MEXICO CITY _ A walk through the encampments of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador' followers, right in the heart of the city, is enough to realize that the political conflict in Mexico is here for the long haul.
We're not talking about a matter of days now, but years _ a complete shift in the way politics are conducted in Mexico.
Lopez Obrador, presidential candidate of the center-left Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), didn't only want to become president, but, more than anything, to change Mexico. And he is changing the country even if he won't ever make it to the presidential residence, Los Pinos.
The signs are everywhere. You don't have to be a genius to see them.
In the 6 miles of encampments blocking Reforma Avenue _ which have created chaotic traffic conditions for over a month _ there are literally thousands of messages.
Here are some of them, imbued with equal doses of hate and hope: "Smile, AMLO President," "Fox: traitor to democracy," "No to electoral fraud," "We won," "They won't get away with it," "Dirty victory," "First national strike: a day without TV," "Vote for vote, poll by poll," "We will defend AMLO to the very end ... "
During the day, these camps are almost empty, except on this day when I found a group of women playing dominoes. That didn't reflect any lack of combative spirit, however.
"The decision by the electoral court didn't surprise us," one woman told me. "We already knew they were going to support Felipe (Calderon, the presidential candidate of the ruling National Action Party). But we won't accept it; this deal still has a long way to go."
When one of the camp coordinators saw me talking with the women, he came over with evident suspicion and curiosity. But when I told him I was a reporter, he let it all out.
"We were not organized in '88," he said, referring to the huge election fraud that stole the victory of Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, then presidential candidate of the PRD. "Now it's different: we are ready to hold out as long as it takes."
And the impression remained with me _ that although the people supporting Lopez Obrador are a clear minority, they are willing to take their grievances and confrontation to the limit.
But what is the limit? We don't know. Hence, the unease, apprehension, and fear.
What we do know is Lopez Obrador will not remain quiet and will become a very disturbing voice for the next government, that he'll try to create a parallel administration to that of the president's, and that there are millions of Mexicans who are behind him.
His support comes from those who have nothing to lose, from families who live on less than $5 a day, from people who lack medical insurance, their own homes or a secure old-age pension, and from the countless folk who have been stepped on so many times that they have stopped believing in the police, in government institutions and in politicians' promises.
Fact: Every year, a million young people enter Mexico's labor market. President Vicente Fox's administration created just 100,000 jobs annually, according to a recent estimate published by the magazine Foreign Affairs. Where do the 900,000 young people, who cannot get jobs, go every year? Either to the United States _ or to the opposition. It's as simple as that.
It's true that Lopez Obrador's vote numbers don't add up. It's not clear how the supposed massive fraud was carried out. The seven Electoral Court judges don't believe it ever took place. However, Lopez Obrador, says the support given Felipe Calderon by the Fox administration and business leaders before the July 2 elections was illegal.
If that was the case, then why is it that Lopez Obrador didn't withdraw before the elections?
"Because I thought that, in spite of everything, we were going to beat them," he told me in a recent interview. That was not the case. And faced with official rejection, he turned radical.
Lopez Obrador burned his bridges, thumbed his nose at the rules of the game and decided it wasn't worth waiting for the next elections in 2012. That explains why he is a man in a hurry.
Lopez Obrador's struggle, of course, is no longer aimed at winning the election and changing the government from within. That's history. What Lopez Obrador proposes now is to disassociate himself from the system. He wants to reject what exists now and create something new.
In Mexico _ unlike in Chile, for example _ there is no consensus on which course the country should follow. There is no agreement on how to deal with the poor, with the oil, with private industry, with the emigrants, with schools, with the police. Mexicans _ sadly _ haven't reached agreement on the most basic elements.
I am not the one saying this. Take a look in the protesters' encampments on Reforma Avenue and you will see the very seam where Mexico seems close to becoming unstitched.