The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, accused the Mexican Catholic Church on Monday of supporting the country’s “conservative bloc” in its campaign against the government’s electoral reform, known as “Plan B.”
“When talking about the church that is supporting a conservative bloc in Mexico, I say: no, this has nothing to do with Pope Francis, because he has condemned the looters, he has condemned those who exploit, that humiliate the poor,” said the president during his morning press conference.
López Obrador thus responded to the concern expressed by the Conference of the Mexican Episcopate (CEM), which a few days ago, in a statement, warned that approving the reform could lead to a possible violation of the principles of certainty, legality, independence, objectivity and fairness of the electoral system.
The so-called “Plan B” includes reforms to electoral laws that, according to the Mexican president, are intended to save 3,500 million pesos (about 175 million dollars), eliminate powers to sanction parties and officials, as well as disappear the quick count that is given immediately after an election in Mexico.
This Monday, the Mexican president claimed to have “a lot of sympathy” with Pope Francis and asserted that only if the Holy Pontiff expresses his concern about the reform, then he would worry.
“I would be very concerned if Pope Francis spoke on this issue. But if it is here, you have to understand how the elites of all corporations always come together, feed, and nourish each other. The elites, not the people, not the Catholic people, not the evangelical people, not the secular people, you have to differentiate ”, he insisted.
Likewise, he said that the march called by various political groups for next Sunday, February 26 against “Plan B” is for the defense of privileges.
“They come to protest because they do not want support for the poor, the PAN (National Action Party) voted against the pension for the elderly, to be more clear, and it bothers them that people in need are supported because they are very classist and very racist,” he said.
He asserted that these types of demonstrations are “a political striptease”, since with this the opponents show their true intentions.
The “Plan B”, challenged in the Supreme Court, was presented after the failure last year of a constitutional reform that sought to replace the National Electoral Institute (INE), the autonomous body that organizes the elections and that López Obrador has questioned.
Source: San Diego Unio Tribune
