The emergence of Latin American firebrands who champion the
cause of the impoverished and rail against the evils of
neoliberalism and Yankee imperialism--Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Evo
Morales in Bolivia, Nestor Kirchner in Argentina, Andres Manuel
Lopez Obrador in Mexico--has changed the landscape of the Americas
in dramatic ways. This is the first biography to appear in English
about one of these charismatic figures, who is known in his country
by his adopted nickname of "Little Ray of Hope."
The book follows Lopez Obrador's life from his early years in
the flyspecked state of Tabasco, his university studies, and the
years that he lived among the impoverished Chontal Indians. Even as
he showed an increasingly messianic elan to uplift the downtrodden,
he confronted the muscular Institutional Revolutionary Party in
running twice for governor of his home state and helping found the
leftist-nationalist Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD). As the
PRD's national president, he escalated his political and
ideological warfare against his former president, Carlos Salinas,
and other "conspirators" determined to link Mexico to the global
economy at the expense of the poor. His strident advocacy of the
"have-nots" lifted Lopez Obrador to the mayorship of Mexico City,
which he rechristened the "City of Hope." Its ubiquitous crime,
traffic, pollution, and housing problems have made the capital a
tomb for most politicians. Not for Lopez Obrador. Through splashy
public works, monthly stipends to senior citizens, huge marches,
and a dawn-to-dusk work schedule, he converted the position into a
trampoline to the presidency. Although he lost the official count
by an eyelash, the hard-charging Tabascan cried fraud, took the
oath as the nation's "legitimate president," and barnstormed the
country, excoriating the "fascist" policies of President Felipe
Calderon and preparing to redeem the destitute in the 2012
presidential contest.
Grayson views Lopez Obrador as quite different from populists
like Chavez, Morales, and Kirchner and argues that he is a "secular
messiah, who lives humbly, honors prophets, gathers apostles,
declares himself indestructible, relishes playing the role of
victim, and preaches a doctrine of salvation by returning to the
values of the 1917 Constitution-- fairness for workers, Indians'
rights, fervent nationalism, and anti-imperialism."
General
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