Mexican president disparages protests over election cutbacks
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s president lashed out Monday against demonstrators opposed to his plan to cut election funding, belittling their concerns about threats to democracy and dashing any hopes that he would try to ease rising political tensions.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador seemed to revel in the conflict, hurling insults at the tens of thousands of people who demonstrated over the weekend in Mexico City’s main plaza, calling them thieves and allies of drug traffickers.
“There was an increase in the number of pick pockets stealing wallets here in the Zocalo, but what do you want, with so many white-collar criminals in one place?” Lopez Obrador said at his daily morning news briefing.
At the root of the conflict are plans by López Obrador, which were approved last week by Mexico’s Senate, to cut salaries and funding for local election offices, and scale back training for citizens who operate and oversee polling stations. The changes would also reduce sanctions for candidates who fail to report campaign spending.
Lopez Obrador denies the reforms are a threat to democracy and says criticism is elitist. He argues that the funds should be redirected to helping the poor.
Riffing on the protesters’ slogan “Don’t touch the INE (National Electoral Institute),” Lopez Obrador said their slogans were “Don’t touch corruption,” “Don’t touch privileges,” “Don’t touch the Narco Government.”
“They don’t care about democracy, what they want is to continue with the oligarchy, the rule of the rich,” the president said.
Demonstrators say the electoral law changes approved last week threaten democracy and could mark a return to past practices of vote manipulation. Few at Sunday’s demonstration had any kind words for López Obrador.
“The path he is taking is toward socialism, communism,” said Fernando Gutierrez, 55, a small businessman. “That’s obvious, from the aid going to Cuba,” Gutierrez said.
Lopez Obrador has imported coronavirus vaccines, medical workers and stone railway ballast from Cuba, but has shown little taste for socialist policies at home.
Williamson to run: Bestselling self-help author Marianne Williamson, who brought quirky spiritualism to the 2020 presidential race, has announced she’s running for president again, becoming the first major Democrat to challenge President Joe Biden for his party’s nomination in 2024.
Williamson, 70, is formally kicking off her campaign with an event Saturday in Washington. Without mentioning former President Donald Trump, she noted in a weekend Facebook post that his unconventional White House win makes it “odd for anyone to think they can know who can win the presidency.”
“I’m not putting myself through this again just to add to the conversation,” Williamson wrote. “I’m running for president to help bring an aberrational chapter of our history to a close, and to help bring forth a new beginning.”
Williamson says she plans to follow her Washington announcement with travel to states voting early in the Democratic primary.
Migrant death toll: The death toll rose to at least 64 in the migrant tragedy off Italy’s southern coast after rescue crews recovered several more bodies Monday, driving home once again the desperate and dangerous boat crossings of people seeking to reach Europe. Dozens more were believed to be missing.
At least eight of the dead were children who perished after a wooden boat broke up in stormy seas on the shoals off the Calabrian coast Sunday. Eighty people survived.
“Many of them didn’t know how to swim, and they saw people disappear in the waves; they saw them die,” said Giovanna Di Benedetto of Doctors Without Borders, which sent psychologists to help survivors.
More were feared dead given survivor accounts that the boat carried about 170.
Nigeria election: Each of the three front-runners in Nigeria’s hotly contested presidential
election claimed Monday they are on the path to victory as preliminary results trickled in two days after Africa’s most populous nation went to the polls.
Only four of Nigeria’s 36 states had officially announced results by midday Monday, with three of those going to ruling party candidate Bola Tinubu. The fourth was won by main opposition party candidate Atiku Abubakar.
Also in the mix as a perceived front-runner was Peter Obi with the Labour Party. A winner is not expected to be announced until at least Tuesday. After the previous presidential election in 2019, it took four days for officials to declare a victor.
On Monday, the African Union observer mission said voting had been delayed in more than 80% of polling units mainly because of logistical challenges caused by Nigeria’s currency swap program. The redesign of the Nigerian bank note, the
naira, caused cash shortages nationwide and voters and poll workers had difficulties getting to polling stations.
Model’s death: The ex-husband and former in-laws of a slain Hong Kong model were detained Monday on charges in her killing after police found body parts in a refrigerator and a pot. The case has gripped many in a Chinese territory where any violent crime is rare.
Ex-husband Alex Kwong, his father Kwong Kau and his brother Anthony Kwong were charged with killing model Abby Choi a day earlier. Alex Kwong’s mother, Jenny Li, faces one count of perverting the course of justice.
None of the four was granted bail.
Choi, a 28-year-old model with more than 100,000 followers on Instagram, disappeared Feb. 21, according to a report filed later with the Hong Kong Police.
Her last post was Feb. 19, featuring a photo shoot
she had done with fashion magazine L’officiel Monaco.
Tate loses appeal: A Romanian court Monday upheld a third 30-day detention for the divisive influencer and former professional kickboxer Andrew Tate, who is held on suspicion of organized crime and human trafficking, an official said.
Tate lost his appeal against a judge’s Feb. 21 decision to extend his arrest a third time for 30 days, according to Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for Romania’s anti-organized crime agency DIICOT.
Tate, 36, a British-u.s. citizen known for misogynistic views who has 5.2 million Twitter followers, arrived at the Bucharest Court of Appeal handcuffed to his brother Tristan, who is held in the same case.
Bolla said prosecutors also won an appeal Monday against a court’s decision last week to place two women held in the case under house arrest. None of the four has yet been formally charged.