After hundreds of thousands protested in Mexico this weekend in defense of Obrador, Fox announced the resignation of the attorney general.

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s attorney general has stepped down, in an apparent attempt to free President Vicente Fox’s government from a controversial legal battle with a popular leftist mayor.

Rafael Macedo de la Concha led a campaign that stripped Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of immunity so he could stand trial on charges that he defied court orders in a land dispute.

If Lopez Obrador is found guilty, he could be blocked from running in next year’s presidential election.

Polls suggest the mayor holds a strong lead in the election, leading critics to accuse the government of cooking up bogus charges to knock off a political rival.

The stripping of his immunity ???????? and the subsequent claim that he was therefore stripped of his office ???????? sparked weeks of demonstrations. The largest, in Mexico City on April 20, drew hundreds of thousands of protesters.

Fox announced the resignation in a televised broadcast Wednesday, saying that his primary duty as head of state was “to promote national unity.”

The president said the new attorney general, as yet unnamed, would continue the case against Lopez Obrador while “seeking to preserve the greatest political harmony in the country.”

Fox, who can not run for re-election, also promised that the 2006 election would be free and fair.

“My government will prevent no one from participating in the next federal election race,” Fox said.

Also, on Wednesday, Fox agreed to meet with Obrador in order to discuss the charges.

Fox’s speech came after he agreed Wednesday to meet with Lopez Obrador to discuss criminal charges pending against the mayor over a minor land dispute. Analysts said his decision to meet with the mayor is a recognition that Lopez Obrador is holding the political high ground in the struggle over Macedo’s determination to charge Lopez Obrador with criminal contempt of court. No date for the meeting has been announced.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the meeting or Macedo’s resignation would defuse the political crisis that has enveloped this country since Congress lifted the mayor’s immunity from prosecution three weeks ago.

Fox is also planning to ask the congress to pass a law which would protect the political rights of people charged with a crime.

April 27 (Bloomberg) — Mexican President Vicente Fox, responding to criticism he’s trying to prevent the Mexico City mayor from running in next year’s presidential race, will ask Congress to pass a law that protects the rights of citizens facing criminal charges.

The initiative, if approved, would allow Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the frontrunner in presidential polls, to keep his political rights while being tried in court. Mexico’s attorney general’s office plans to file contempt of court charges against Lopez Obrador because he disobeyed a court order to halt construction of a road in 2001. Under Mexican law, defendants are considered guilty unless proven innocent.

I’m not sure what this law would do if Obrador is actually found guilty, but I think the “guilty until proven innocent” path is a bad one. I do think that the charges are politically motivated, so ensuring the political rights of people only charged with a crime is certainly acceptable. Perhaps it is a step in the direction of “innocent until proven guilty.”

UPDATE: Related, I just caught this, one of the most ironic stories of the day, on Fark.com. Fidel Castro thinks that Fox needs to resign. I wonder if his speech writer had a laughing fit when he wrote that.