The 'race' for the presidency here in Mexico keeps getting more
complicated by the minute. Just as millions of Mexicans have
begun to wake up and ask themselves..... Who is the real candidate that
Zedillo supports? ..... A new question has come along?..... Just
who is the candidate that Juan Gabriel supports?!
Juan Gabriel, for those who haven't yet come into contact with his
artistry, is Mexico's best liked, most beloved, and just plain best-
singer. He is from Ciudad Juarez, and regularly plays sold out
concerts, both sides of The Border, to tens of thousands at a time.
It would seem that an endorsement from such a popular star, would be the
best thing that could come one's way. Juan Gabriel is kind of a
John Wayne and Frank Sinatra combined into one personage. He is
Mexico's favorite son, so to speak.
So, Labastida, the PRI candidate, must of just fallen over with joy when
Juan Gabriel composed a little serenade supporting victory for Labastida
in the July 2 presidential election? No?
Here is the crux of the problem that there is in monitoring fraud in the
Mexican election..... just what does it consist of? Did the
decision to write a song of support by Juan Gabriel for Labastida come
from the pecho de Juan Gabriel? Or did it come from Labastida
writing a letter asking Juan Gabriel for support?
Or more ominously, did it come from Vicente Fox, the PAN 'opposition'
candidate of Labastida? Or worse yet, did this idea originate
from the public image machinery of some US firm or US governmental
agency? Because, you see, Juan Gabriel is Latin America's most famous
homosexual.
As Dan Quaile knows, as Doonesbury knows, as Rush Limbaugh knows......
the leverage of having an effective way of ridiculing the other side is
very important. So the support staff of Vicente Fox, and 'Macho
Guy'-Fox himself, are off and running with the ball with less than 2
weeks to go. The balls of Labastida!
Reportage has Fox singing along with 30,000 supporters together in
Veracruz, in their own rendition of Juan Gariel's ode to Labastida.
One can imagine the effect of this ridicule nationally reported
throughout Mexico.
Is it prohibited by election law? Will Jimmy Carter, election
monitor, call for a new vote? Will Global Exchange include
this black box job in its list of irregularities? Just how
irregular a movement is this, that Juan Gabriel and Vicente Fox have
started? And once again, who came up with the idea of writing and
publicizing the original song by Juan?
And sad as it is, most of the innocent and good minded people of both
sides of The Border, will accept things at face value. In
Mexico, this translates into millions possibly being swayed to vote for
the image of Fox, instead of the image of Labastida.
Welcome to the new world of capitalist 'democracy', Mexico.
Tony Abdo
http://www.juangabriel.com.mx/azteca/index.html
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