SEPTEMBER 2006 FEATURE ARTICLE

VOTING PROBLEMS IN MEXICO STILL UNRESOLVED

There is turmoil in Mexico. Many of the citizens are tired of decades of fraud, and of a government which is in bondage to moneyed elites of both Mexico and the United States.

The presidential election on July 2 was a turning point for many.

I was in Mexico City at that time, among voters with a variety of points of view. Some, mostly those where someone in the family worked for the government, supported Felipe Calderon, of the PAN party, backed by business. Others supported Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), the popular mayor of Mexico City, of the left-wing PRD party.

The reactions of most of them to the voting process were most revealing. Whatever their political proclivities, they returned from the polls with a variety of stories to tell about fraud which they had witnessed or experienced or heard about. It sounded very much like the dozens of types of fraud cataloged in Ohio. The immediate general consensus, as I witnessed, was that this election was fraudulent. July 5, when the final results were not even in yet, there was already public talk of fraud. Mexicans have endured so many fraudulent elections that they have developed a sharp eye for cheating. And they are also fed up with it.

It sounded like a familiar story, which we have heard in the U.S. as well. Although the polls had been close between the two candidates, the majority of the exit polls gave the election to AMLO—who inexplicably lost. There was also an incredibly high number of annulled votes—nearly one million, three times Calderon’s margin of victory. The tribunal resisted a hand count of those null votes, just as Katherine Harris did in Florida.

Calderon had a very tiny majority, and he, and GW Bush, immediately declared himself the winner. (Bush had sent down election “advisors.”) AMLO, unlike Al Gore and John Kerry, did not accept this decision. He gathered a thousand pages of testimony, plus videos, and turned them in to the tribunal to challenge their decision. He asked for a full recount, which could, by Mexican law, occur.

Then AMLO and his supporters took to the streets, organizing a vast city-wide camp-in, with thousands camping out in central Mexico City—until the votes were recounted. Well, now with the Saturn-Neptune opposition, and Pluto turning direct, the verdict has come down that there will not be a recount. (A flawed partial recount did take place.)



But people are staying, at least for now. Asked why, a Mexican economist said, “I’m here so they will respect my vote. We are not going to allow another abuse of our rights.” A woman said, “If they put Calderon in by fraud, I am not going to go along.”

Obrador feels that he is on a mission to bring a government to Mexico that works for the people. He has been told that his continued resistance is not politically savvy, but he says that they are fighting for principles and ideals. And he is determined to keep it a peaceful resistance. But, he says, Mexico needs a political revolution.

His Scorpio Sun and Aquarius Moon are working well together, with his fixed signs stimulated by 2006’s Fixed T-Cross (view chart). We’ll write more about Obrador in November, with his Solar Return.

Felipe Calderon was born on August 18, 1962 (view chart). He is fiery, with a Leo Sun and an Aries Moon. Calderon’s Venus in Libra conjoins Mexico’s Sun, while AMLO’s Venus in Scorpio conjoins Mexico’s Moon. They do, indeed, represent the management, Sun, and the people, Moon.

On a smaller stage, a similar struggle is manifesting in Oaxaca. There most of the population is rebelling against their tyrannical government. Beginning in May, Oaxaca has gradually been brought to a kind of standstill. The people there are also feeling that they won’t move until there are some drastic changes in government. They, too, are non-violent. But the police have been brutally violent.

There is also The Other Campaign, a child of the Zapatista uprising, which began on January 1, 1994 (Saturn square Pluto) as a rebellion against NAFTA. There has not been much press coverage, but a group has been traveling through Mexico, listening to and supporting people in their struggles, but backing no political party. They are not quite finished with their coverage of the country.

MEXICO’S SOLAR RETURN PROMISES REVOLUTION

Mexico is on the move, and it is an exciting and complicated drama. So let us look at Mexico’s Solar Return for the next year, to get some clues about the corresponding planetary dynamics.

We are using the Iturbide chart of Mexico—September 28, 1821 at 6:23 p.m., when General Iturbide rode into Mexico City to free it from Spain (view Mexico's Iturbide natal chart). Mexico celebrates its independence on September 16, and there are other legitimate charts for Mexico. But this is the official chart, the chart used by Mexican astrologers and by the Mexican government, and the date I consistently found stated in my extensive Mexican library-bookstore research. It does work. Interesting: in the two main charts, Venus is in Scorpio, Mars in Leo, and Mercury in Libra. No wonder the game between the sexes is so much a part of the cultural fabric! But keep your eye on September 16, which will have extra meaning this year. (Sun squares Pluto that day, to lend energy and significance to the transformative process.)

Looking at the natal chart, we see by the Capricorn midheaven, that tradition is important. E.g., the Catholic Church has always been strong in Mexico, even though it was banned for years. Up until 2000, the PRI political party ran Mexico with an iron hand for 70 years, and their power is still strong. Juno is in Capricorn, in the 10th house. There is a great respect for the power structure, and yet the people are subject to its abuse.

The ninth house Uranus-Neptune conjunction illustrates Iturbide riding into town in triumph (Sag rules horses). The old power structure is being dissolved, and a new one is being built, with Neptune in Capricorn desposited by Saturn in Aries. These two planets are in the realm of outer planets, and they square the third outer planet, Pluto. All three of these outer planets are in universal signs and in spiritual houses. Mexico is very open to spiritual energy. (This is, in fact, my overriding experience in Mexico.) These are also the planets which encourage revolution.

This spirituality and idealism is being very activated this year and next. For one thing, beginning in 2007, Pluto, the Transformer, transits Uranus and Neptune from January 2007 through November 2008. At the same time, of course, it squares Pluto to make a real boom. Additionally, the next eclipse on this September 22, as well as the eclipse on next March 19, will impact these three outer planets. Eclipses push for change, and these will be huge changes in consciousness. We are seeing them set into motion now.

In the Solar Return (view solar return chart), Pluto is squaring the Nodes, to show general transformation. It is in the 12th house, like the natal Pluto, again emphasizing the power of spirit.

We can see the big theme of this next year: A REVOLUTION IN CONSCIOUSNESS, opening up to new spiritual dimensions. This is expressed now in the people’s willingness to stand up for dignity and humanity, and their spirit of cooperation with one another.

Most of the solar return energy is in the ninth house of growth, and expansion of consciousness, the original house for Uranus. Uranus itself is in the spiritual sign of Pisces, in the second house of resources, showing where their talents lie.

Sun, where we manifest our vitality and creativity, is among the ninth house planets. I have to smile at its little crew of support up there—Mars—assertion, Venus—love, Vesta—security, and Mercury—communication. I smile as I see here the ability to express what one of the resisters termed “aggressive nonviolent civil resistance.”

Moon in lucky Sag is also very supportive—in the 11th house of ideals and in the idealistic sign of Sagittarius. Saturn in Leo trines the Moon/Pluto midpoint, to ground dreams and visions of transformation in the real world. Saturn is, in fact, a planet of government.

Capricorn rises, another grounding and cautious influence—ruled by Saturn.

The fixed T-cross is very much alive and well, and this means that social change will not be easy. Jupiter in the 10th house (of government) is in Scorpio, Obrador’s sign, and Saturn in Leo, Calderon’s sign, is in the 8th house of finances. Neptune is in Aquarius, Obrador’s moon sign.

Keep your eyes on this fascinating mix!