In response to last weekend’s mega march in protest at his controversial plans to reform the country’s electoral system, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has summoned his supporters onto the streets to show solidarity with his “transformation” of Mexico.
In an announcement at his regular morning press briefing on Wednesday, AMLO called on his base to join him in a march on Sunday, November 27, that will start 9 a.m. at the Angel of Independence monument, and head to the Zócalo, the main square in front of the National Palace.
Lopez Obrador said the march has the purpose of “seeing if people are happy with the transformation, if we are doing well.”
The show of force will replace an event planned for the fourth anniversary of his inauguration as president, set for the Zócalo on Thursday, December 1—the day he gives his annual state-of-the-nation report (informe).
Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum and Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard—the two leading contenders to succeed Lopez Obrador—said they would be participating in the march alongside the president.
The mobilization is “loaded with symbolism,” wrote Zedryk Raziel, a correspondent for El Pais Mexico, this week. “The march will pass through the Paseo de la Reforma, which López Obrador and his supporters blocked for five weeks in protest at the results of the 2006 election … After the blockade was lifted, in the Zócalo, he swore himself in as the ‘legitimate president,’ wore a presidential sash and formed a cabinet. Years later, he will follow the same route, but no longer (as) the opposition.”