Mexico’s Juanito: From street vendor to political star

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For the past three months, a political soap opera has transfixed Mexico. It’s the story of Juanito (at right), a street vendor from Mexico City who rose to political stardom. The World’s William Troop explains why Juanito’s story is worthy of a telenovela.

• New York Times article on Juanito
• Los Angeles Times article on Juanito

Here’s a short video of Juanito in action (in Spanish):

Read the Transcript
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JEB SHARP: I’m Jeb Sharp and this is The World.  A political soap opera has transfixed Mexico for the past few months.  It’s the story of a street vendor from Mexico City who rose to political stardom.  He goes by the name of Juanito and his is a story worth of a telenovela.  The World’s William Troop explains.

WILLIAM TROOP:  I was so looking forward to tomorrow when Juanito is to be sworn in as president of one of Mexico City’s sixteen local districts.  Juanito, whose real name is Rafael la Costa, is not your typical politician.  He usually sports a tricolor headband with his name on it.  Many Mexicans regard him as a common man, although not everyone agrees on whether that’s a good thing.  But his down to earth quality did lend an error of authenticity to this month’s Independence Day celebrations in the Mexican capital.  Whatever his qualifications or lack thereof, all agree that Juanito got to this point in very unlikely fashion.  The job of president in the District of Iztapalapa, carries some real political power and control over a multi-million peso budget.  So much bigger politicians coveted the job of district boss.  Among them, a former Congresswoman.  She seemed a shoe in.  She has experience in big time politics and the support of Manuel Andres Lopez Obrador.  Remember him?  He’s the guy who claims he was the real winner of the 2006 presidential election and therefore he is Mexico’s legitimate president right now.  Well, he’s not president and so he’s left to focus on local races like the one in Iztapalapa.  But his hand picked candidate was barred from running.  No problem said Lopez Obrador, I’ll find someone else to run and he did.  That was Juanito, a local activist who sells umbrellas on street corners.  Juanito said sure, he’ll run and if he won, he would step down and name the Bard candidate to replace him.  Lopez Obrador told his supporters to vote for Juanito.  They did and guess what?  The umbrella salesman won.  But once elected, Juanito reneged on the promise and pulled a page from Lopez Obrador’s campaign playbook.  Juanito claimed that he is the legitimate president of Iztapalapa.  It was my name on the ballot said Juanito and the will of the people must be respected.  For three months, Juanito resisted the pressure to step down and he seemed to enjoy all of the attention.  Then came the protests from Iztapalapa voters, angry at Juanito for not keeping his word.  These people were upset because they had voted for one candidate but were expecting to get someone else?  Right.  Anyway, it was all too much in the end for Juanito.  Yesterday, he finally caved.  He will still get sworn in tomorrow but he’s announced that he will, after all, step down and let Lopez Obrador and his followers have their way.  He calls it medical leave.  All the stress gave him chest pains apparently and so Mexicans are left to wonder who the hero of this political telenovela really is.  For The World, I’m William Troop.

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