| This story just makes me incredibly sad. And more than a little worried. |
| Coming soon to a Sanctuary City near you. |
 MEXICO CITY - Fistfights and shoving matches broke out in the Mexican Congress Tuesday after leftist lawmakers, hoping to block the inauguration of conservative President-elect Felipe Calderon, stormed the podium and tried to seize control of the chamber. Conservatives, surrounded by security guards, pushed back the protesting lawmakers and vowed to keep order until they formally bestow the presidential sash on Calderon in a ceremony in the Chamber of Deputies this Friday.
The fisticuffs underscore the deep well of bitterness that remains after the closest and most hotly contested presidential race in modern Mexican history and highlight the near certainty possibility that Friday's ceremony will be marred by violence. | "We're not going to allow this inauguration to happen," said Roberto Lopez, a PRD spokesman. "Felipe Calderon will not govern a single day in this country." |
Members of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, claim Calderon, a member of the National Action Party, or PAN, stole the July election. "We're not going to allow this inauguration to happen," said Roberto Lopez, a PRD spokesman. "Felipe Calderon will not govern a single day in this country."
Calderon's transition office declined comment. Calls placed to the PAN headquarters weren't returned. But Ruben Aguilar, a spokesman for outgoing President Vicente Fox, said Calderon will take over on Friday no matter what happens in Congress. "There is an institutional mechanism" for it, he said. "After the first second on the first day of December of this year, we will have a president who was elected by the majority of the citizens of this country." |