To the classic “it is an honor to be with Obrador” was added the cry “carried from the heart”

Arturo Cano

Newspaper La Jornada
Monday, November 28, 2022, p. 5

It was not one, but several rivers that flowed from one side to the other, sometimes apparently without definite direction. Around 9:30 a.m., several contingents were walking towards the Angel of Independence, looking for a place to advance towards the Zócalo. Its members had no idea that shortly before, in front of the United States embassy, ​​the convener of the largest march in recent times had passed by. More than a march, actually a parade that filled Paseo de la Reforma, Avenida Juárez, the Zócalo and its surroundings.

It is an honor to be with Obrador! The slogan was repeated endlessly, in the absence of more specific issues to turn them into a banner.

Most of the people waiting in front of the embassy could not see the President. He saw eddies, jostles, state secretaries and legislators trying not to end up crushed.

The walk would take just over five hours, the time it takes for the average runner to finish a marathon. And in the center of those rivers was Andrés Manuel López Obrador (Infinito, as they call him in police code, had arrived just after nine in the morning on Stockholm Street).

Both directions of the Paseo de la Reforma and the sides were filled. But there were groups that were also advancing through the adjacent streets. In one of those streets, among crowds and parked trucks, the Metro continued to empty out at nearby stations.

It was time for the joke of the organized groups, what was once known as hauling and that was seen in this march as in the pro-INE demonstration last week.

And which of the 7 thousand white trucks is ours?yelled a man, and his companions burst out laughing.

Ahead, a sign rested at the feet of another man: it had an image of President López Obrador wearing black glasses and the caption I didn’t come for my cake, I came for my eggs!

Judging by the many signs made by hand, with markers and cardboard, that is to say, improvised by the marchers, the accusation of hauled march hit hard. I am carried of hearthe read the cards of some girls.

While the march continued its slow progress, among drums, folk dances and music bands, renewed slogans appeared: We are not one, we are not a hundred, fucking delicious, tell us well!

A sum of multitudes united by two shouts, perhaps the most repeated: the classic It is an honor to be with Obrador Y carried by heart.

The long, slow march of Andrés Manuel López Obrador emptied the Zócalo. Since before the President arrived, the rivers began to flow in the opposite direction: Don’t even try, it’s impossiblethey said to those who advanced towards the main square.

Thus, when the presidential speech began, some portions of the plaza were empty, not counting the portion occupied by the Guerrero teachers. Many chose to wait for the message in front of the giant screens placed at various points.

We already needed a marchsighed an older man who traveled from Culiacán.

-So that?

–To defend the President.

What do you have to defend him from?

“From the oligarchy,” he answered suddenly, and went on to make a list of adversaries that went from businessmen to journalists.

“The opposition says that people here are hauled away,” a young woman who was taking photos was told.

-Not us, not at all. We are followers of his ideals because he demonstrates them with deeds,” said Verena Molina, a teacher from Izúcar de Matamoros, who did not come in the contingent of the National Union of Education Workers (until a rally in the Hemiciclo a Juárez improvised its leader, Alfonso Cepeda ), but with her friends.

Gabino Aguilar, a merchant from the Gustavo A. Madero mayor’s office, chimed in, accepting that they provided transportation for him. But they never conditioned us anything, we just accepted the ride.

Nobody gave us a pesothe Queretaro couple formed by Pedro Guerrero and Claudia Ramos joined.

His critics say that the President is destroying democracy.

What democracy? Was there democracy? Now we are doing it,” Aguilar replied.

the sighing

The three candidates for the presidential candidacy had taken a selfie at the start of the march, but on the way Marcelo Ebrard moved away and Adán Augusto López had to walk behind López Obrador and Claudia Sheinbaum. Chairwoman!, President!they shouted as they passed, according to preferences.

President Norona!They also yelled at the PT deputy, who was letting himself be cuddled.

A woman who saw the scene told her partner: Do you see why everyone thinks they can be?

There was for everyone. According to their level of exposure, the members of the cabinet who arrived scattered at the Zócalo were celebrated or celebrated.

On warning there was no deception. The President had anticipated a lengthy speech, and he delivered by reporting 110 actions and achievements. Most of the message was a repetition of data, statements, announcements already known from the morning conferences.

The people who followed from the screens celebrated, just like those present in the Zócalo, the known data, the often reported works, the Q4 achievements.

The reactions of the attendees referred to what López Obrador understands as political pedagogy. For example, if he talked about a dry topic, the Deer Park refinery in Texas, people would whoop and end up in a standing ovation.

While the President was speaking, two women held a very large sign that summed up the mood of those present: Listen well, trans right, this march is not revenge; We are not hauled / we are not chayoteros / we are not the same / bunch of pickpockets.

A week ago, the opposition launched the street challenge. The obradorismo responded, as was to be expected, in a field in which it moves like a fish in water (although the Republic find comfort in the photos of a Zócalo with holes).

At the auction of the day of the long march, President López Obrador put the theorists of the 4T to spin with his idea of ​​naming mexican humanism to his political proposal. A concept, he said, that sums up the greatness of our culture and our exceptional and fruitful political history.

Outside, the street challenge was resolved. Inside, said those in the know, López Obrador strengthens control of his succession.

The road to 2024, however, is even longer than this Sunday’s march.