Hundreds cheer leftist leader in Juárez

By Jake Rollow / El Paso Times
Article Launched:12/07/2006 12:00:00 AM MST

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who lost the presidential race in Mexico but has proclaimed himself the legitimate winner, visited Juárez on Wednesday and declared he would continue fighting for the progress of his country and its people.

"I came to tell you what is obvious, what is natural, that we are going to continue the struggle," he said, to the cheers of hundreds of supporters.

López Obrador, of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, lost the July 2 election to President Felipe Calderón, of the more conservative National Action Party, by 0.5 percent of the vote, but has refused to concede.

Even after Calderón was sworn into office in Mexico City last week, López Obrador's message had not changed on Wednesday afternoon.

In a large ballroom of the hotel Suites El Paseo, he pointed to an enormous banner on the wall that showed a picture of himself and named him president.

"We already have a legitimate government," López Obrador said. "I won."