July 11-14, 2012 -- Mexican election "victor" backed by Opus Dei Amid charges of election rigging and vote buying by Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) presidential candidate Enrique Pena Nieto, declared the victor of Mexico's recent presidential election, are allegations that the right-wing fascistic and secretive Catholic sect, Opus Dei, played a hand in Pena Nieto's successful campaign. Although PRI, during most of its 71 successive years in power in Mexico, adopted an anti-clerical stance, even severing relations with the Vatican, there are charges that PRI, with Opus Dei's backing, used the Catholic Church to engineer a victory for Pena Nieto. The runner-up in the election, the progressive Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who lost the presidency in a razor-thin vite to the conservative National Action Party (PAN) candidate, Felipe Calderon, in 2006, also amid charges of massive election fraud, is challenging Pena Nieto's recent victory. There have been massive street demonstrations throughout Mexico, from Tijuana and Monterrey to Mexico City and Oaxaca and Chiapas, protesting what is claimed as Pena Nieto's fraudulent win. What has raised suspicions about Opus Dei is Pena Nieto's law school alma mater, Panamerican University, a college funded by Opus Dei. Pena Nieto's relative, Arturo Montiel, immediately preceded his nephew as Governor of the state of Mexico, a bastion of wealthy PRI supporters, some of whom have been tied to corruption and drug smuggling. Many of Pena Nieto's critics have charged that the PRI cabal that runs Mexico state, dubbed the "Golden Boys of Atlacomulco," merely used the young politician as a figurehead so that they could dominate Mexico from the shadows. The charges that Opus Dei stands behind this cabal have helped fuel the rumors of a massive election theft by wealthy power brokers in Mexico. Pena Nieto has also surrounded himself with a number of U.S.-trained economists, many of whom want to privatize Mexico's state-run oil company, PEMEX. Like his colleague to the north, Barack Obama, little is known about Pena Nieto who experienced a rapid rise in politics thanks to favorable television coverage, including from Televisa, the nation's largest network. Pena Nieto became governor of Mexico in 2005, the same year Obama became a junior senator from Illinois. Televisa has an operational relationship with the Spanish-language Univision network, owned by NBC Universal. It is believed by many Mexican media observers that the billionaire owner of the Telmex telecommunications firm, Carlos Slim, supported Pena Nieto in order to grab a controlling interest in Televisa and TV Azteca. Pena Nieto has become an instant celebrity and he is an admitted fan of the rock group U2 and Bono, globalized capitalism's favorite change agents who also count George Soros-supported Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi and Liberia's Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson as fans. Pena Nieto's campaign promised to end Mexico's drug cartel-sponsored cycle of deadly violence, which has included mass killings and grizzly beheadings of victims. The violence by Mexico's leading drug gangs, including the Los Zetas and Sinaloa cartels, was spurred, in part, by the United States's "Fast and Furious" operation that saw weapons smuggled to the gangs from the United States as part of a sanctioned Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program. Helping Pena Nieto's image is the fact that he is married to the popular Televisa soap opera star, Angelica Rivera. Pena Nieto's first wife, who admitted cheating on by fathering two children by different women out of wedlock, reportedly died from an "epileptic seizure" after her husband's marital infidelity became public. The only thing missing from the lurid tale was an Opus Dei albino monk assassin. Pena Nieto's campaign stands accused of buying votes with Soriana supermarket discount cards. The supermarket chain is a major advertiser on the pro-PRI Televisa and TV Azteca. The supermarket also paid for ads during shows featuring Pena Nieto's soap opera star wife. Opus Dei was founded in 1928 by Spanish priest Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, a fascist supporter of General Francisco Franco. Since, the sect has become a defender of right-wing regimes, especially the various military juntas that have ruled Latin American nations with the support of the CIA. Amid documented and widespread reports on election fraud in Mexico, President Obama sent a statement to Pena Nieto "congratulating the Mexican people who have once again demonstrated their commitment to democratic values through a free, fair, and transparent election process."