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Thursday, September 14, 2006

Fox backs down on “grito”

By Jeremy Schwartz | Thursday, September 14, 2006, 04:48 PM

President Vicente Fox blinked first and announced Thursday that he won’t give the traditional “grito,” or shout marking Mexican independence, in the Zocalo Friday night. In a direct challenge to Fox, losing presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had planned to give the grito in the Zocalo at the same hour, promising a chaotic scene.

Fox had been adamant all week that he would give the grito in the Zocalo, as is tradition for the sitting president. The dueling gritos became a game of chicken between the two leaders, who share a personal as well as political animosity. Fox changed his mind hours after senators from his conservative political party urged him to give the grito somewhere else to avoid a confrontation.

Fox will instead give the grito in Dolores Hidalgo in his home state of Guanajuato, where Miguel Hidalgo gave the original “¡Viva Mexico!” in 1810.

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The great belly button

By Jeremy Schwartz | Thursday, September 14, 2006, 02:34 PM

There may be no more public space in all the world than the 787-foot-by-721-foot concrete slab called the Zocalo. For centuries, the plaza has been the preeminent social gathering spot in the Americas and the epicenter of Mexico City. Its roots extend back to when the Aztecs called this place the “belly button of the world.�

Although it stands in front of some of the country’s greatest seats of power — the Supreme Court, the National Palace, Mexico’s main cathedral — the Zocalo most definitely belongs to the people. Even before election demonstrations turned the Zocalo into a tent city, it hosted every imaginable form of protest. Teachers from Oaxaca, oil workers from Veracruz, dairy farmers from San Luis Potosi — all converged on the Zocalo, and after marching to Mexico City, many would set up their tents on the great belly button.

While the powers that be rule from the balconies overlooking the plaza, the Zocalo is a free-speech zone.

Now that the Zocalo has been taken over by defeated presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his supporters, the public space is heading for a showdown during this weekend’s Fiestas Patrias celebrations.

Friday night marks the traditional “grito,� or shout that marks Mexico’s independence from Spain. The grito is traditionally given by the sitting president, and President Vicente Fox is scheduled to yell “¡Viva Mexico!� at 11 p.m. Lopez Obrador however, plans to give his own grito at the same spot, at the same hour. And with his huge speaker system set up in the Zocalo for much of the summer, Lopez Obrador might have the upper hand when it comes to volume.

Saturday could see another face-off as a military parade and reception is supposed to fill the Zocalo. But Lopez Obrador has scheduled his “national convention� — expected to gather up to a million supporters — for the same day. Seeking to avoid a dustup with the military, Lopez Obrador has said he will dismantle the encampments before the parade and hold his convention once it ends.

But even without a direct confrontation, the Zocalo should see some fireworks this weekend besides the ones marking independence.

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