According to AFP, Mexico’s populist president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador rallied more than 100,000 supporters Saturday in Mexico City, attacking the country’s rights, its “oligarchs” and the United States, just over a year before elections to choose his successor.
While all the governmental agencies and news outlets in Mexico said, the figure was 500,000 supporters, international media such as Associated Press, Reuters, and others have declared that the count didn`t exceed 100,000.
The exact number could not be that important, but the fact that AMLO’s government lies once again is very worrisome for millions of Mexicans who do not support Lopez Obrador.
The rally marked the 85th anniversary of the nationalization of the oil industry, a key event in Mexican history.
Denouncing US Republican lawmakers’ push to send the US military to battle Mexican drug cartels, Lopez Obrador told the crowd: “Cooperation yes, submission, no!”
“Mexico is an independent and free country and not a colony or a protectorate of the United States,” he told his supporters, who gathered in the city’s famous Zocalo main square.
Saturday’s rally comes three weeks after an opposition demonstration against his electoral reform approved by Congress.
The reform threatens the National Electoral Institute (INE), which organizes elections, opposition, and some civil society leaders say. They have announced appeals to the Supreme Court.
The United States voiced concern about the impact of the reform on the independence of powers in Mexico. Lopez Obrador has slammed the remarks as meddling.
Source: AFP
