Mexican lawmakers end takeover of Congress

By Julie Watson
ASSOCIATED PRESS
12:43 p.m. April 25, 2008

MEXICO CITY – Leftist lawmakers ended a 16-day blockade of Mexico's Congress on Friday after agreeing on a national debate they hope will lead to defeat of the president's energy reform bill.

The legislators have been camped out around the clock in both houses of Congress since Mexican leader Felipe Calderón presented a bill that would let the government's debt-strapped state oil company seek foreign help to boost sagging production.

Protesting legislators announced they had were ending their takeover of the congressional podiums and staging a rousing send-off for themselves, raising their fists and singing the national anthem before leaving the Senate chamber.

“We triumphed! We triumphed!” said Sen. Carlos Navarrete, senate leader of the leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party, or PRD.

The leftists had demanded a 120-day national debate on the bill that they claim will lead to a sell-off of parts of the state-run monopoly, damaging national sovereignty. They finally settled for a proposal by other parties to hold it from May 13 to July 22.

Legislators did not give details of how the debate would be carried out.