Tight security greeted celebrants arriving in Guadalajara’s city center to mark the 201st anniversary of Miguel Hidalgo’s historic call for Mexicans to take up arms against their Spanish rulers.
All those attending the “Grito” ceremony in Guadalajara had to pass through metal detectors before entering the Plaza de Armas facing the Jalisco Government Palace. Estimates put the crowd between 15,000 and 20,000, about half the number of last year, when the nation marked its independence bicentennial.
Government officials said the low turnout was probably because Independence Day this year fell on a Friday, prompting many people to leave the city for a long weekend.
While delivering the annual grito from the balcony of the Government Palace, Jalisco Governor Emilio Gonzalez broke with tradition and gave “viva” salutes to not just three or four Independence heroes but ten: Miguel Hidalgo (indispensable), Jose Maria Morelos, Ignacio Allende, Juan Aldama, Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, Pedro Moreno, Jose Antonio “El Amo” Torres, Marcos Castellanos, Rita Pérez de Moreno and Vicente Guerrero.