First Day of School/Campeche Elections Questioned

Paralympic Games. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent his congratulations to the Mexican athletes participating in the Paralympic Games in Tokyo. "Our congratulations to the athletes who are in the Olympic Games in Tokyo, who are our pride and are obtaining many medals. When they return, we will meet with them and the entire delegation, the coaches, and we will give them some recognition."

Water levels in dams rise. National Coordinator of Civil Protection Laura Velázquez announced that the water levels in Mexico’s dams increased up to 95 percent due to the passage of Hurricane Nora. As a result, 18 dams are above their usual level, 10 in Jalisco, seven in Michoacan and one in Colima. There was no threat to populations from the rise in water levels.

Back to class. López Obrador said that the cooperation of educational authorities, the student community, authorities and parents had aided the return of students to the classroom starting today. "It is a very important day because children and adolescents are returning to public and private schools in the country. Every effort has been made; teachers, fathers, mothers, municipal authorities, governors, the SEP are participating." López Obrador also thanked local governments for their help in achieving the goal. "Thank you for the support,” he said, adding that “school is irreplaceable, it is the second home where not only knowledge is received, but it is a center of coexistence, education is shared; it has to do with the feelings that are expressed."

Vote counting in Campeche. López Obrador affirmed that the winning candidate in the Campeche vote during the June 6 midterm elections, Layda Sansores, obtained more votes as a result of a recount and criticized the Electoral Tribunal for not providing information in this regard. Sansores won the election on June 6 with 33.2 percent of the vote, followed closely by Eliseo Fernández, from the Citizen Movement, with 31.6 percent, and Christian Castro, from the opposition alliance Va por México, with 30.8 percent. The Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary (TEPJF) ordered the recount because there were 8,000 registered invalid votes, which were more than the 6,000-vote difference between the winning candidate and the runner-up. "Did the court come out to talk about the matter? Did they give information? Nothing, right? How much we would have liked the votes to be counted in 2006, vote by vote, box by box," said López Obrador, who ran for the presidency that year and lost.

AMLO’s book. López Obrador presented his new book, Halfway through the road, and recommended his adversaries read it. "Here are my thoughts and the actions that the government has carried out in two years and nine months,” he said, describing the book, which was published last weekend. “I recommend it, especially to our adversaries, so that they know the reasons, the arguments (behind) what we are carrying out. Politics is, among other things, thought and action."

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Click HERE for full transcript in Spanish