike in Chiapas
Sept. 6 - School closings spread to Yucatán, but Peña Nieto says "there's no turning back"
Sept. 12 - Yucatán teachers fold, agree to return to the schoolhouse
Sept. 17 - Secret Service locks down Mexico City's Zócalo
Sept. 22 - La CNTE: entre la revolución y los privilegios
Sept. 25 - "Peña Nieto completely under the control of Obama," says MORENA official
Sept. 29 - The "mafia CNTE"
Oct. 1 - Radical teachers' syndicate returns to Mexico City streets, attacking police
Oct. 4 - Mexico City rioters caused millions in damages; PRI, PAN and PRD call for new laws
Oct. 15 - Oaxaca's governor caves to school teachers
Oct. 31 - Teachers return to Guadalajara streets, protesting alleged education privatization

AMLO sympathizers in Mérida, July 2012, showed their feelings about IFE and last year's election.

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