Felipe Calderón, the right-wing presidential candidate of Mexico’s conservative National Action Party (PAN), a leader fraudulently “selected” by Mexico’s Federal Electoral Tribunal, has now been officially sworn in as President in the halls of the Mexican Congress building - but not without fist fights and shouts of protest by opposition Congressmen and women.

In a midnight ceremony held on December 1st, Calderón took over as Mexico’s president, but a huge brawl erupted at the ceremony in Congress when scores of opposition congressional representatives attempted to stop him from taking the formal oath of office. Opposition lawmakers hung a huge banner in the congressional chambers that read, “Mexico doesn’t deserve a traitor to democracy as president.” Rival lawmakers engaged in fist fights while water bottles, soft drink cans, and chairs were thrown. Opposition lawmakers built a barricade of tables and chairs at the front entrance of Congress in an attempt to lock Calderón out. Congressional deputy Adriana Diaz said, “He is not coming in the front entrance - thieves come in through the back door.” And eventually, with the assistance of riot police and body guards, the thief did enter through the rear entrance. Calderón took the oath of office to a cacophony of catcalls and boos.

Opposition lawmakers held up a banner that read, “Ulises Ruiz, Assassin!” - referring to the Oaxaca Governor of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and his brutal assaults on the people of Oaxaca. PAN-PRI cooperation is vital to president select Calderón, whose party has backed Ruiz’s military crackdown by supplying Ruiz with federal troops. Ruiz’s repression has killed an estimated 15 protestors in Oaxaca, including an American reporter for the New York chapter of the Independent Media Center.

On November 20th, the official anniversary of the 1910 Mexican Revolution, over 300-000 people held their own inauguration ceremony in Mexico City’s main square. The popular candidate of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, was sworn in as president by the masses as they chanted, “¡Sí, Se Puede!” (Yes, We Can!) Deafening roars of approval met Obrador’s remarks, “A government divorced from the people is nothing more than a facade, an egg shell, a bureaucratic apparatus, the legitimate government is the organized people” and “When there is no justice, there can be no peace.” Obrador announced his support for the rebellion in Oaxaca and demanded the resignation of Ulises Ruiz. He has also promised to run a parallel government in opposition to the reactionary Calderón, who is a key ally of the White House. In fact, U.S. president George W. Bush appointed his father, former president George Bush, to lead the U.S. delegation that attended the Dec. 1 inauguration of Calderón. Yes, birds of a feather do flock together, especially those who steal elections.