On the night of July 1, 2018, Mexico City’s main square, Zócalo, filled with people ready to celebrate the results of the presidential election. Among the ebullient throng — and despite the fact that AMLO’s challengers had already conceded following a preliminary announcement by the National Electoral Institute at 8 p.m. — were a number of signs decrying the foul play many were sure was still afoot.
After so many years of repression, violence, media kneecapping, and electoral swindles, many among Mexico’s long-suffering left simply could not believe they would be allowed to win. But win they had: on his third and self-proclaimed final try, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) had defeated his closest rival by a fraud-proof margin of some thirty points. Riding his coattails, the young MORENA party — formally registered barely four years earlier — captured commanding majorities in both houses of Congress and dominated down-ballot races. The daunting task of governing a country torn by a combination of scorched-earth neoliberalism and a fratricidal drug war was now set to begin.
Five months to the day later, AMLO was en route to Congress to take his oath of office when a cyclist caught up to the motorcade. “En ti confiamos,” he said to the president-elect through the window of his modest Volkswagen Jetta. We trust you. Once the ceremonies were complete, AMLO was to waste little time in beginning to dismantle the trappings of the imperial Mexican presidency: turning the lavish presidential residence Los Pinos into a cultural center;…
Auteur: Kurt Hackbarth
