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MEXICO CITY - Felipe Calderon took power as Mexico's president today in a chaotic ceremony rattled by fist fights in Congress and jeering protests from leftists who claim he stole a July election that sparked months of political unrest.
Surrounded by bodyguards, the conservative Calderon slipped into Congress through a back door, quickly declared the oath of office and put on the presidential sash as left-wingers who had vowed to stop him taking office screamed "Get out! Get out!"
He was then rushed out again. The lightning-fast ceremony lasted just four minutes, including the singing of the national anthem, and Calderon was unable to make his inaugural speech.
Conservative politicians cheered and hugged each other, while the left-wing opposition blew whistles and jeered.
Dozens of rival deputies earlier threw punches and chairs at each other and leftists built barricades to block the main doors and try to prevent Calderon from entering the building.
Although Calderon's security team outwitted his opponents in Congress, the brawls underlined Mexico's deep political divide and cast doubt on how successful Calderon can be in ending the unrest that followed his razor-thin election victory.
Calderon later met with party faithful and appealed to his political foes to open talks to end five months of turmoil.
"It is clear Mexico is going through times of tension ... I'm aware of the seriousness of the distance between us and I accept my part of the responsibility to resolve it," Calderon said in a speech at an elegant concert hall in the capital.
Calderon, 44, wants to push pro-business reforms through Congress, where his ruling National Action Party holds just 40 per cent of seats and needs opposition support.
He replaced outgoing President Vicente Fox, an ally and fellow conservative, in a midnight ceremony at the presidential residence. The later swearing-in sealed his taking of office.
STREET PROTESTS
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, an anti-poverty campaigner who was Calderon's election rival, led thousands of protesters in a march across the capital and some demonstrators hurled cans of red paint at riot police.
"They imposed him with a coup, and we are living with the consequences," said Lopez Obrador, who has declared himself Mexico's "legitimate president."
"We have not given up, we have not sold out, we will never accept his imposition," he said.
Mexico's financial markets were closed today but the peso currency zigzagged in volatile trading abroad on concerns about the protests and Calderon's ability to control an increasingly violent country.
Former US President George Bush, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Spain's Crown Prince Felipe were among the foreign dignitaries to see the chaos in Congress.
"It's good action," Schwarzenegger, best known for his Hollywood action movies, said dryly.
Calderon will be a key ally of the United States in Latin America, which has turned away from Washington in recent years with a string of left-wing gains in presidential elections.
A career politician who has an iron will but little charisma, he will also push for tax, energy and labour reforms and keep a tight rein on government spending even as he promises to cut the vast gap between rich and poor.
Calderon, a Harvard graduate and former energy minister in Fox's government, faces other serious challenges in trying to assert control over an increasingly violent country.
A vicious war between rival drug-smuggling gangs has killed nearly 3,000 people in the last two years, and the popular tourist city of Oaxaca has been wrecked by six months of violent street protests against a state governor.
Calderon pledged today to step up the war on crime with tougher sentences and a clean-up of corrupt police forces.
In Calderon's home state of Michoacan, more than 500 people have been killed this year in a turf war over drugs.
Mexico won full democracy in 2000, when Fox swept to power in an election that ended seven decades of one-party rule.
(Additional reporting by Chris Aspin and Gunther Hamm)
- REUTERS
