Mexican Miners Reject Boss's Call to Vote Against Left-wing Presidential Candidate
Morning Star, UK
Presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, known as AMLO, gestures to supporters as he ends his campaign rally in Mexico City, last Sunday.
MEXICAN miners have rejected calls from their billionaire boss to vote against the left-wing candidate in the country’s forthcoming presidential elections.
The country’s second-richest individual, mine owner German Larrea, demanded his employees vote against leading presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, known as Amlo.
The billionaire president of mining and rail company Grupo Mexico wrote a letter last week to shareholders, published in Mexican media, warning of the dangers of populism and blasting Mr Lopez Obrador’s plans to limit the role of privateers in the oil and gas sector.
And he penned another letter to workers in Grupo Mexico-owned mines urging them to vote against the left candidate, who, polls are showing, has a huge lead heading toward the July 1 vote.
However, workers at the Buenavista del Cobre mining company and members of the Section 65 of the National Union of Mine, Metal, Iron, Steel and Similar Workers of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMSSC) warned against Mr Larrea’s intervention and demanded respect for their right to vote as they choose.
SNTMMSSC spokesman Antonio Navarrete blasted: “We totally disagree with the threatening stance towards the mining guild. In a country where democracy is supposedly practised, this is not right and we will not allow it.”
Union general secretary Sergio Tolano said his members were “fed up” and would not tolerate the president being chosen by “businesspeople” any longer.
The 8,500 miners based in Sonora called for Mexican election authorities to intervene and stop the threats and intimidation of workers by Mr Larrea.
Mr Lopez Obrador told crowds in Veracruz: “I tell German Larrea that I have no resentment against him, that I don’t hate anyone. I am in favour of love and forgiveness. And that he shouldn’t scare anybody and that he shouldn’t be scared.”
He said his party would win the elections and end corruption in Mexican politics.
July’s presidential and parliamentary elections have been branded “the biggest election in Mexican history.” They take place as deadly violence has swept the country, with journalists and politicians targeted for attacks.
Mr Lopez Obrador — the candidate of the left-wing Movimiento Regeneracion Nacional (Morena) party — is comfortably ahead in the polls with 53 per cent of the vote.
His rival Ricardo Anaya Cortes of the right-wing National Action Party (PAN) is on just 26 per cent, according to the latest figures.
Presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, known as AMLO, gestures to supporters as he ends his campaign rally in Mexico City, last Sunday.
MEXICAN miners have rejected calls from their billionaire boss to vote against the left-wing candidate in the country’s forthcoming presidential elections.
The country’s second-richest individual, mine owner German Larrea, demanded his employees vote against leading presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, known as Amlo.
The billionaire president of mining and rail company Grupo Mexico wrote a letter last week to shareholders, published in Mexican media, warning of the dangers of populism and blasting Mr Lopez Obrador’s plans to limit the role of privateers in the oil and gas sector.
And he penned another letter to workers in Grupo Mexico-owned mines urging them to vote against the left candidate, who, polls are showing, has a huge lead heading toward the July 1 vote.
However, workers at the Buenavista del Cobre mining company and members of the Section 65 of the National Union of Mine, Metal, Iron, Steel and Similar Workers of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMSSC) warned against Mr Larrea’s intervention and demanded respect for their right to vote as they choose.
SNTMMSSC spokesman Antonio Navarrete blasted: “We totally disagree with the threatening stance towards the mining guild. In a country where democracy is supposedly practised, this is not right and we will not allow it.”
Union general secretary Sergio Tolano said his members were “fed up” and would not tolerate the president being chosen by “businesspeople” any longer.
The 8,500 miners based in Sonora called for Mexican election authorities to intervene and stop the threats and intimidation of workers by Mr Larrea.
Mr Lopez Obrador told crowds in Veracruz: “I tell German Larrea that I have no resentment against him, that I don’t hate anyone. I am in favour of love and forgiveness. And that he shouldn’t scare anybody and that he shouldn’t be scared.”
He said his party would win the elections and end corruption in Mexican politics.
July’s presidential and parliamentary elections have been branded “the biggest election in Mexican history.” They take place as deadly violence has swept the country, with journalists and politicians targeted for attacks.
Mr Lopez Obrador — the candidate of the left-wing Movimiento Regeneracion Nacional (Morena) party — is comfortably ahead in the polls with 53 per cent of the vote.
His rival Ricardo Anaya Cortes of the right-wing National Action Party (PAN) is on just 26 per cent, according to the latest figures.
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