MEXICO CITY (AP) — A referendum in Mexico on Sunday is going to cost Mexico about $25 million, few like the poorly written, yes-or-no question on the ballot…
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A referendum in Mexico on Sunday is going to cost the country about $25 million, few like the poorly written, yes-or-no question on the ballot, and the vote is being held in the middle of a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic. To top it off, critics say the referendum question is so obvious that it’s offensive to submit it to a vote. So why is Mexico holding a nationwide referendum on whether ex-presidents should be tried for any illegal acts they may have committed? Mexico has no formal amnesty for former leaders, and there is nothing in current law saying they can’t be brought to justice if there is evidence they have committed a crime. As opponents say in a slogan, “The law must be applied, not put up for a vote.” Turnout at some Mexico City polling places appeared light Sunday. José Francisco Espinosa Cortés,60, who drives a taxi and runs a computer repair business, was one of only about 60 people to have voted by midmorning at a polling station in the middle-class San Rafael neighborhood. “A lot of people have fallen for the propaganda of ‘why go out and vote, nothing is going to change,” said Espinosa Cortés. “But if we don’t end impunity, we’ll never end corruption,” he said calling the referendum “a historic chance for Mexico to get justice.” “There should be a line of people out to here,” he said, gesturing to the empty sidewalk in front of the polling place. To comprehend the exercise, one has to understand President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who pushed for the referendum. A populist, he likes large crowds, and the pandemic has prevented him from holding the kind of mass rallies of hundreds of thousands of people he used to have regularly in Mexico City’s main plaza when he was a candidate. He needs 40% of registered voters to participate — about 37 million people — to participate Sunday or the referendum won’t be binding.
