Mexico: Calderon inaugurated amidst cheers and jeers

Felipe Calderon was inaugurated earlier today first in a private ceremony at the President’s residence and then publicly inside a divided Chamber of Deputies. Dozens of supporters of vanquished presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador booed, whistled, and even hurled insults at Calderon as he was flanked by now ex-president Vicente Fox and members of the ruling PAN. Some fisticuffs broke out in the hours leading up to the swearing in ceremony as politicians had gone days occupied inside the congressional chambers.

In the aftermath of Felipe Calderon’s inauguration the logical question that follows is “what happens now?” Outgoing president Vicente Fox leaves office to mixed results and Calderon will face a wide range of problems such as severe economic inequality, the seemingly never-ending chaos in Oaxaca, and a politically fractured country. Perhaps Calderon would behoove from the advice given by famed Mexican author Carlos Fuentes:

“he must be president of all the people who voted for him, not of this or that special interest within his own party”.

Links- Reuters, BBC News, Globe and Mail, Vivirlatino (blog), New American Media, Bloomberg, Houston Chronicle,

Image- CBC

Tags- international politics, Felipe Calderon, Mexico