Mexico Trucker Online

MEXICO CITY — The populist front-runner for the presidency, who rejected offers to be guarded by this nation’s version of the Secret Service, will be protected by an army general who’s a longtime friend.

Security definitely is an issue, with an ongoing wave of drug-cartel violence, lawlessness and the memory of presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio, who was assassinated in 1994 as he campaigned in Tijuana.

The potential for adversaries likely is increased for Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, or PRD, as he’s both ahead in the polls and seen as the anti-establishment candidate for the July 2 election.

The Defense Ministry had no comment on López Obrador’s security, but his campaign confirmed that, as of Wednesday, Brig. Gen. Audomaro Martínez Zapata is on temporary leave from the military and would be responsible for protection.

“Right now, he is alone,” Marcos Ramírez, a campaign spokesman, said of the size of the general’s security detail.

López Obrador wanted to be protected by the general rather than rely on people he doesn’t know, Ramírez said.

It remains to be seen how López Obrador’s security will change.

Up to now, the former Mexico City mayor has gone without formal protection by putting his faith in the people, Ramírez said. Being close to the people has been his trademark.

“He says the people will protect him, and it is true. If someone wants to harm him, the people will respond,” he said.

The other major candidates, Roberto Madrazo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party and Felipe Calderón of the National Action Party, are guarded by El Estado Mayor, Mexico’s protection service, which consists of soldiers.

The Mexico City newspaper El Universal reported the two men became friends in 1980, while Martínez was assigned to a military unit in López Obrador’s home state of Tabasco, where López Obrador was in charge of the state’s Indigenous Institute.

Rejecting government protection is par for López Obrador, who casts himself as a rebel and a man of the people.

As mayor, the post he left to run for president, he prided himself on using an economy car and holding pre-dawn news conferences.

Raul Salinas, a security consultant and retired FBI agent who was based in Mexico, said the López Obrador team faces tough decisions when it comes to protecting a man who wants to stay close to the crowds.

“They have their work cut out for them,” Salinas said. “López Obrador is a populist; he wants to be with the people. That is where the danger comes in.”

Salinas said he was surprised López Obrador rejected government protection but that, with the general watching over him, at least he’ll believe his back will be protected.

“There is always, always going to be a potential danger,” Salinas said. “What you try to do is maximize exposure and minimize the potential danger to the candidate.”