Border blockade called off

By Diana Suarez, Sun Staff Writer
Aug 21, 2006

SAN LUIS, Ariz. — Traffic flowed between this city and neighboring Mexico on Monday after protesters dropped plans to block the border.

Protesters from San Luis Rio Colorado, Son., planned to occupy the vehicle lanes at the U.S. Port of Entry in protest of last month's presidential election in Mexico, but blockade organizer Petra Santos said the effort was called off in favor of traveling to Mexico City for a larger demonstration on Sept. 1.

The protesters are followers of leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who narrowly lost the race to conservative rival Felipe Calderon. Lopez Obrador, of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, alleges electoral fraud cost him the election, and has demanded a vote-by-vote recount that he says will show he was the winner.

Santos said a council of advisers to Lopez Obrador decided to call off border blockades because they did not want to inconvenience people who travel between the countries — people she said had nothing to do with the election outcome.