No longer a "Danger to Mexico"? AMLO courts business sectors

During the 2006 presidential campaign, dirty media campaigns from the PAN but also "swift-boat"-style black propaganda ads from representatives of Mexico's business sectors, contributed to AMLO's narrow loss. This time, ahead of his desire to run in 2012, it is quite notable how AMLO is seeking to convince business sectors that he is far from the "Danger to Mexico" the dirty ads once made him out to be. 


In Monterey, Nuevo León, on Tuesday, AMLO met with key businessmen and leaders from the Asociación Nacional de Empresarios Independientes (ANEI),  including former PAN governor Fernando Canales Clariond, who was notably also the secretary of economy and energy under Fox, and presented his business program to them. It was not a hostile crowd. Businessman Fernando Turner Dávila notably that one should not satanizar or "demonize" the former presidential candidate. ANEI is a relatively new organization, yet has attracted more than seven thousand small and medium business, many of whom have lost out given the general economic cllimate and economic policies of Calderón. 


Yesterday in Guadalajara, he similarly met with businessmen from the a Cámara Nacional de Comercio (CANACO) and  Unión de Comerciantes del Mercado de Abasto (UCMA). AMLO declared.

"There are no substantive differences. In the economic model we want to reinvigorate the economy generate jobs, so in this there is complete agreement. We will continue talking and exchanging views....We want them to directly know the things that we are proposing, so that there is no distrorion, so that no one is jumping on a media campaign to instill fear in the people."

Miguel Alfaro Aranguren, head of CANACO in Guadalajara, when asked if AMLO was still a "danger to Mexico," responded,"It is very hard to label someone like that." Indeed it is. Perhaps someone should have acted a bit more responsibly before tacking this label to AMLO in 2006 as well?


Three more comments:


1) As many noted in 2006, AMLO's business proposals were hardly radical, and he was not a leftwing extremist bent on implementing socialism or anything similar, but actually very pro business. Yet his rhetoric was not: The social democrats in the PRD repeatedly asked him to calm down his attacks on the oligarchy, now "mafia," as it would scare away business. As Jésus Ortega told me, "Yes, 'First the Poor,' but let us not forget about the middle class, and business sectors.' Had AMLO listened then, he would likely have been president now. 


2) He nonetheless continues in the best populist fashion with attacking the "oligarchy" - that is, not the entire upper classes or business (he is certainly not a class warrior in the Marxist sense), but just like the classic populists, attacking only some selected parts  - the "mafia," those "robbing the country," and so forth. 


3) What doe his hard-core ultraloyal "radical" supporters think of AMLO's open courting of business? While a few might find it contradictory, it is my hunch that most of them are perfectly fine with it, as the whole radical-thing is a but a mere cover for them to opportunistically jump on board with AMLO due to tactical benefits from an alliance with him. That goes particularly for PT and Convergencia, who were able to save their party registries due to him, but also for the "radicals" within PRD.