A crowd of around 40,000 gathered in Guadalajara on Sunday, February 18 for the “March for Democracy,” a protest criticizing the president’s attacks on autonomous oversight agencies and to demand free and fair elections, replicated more 110 cities across Mexico, as well as in the United States and Spain.
Donned mostly in pink, the protestors gathered in the Jardin San Francisco in the center of Guadalajara, before marching along Avenida 16 de septiembre to the Plaza Juarez facing the entrance to the Agua Azul Park.
The demonstration was organized entirely by civic groups, and motivated by recent proposals submitted to Congress by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to slash funding for the National Electoral Institute (INE) and abolish the National Institute of Transparency, among others.
“AMLO wants to destroy the institutions that allow us to live democratically,” one protestor told reporters.
“We are afraid that our vote will not be taken into account, that it will not be respected,” another said.
As well as reducing funding for the INE and laying off staff, AMLO wants to weaken the independent body’s oversight of campaign spending, eliminate proportional representation for the federal legislature, and redistribute the electoral map. He also wants to rebrand INE as the National Institute of Elections and Consultations (INEC).
Please login or subscribe to view the complete article.