Countdown

Mexico started the countdown to the Presidential elections scheduled for July. Former Mexico City Major, Manuel López-Obrador became the first candidate to formalize his participation in the presidential race this past Sunday.

López-Obrador is feared by the business community and the US government. He has been characterized as a leftist-populist who may renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), block foreign investments in energy and establish a heavily regulated economy.

The latest surveys give him a 4% lead. Government party candidate Felipe Calderón is in the third place after Roberto Madrazo, from the Revolutionary Institutional
Party that governed Mexico for 70 years.

Losing Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Venezuela to the left is a big problem to the US. Losing Mexico would be a tragedy.