CORPUS CHRISTI — For three weeks, Laredo produce importer José Carmona has been on a whirlwind tour of Texas, one that could spell a direct challenge to Mexico’s election law and change the pace and tone of its upcoming presidential campaign.
Carmona, a Mexican citizen, has logged more than 2,800 miles across the state on a mission for the Democratic Revolutionary Party, or PRD, under the banner of an organization he leads called the Red Paisanos, Spanish for the Countryman Network.
The network is informing Mexicans about the absentee voting process for the July 2006 presidential election — the first to allow them to vote from abroad. But it’s also touting the PRD’s presumptive candidate, former Mexico City mayor and early frontrunner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
And since Carmona is doing this in the company of a PRD member, he appears to be on a collision course with the Mexican Federal Electoral Institute, or IFE, because it is illegal under Mexican law for parties to campaign on foreign soil.
But the law may prove difficult to enforce and might be changed. Carmona’s road trip could be its first test as political parties are drawn to the estimated 4.3 million eligible Mexican voters living abroad.
Parties not only are banned from spending money or campaigning outside Mexico, they can be fined even if non-Mexicans in another country campaign on a candidate’s behalf, IFE head Carlos Ugalde Ramirez said in Mexico City last week.
Another IFE official confirmed Wednesday that campaigning in the United States is off limits.
But that might not hold up. Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, director of the Mexico Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, met with a high-ranking IFE official this week who said party members, but not candidates, may be allowed to campaign abroad.
“Right now they’re in the process of trying to come up with some midpoint,” he said.
Campaign Trail
In recent weeks, Carmona and Nuevo Laredo city councilman Francisco Chavira, a PRD member, have pulled a black trailer emblazoned with the PRD logo to El Paso, Eagle Pass, Cotulla, Laredo, Carrizo Springs, McAllen and twice to San Antonio.
That’s just since the Countryman Network was formed Sept. 30. It plans to extend its reach to Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, New York, and Washington D.C., among other cities.
The IFE official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because protocol required a different official to speak to reporters, said he was not aware of the Countryman Network, but that the group’s actions appeared to break the law. He said the PRD could be fined.
Rogelio Carbajal, who represents the National Action Party at the IFE, said his party was not aware of the network but declined to say what it would do in response.
Carmona and Chavira have assembled a photo album they say candidate Lopez Obrador himself has seen.
One photo shows the pair handing out fliers to a group of lawn workers taking a break under a tree in El Paso. Another depicts the appreciative campaigners with a mechanic in Cotulla who replaced a busted tire free of charge.
At each stop, Mexican residents start their own chapters. Meeting rooms and meals usually are paid for by local residents, making hotels and gas the network’s only expenses.
On Tuesday, in their first visit to Corpus Christi, the pair answered questions in a restaurant meeting room from about 20 people, a small gathering put together in a matter of hours.
Learning Curve
To cast an absentee ballot, Mexicans must have a valid voter identification card and must fill out an application. Those without voter IDs can apply for one in person at an IFE office in any major Mexican city before Jan. 15.
Many Mexicans in the United States, particularly undocumented immigrants, will not vote out of fear of being deported, Carmona said.
But Mexican law protects all voters, regardless of immigration status in their country of residence, Carmona reassured the crowd in Corpus Christi.
“Part of our presentation is how to vote, but our objective is to promote our candidate in the United States,” Carmona said later.
The electoral institute is failing to inform voters abroad about the process, so it’s up to political parties to take matters into their own hands, he said.
“We’re fearful that our compatriots will lose interest in filling out a ballot application because of the specific questions on it,” Carmona said.
Several IFE officials visited American cities with large Mexican populations: Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Miami, Seattle and San Francisco. Hurricane Rita spoiled similar planned trips to Texas cities.
Carmona insists that neither his group nor the PRD is breaking the election law because the group’s members are ordinary residents. If he’s sanctioned by Mexican authorities, that would violate the First Amendment rights he enjoys as a U.S. resident, he added.
But Carmona works hand-in-hand with Chavira, a PRD stalwart, and the network doesn’t hide its political affiliation and preference for Lopez Obrador.
Its legality aside, the operation has been met with enthusiasm in Texas, where Mexican nationals and Hispanic leaders are hungry for election information.
At the Corpus Christi meeting, a U.S. non-profit group called South Texas Amigos de Mexico volunteered to help the network host a large public event in November.
Because of its non-profit status, Amigos de Mexico president Dora Hidalgo said her group would not promote candidates but would let the network make its presentation for the educational value.
“I think that it is information that people want to know and am glad that they took the initiative to come here,” she said.
Another attendee, Jorge Lopez, said he was not a PRD sympathizer, but welcomed their visit.
“We stand for democracy, not for a party,” he said. “We just want the correct (voting) information. It doesn’t matter where it comes from.”
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