SAN DIEGO.- Dozens of Mexican citizens living in San Diego got together this Thursday outside the General Consulate of Mexico in the city to express their unconformity with the alleged irregularities of the presidential elections last Sunday.
Motivated by their family ties with the south of the border or even because many of them made the trip to Mexico just to vote, the group of protesters demanded answers through a pacific demonstration from authorities in Mexico after rumors of a suspected electoral fraud arose.
Since the beginning of the week press reports allegedly exposing vote buying from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) have been made public, the reports state that people would have voted for the leading presidential candidate in exchange for Soriana store credit cards.
For that reason organizers asked Consulate representatives to listen to their plight and send a letter in the name of several civic organizations in San Diego to directors of the Federal Institution of Elections (IFE) amongst others.
Answering to their request, the Deputy Consul General Francisco Javier Olavarría received the letter from Rogelio Méndez, representative of the Binational Front of Indigenous Organizations (FIOB in Spanish) and pledged to send it to the corresponding authorities.
Amongst other topics, the document expresses the unconformity of the Mexican people living abroad with what they see as "an imposition" as well as demanding a total recount of the votes.
They also show their rejection to the current Mexican President Felipe Calderón after he congratulated the candidate Peña Nieto with just 5% of the voting ballots having been counted, saying that when the presidential address was made many of the FIOB's members had not even voted yet in Baja California.
On that subject Christian Ramírez, Director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition, emphasized the fact that, even though many Mexican citizens do not live in their homeland, they collaborate to the country's development through remittances, so they have the right and obligation to express their opinions over what happens in their nation.
"We have the duty of being alert" he said. "We are here as a sign of repudiation of what seems like a questionable electing process again".
Additionally, he considered "regrettable" that the President of the United States, Barack Obama, recognized the candidate Enrique Peña Nieto of the PRI as a winner when the votes had not been totally counted.
For her part, Vanessa Ceceña, 26 years old and a graduate of International Development Studies of the UCLA, praised the unity of the Mexican people north of the border to join in this kind of demonstrations.
A San Ysidro resident but with roots in Tijuana, the student highlighted the fact that what happens in one side of the border, impacts the other.
"We all have friends or family there, and because of that we must pay attention to what happens in Mexico; we have to take into account that if, in this side we are fighting for policies like an immigration reform, we are going to need their support" stated the member of the Binational Front of Indigenous Organizations.
"What happened in Mexico is an injustice and the authorities must answer" said the young woman who casted her vote in a special voting booth located in Tijuana last weekend.
Members of the Binational Front of Indigenous Organizations mentioned that they will organize more protests in various Consulates of the United States, amongst which are Los Ángeles and Fresno.
alexandra.mendoza@sandiegored.com
Original Text : Alexandra Mendoza
Translation : Karen Balderas Licea
