Bombings shake up Mexico

Three attacks in the capital add to fears about the nation's stability
By DANE SCHILLER
Chron
Nov. 07, 2006

MEXICO CITY - Broken glass and debris will be cleaned up, but three low-level bombs Monday may have done their greatest damage in adding to fears that Mexico is hurtling toward instability.

The early morning explosions destroyed a bank branch lobby and blew out windows and doors at the nation's Federal Electoral Tribunal and a major political party's headquarters auditorium.

Five leftist guerrilla groups from the southern state of Oaxaca claimed responsibility for the blasts, which did not kill anyone.

"Our political-military action is a response to our determination to reply with revolutionary violence to the violence unleashed by the lords of power and money," the groups said in a statement that was e-mailed to the news media and could not be immediately verified.

Concerns about Mexico's future were sharpened by the attacks, which authorities said were more sophisticated than previous occasional pipe-bomb incidents in the capital.

They come against a backdrop of social unrest, including a summer presidential election that bitterly divided the country and ongoing strife in Oaxaca state, where leftist demonstrators have repeatedly clashed with federal riot police.

A Sunday march there drew 20,000 people just days after activists tossed small explosive devices at hundreds of officers who surrounded a university.

People are wondering what comes next.

"We are bad off and I think we are getting into terrorism," said Faustino Aceves, 47, a Mexico City cabdriver. "And with a new government coming, it is only going to get worse."

President-elect Felipe Calderon, who said unifying the country is a priority, is to be sworn in Dec. 1. Populist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador refuses to concede he lost to Calderon and plans to lead a shadow "government" his supporters are organizing in protest. His supporters on Monday suggested that the bombings were part of a right-wing plot to discredit the left.

Calderon said all Mexicans should condemn the bombings and said political disagreements should be handled with respect for the law.

The auditorium that was targeted belonged to the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which long ruled Mexico but whose candidate for president came in third behind Calderon and Lopez Obrador.

Flavio Sosa, spokesman for the People's Popular Assembly of Oaxaca, a coalition of leftist groups known as APPO, said the group had nothing to do with the bombings.

Houston Chronicle reporter Dudley Althaus and Express-News editorial assistant Minea Nieto contributed to this report.












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