Reuters: World News: Mexican presidential favorite vows to restore peace

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Mexican presidential favorite vows to restore peace Mar 30th 2012, 22:46 1 of 16. A figure of Enrique Pena Nieto, presidential candidate for the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), is seen during a rally to start his presidential campaign in Guadalajara March 30, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Edgard Garrido By Anahi Rama GUADALAJARA, Mexico | Fri Mar 30, 2012 6:46pm EDT GUADALAJARA, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican presidential front-runner Enrique Pena Nieto vowed to overcome the drug-fueled violence engulfing his country as the campaign for the July 1 election kicked off with the ruling conservatives struggling to avoid defeat. Pena Nieto, the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party's (PRI) candidate, is favored to succeed President Felipe Calderon, whose term in office has been dominated by the government's battle to crack down on brutal drug gangs. Addressing a crowd of about 30,000 supporters in the western city of Guadalajara, Pena Nieto promised to restore peace in Mexico and put an end to the bloodshed that has killed more than 50,000 people in the last five years. "We're starting a campaign to win the presidency of the republic, but more importantly, we're starting a movement to wake up minds to change Mexico," he said in a square in the old colonial part of Mexico's second city. "Mexico has been wounded by the lawlessness and violence," Pena Nieto added, dressed simply in a white shirt and dark trousers. "Many people's lives are afflicted by worry, and what's worse, they're living in fear." The brutal clashes between drug cartels and security forces have sapped support for Calderon's conservative National Action Party, or PAN, which has also failed to reduce the number of poor and create enough jobs for a growing population. Roughly half of all Mexicans live in poverty, a situation that is blamed for fueling violence that has spooked tourists and investors alike on Calderon's watch. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ For Reuters Mexico election page, double click on: here ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Calderon, who is barred by law from seeking a second term, staked his reputation on bringing down the drug-trafficking gangs, but his army-led offensive has led to more murders, kidnappings and robberies. Drug-related murders leaped from 2,826 in 2007 - Calderon's first full year in office - to 15,273 in 2010, and by another 11 percent in the first nine months of 2011, government data shows. Pena Nieto has pledged to take the army off the streets and replace it with a revamped police force. To create jobs, he wants to double spending on infrastructure and improve education, targeting growth of 5 to 6 percent annually, which he hopes will lift some 15 million people out of poverty. Pena Nieto, the 45-year-old former governor of the State of Mexico, has led the race to succeed Calderon for more than two years. Attending a meeting with him, businessman Juan Montanio said that it was time for a change. "We used to be leaders in a lot of things, and now we're behind," he said. Pena Nieto's cause has benefited from voter fatigue with the PAN, which has failed to live up to the high hopes Mexicans had when the party in 2000 ended 71 years of often corrupt PRI rule. PAN: NO DEALS WITH CRIME Most polls give Pena Nieto a double-digit lead over PAN rival Josefina Vazquez Mota, despite a string of gaffes and the revelation in January that he had cheated on his first wife and fathered two children out of wedlock. Vazquez Mota, the first woman to be nominated for the presidency by one of Mexico's three main political parties, told a much smaller rally at PAN campaign headquarters in Mexico City that she would maintain the party's tough line on crime. "For me, there's no option. Negotiating or making deals with criminals is criminal itself. I'm not going to make deals with criminals," she said, playing upon PAN claims that the PRI has in the past forged accords with gangsters to keep the peace. And there would be no return to the past, she added. "We won't be subject to authoritarianism again. We won't accept a Mexico of corruption and impunity again," she said. Vazquez Mota, a mother of three and former education minister, hopes her gender will shake up the male-dominated politics of Mexico, which is home to over 2 million more women than men. "We don't know what a woman can offer us, which is why I want to vote for her, because I really want to see a change," said Marco Valdez, a 25-year-old student at her rally. Yet the PAN, a party once renowned for its disciplined, united front in presidential campaigns has been rocked by in-fighting and scandal, damaging her bid. Pena Nieto's other main adversary, the 2006 runner-up Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, is campaigning hard again for the top job after claiming he was robbed by Calderon six years ago. But the fiery leftist alienated many former supporters with massive street protests he launched in the capital after that close result, and he trails in third place. In Mexico City, Lopez Obrador rejected the polls as "media propaganda" and dismissed Pena Nieto as "corruption incarnate" before getting onto a budget flight to a rally at his birthplace of Macuspana in the southern state of Tabasco. "I pledge my heart for the people of Mexico," he said in a baseball stadium packed with thousands of supporters, his voice breaking with emotion. He promised to offer Mexico a government of "honesty, justice and love." Followers of Lopez Obrador were adamant the austere 58-year-old was the one candidate offering a fresh start. "That man is the only hope we have left," said Carlos Zavala, 53, pointing towards the stage. "Government by the PRI is total garbage, it's outright impunity." SYMBOLIC LOCATION Pena Nieto's choice of Guadalajara to launch his campaign was no coincidence: the city is famed as the home of Mariachi musicians and is the capital of Jalisco state, where tequila comes from, a potent symbol of all things Mexican. Jalisco is also the most populous state governed by the PAN and one of only three where the party has had held power continuously for over 15 years. Pena Nieto was sworn in as PRI candidate in one of the other two PAN strongholds, Guanajuato. Federico Berrueto, director general of polling firm Gabinete de Comunicacion Estrategica (GCE), said the choice of locations showed the PRI was taking the fight to the PAN in its own back yard in the hope of not just winning, but winning big. Fueled by a string of state election victories and Pena Nieto's commanding poll lead, PRI leaders hope the party can secure enough seats in congress to form the first majority in 15 years, improving its chances of passing quick reforms. The PAN, on the other hand, is struggling to hold itself together. This week, the party lurched into a fresh dispute when a leaked recording emerged appearing to show Vazquez Mota accusing the government of bugging her phone calls. Pena Nieto's job is being made easier by the fact Vazquez Mota does not appear to have the full backing of Calderon, whose influence on the PAN's internal election process has undermined her standing as the party's candidate, said Berrueto of GCE. "If you'd asked me a month-and-a-half, two months ago if she could win, I'd have said she had a chance, but if you asked me now, I'd say her hopes are very slim," he added. (Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz and Mica Rosenberg in Mexico City, and David Alire Garcia in Macuspana; Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Anthony Boadle and Stacey Joyce) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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