Fox Minister Assails Rival Over Probe
President Vicente Fox’s interior secretary took a jab at the leftist mayor of Mexico City, saying on Friday that the populist leader has acted “like a little man” in being uncooperative during a federal investigation aimed at him.
Santiago Creel, who is expected to seek Fox’s National Action Party’s nomination for the presidency in 2006, said during a news conference that Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was “ducking things and pawning off blame on others.”
At the request of Atty. Gen. Rafael Macedo de la Concha, a lower house panel is considering stripping Lopez Obrador of his immunity from criminal prosecution to face charges of abuse of power.
A judge ruled that the mayor had failed to comply with an order to stop construction on a piece of land on the outskirts of Mexico City.
A developer has said Lopez Obrador’s administration had illegally expropriated the land. But the mayor has denied that, saying he has facts to back up his decision.
Constitutional term limits bar Fox from seeking reelection, and Lopez Obrador leads most opinion polls on who should replace him.
Creel, also a presidential hopeful, has not done as well in the polls as the mayor.
Lopez Obrador said he had been unfairly targeted by Fox’s government, feeding an ongoing and sometimes quixotic spat between the federal government and the capital’s leaders.
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