Lopez Obrador Soars to Win Historic Presidential Election – The center-left candidate Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador obtained an overwhelming victory in Mexico’s presidential elections last Sunday in what is widely seen as a clear sign that voters are tired of the crisis of corruption, violence and poverty plaguing the country. López Obrador was congratulated by his fellow candidates, top business leaders and other critics of his campaign. On election night, he spoke before a massive crowd that flooded the Zócalo in Mexico City. We present brief segments of the speech of the virtual president.
In Los Angeles, Mexicans React to Elections with Doubts and Hope – The historic triumph of Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador was received in a Los Angeles neighborhood with a mixture of skepticism, surprise and hope. Despite the polls, a group of neighbors that gathered on election night to follow the results could not believe that the two parties that alternately ruled the country for decades relinquished political power without major turbulence. Ruben Tapia reports from Los Angeles.
San Antonio Celebrates a Watershed Moment for Mexican American Civil Rights – This week marked the anniversary of US independence, which is also a day of celebration of civil liberties. On the program Línea Abierta, veteran civil rights leader Richard Avena shares his memories of a historic hearing by the US Commission on Civil Rights in San Antonio. The hearing, in late 1968, was the first effort by a federal agency to address issues of discrimination in education, employment, housing, and voting affecting Mexican-Americans in the Southwest and the United States broadly. Avena, an organizer of the landmark public hearing, spoke with Samuel Orozco about past and present challenges in Latino civil rights. Avena served as the Southwest regional director for the US Commission on Civil Rights
