Mexico, North America, United States

Demonstrators Show AMLO Valentine’s Day Love

February 14, 2023 By Alfredo Eladio Moreno

NEW YORK — A dozen Mexican New Yorkers showed their support for Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known by his initials AMLO, by staging a Valentine’s Day-themed rally at Union Square on Sunday.

The demonstrators are part of the New York Morena Committee 1, a self-organized group of supporters of the National Regeneration Movement known as Morena — the left-wing political party which AMLO belongs to. They began at one in the afternoon and rallied for over four hours, staging an open mic for demonstrators and passersby to voice their support and opinions.

A mariachi band of high school and college students performed as well. One man waved the flag of Mexico back and forth as Isaac Ramirez, 33, head of the committee, sang the national anthem of Mexico. Another person danced wearing a huge paper mache mask of AMLO’s head.

A member of the founding Committee, Nadia Castañeda, 46, went up to the mic while her colleagues held posters and chanted behind her. “We are endorsing love for our president because love…,” she calls back to her colleagues who in unison say, “is paid with love.”

The phrase comes from  a common saying in Spanish — amor con amor se paga — that refers to the reciprocal nature of love. AMLO has used the saying frequently, from showing thanks for birthday wishes, to casting support for protesters.

The demonstrators made the phrase a key component of the rally, posting it on the flier for the event and repeating it at the demonstration. 

Demonstrators made pleas to the public to support politicians belonging to the Morena party. They called on Mexicans to vote for Morena candidates in the forthcoming gubernatorial elections in the states of Coahuila and Mexico, the latter being the most populous state in the country. Those elections are set to take place in June.

The demonstrators also used their pulpit to discredit politicians from rival parties, specifically the Institutional Revolution Party (PRI), the party that ruled for over seven decades after the Mexican Revolution. At one point a demonstrator went up to the mic and aired his discontent about corruption from the rival parties. “All their misdeeds, all their tricks, we are watching them,” he said.

They drew attention to the trial currently taking place in a Brooklyn federal courthouse against Genaro Garcia Luna, former secretary of public security under president Felipe Calderon, who served from 2006 to 2012 with the conservative National Action Party (PAN). Luna is accused of taking multimillion-dollar bribes from the Sinaloa cartel in exchange for impunity and conspiring to traffic drugs into the United States.

The group has staged protests outside of the courthouse where the trial is taking place. They will continue to do so until a verdict is handed down, likely within the next week.

Attention was drawn to other issues as well. They made calls to reform the immigration system and to give citizenship to undocumented people living in the United States. Rosario Martinez, from the eastern-central state of Puebla, said that the Committee has been fighting to better the consulate here in New York for two years.

“They treat our compatriots poorly,” Martinez said. She mentioned that the committee has attempted to take their complaints to AMLO’s daily briefings — known as the mañanera — but to no avail. “The power of corrupt politicians is immense. They have been there for decades, and no progress has been made.”

But the demonstrators praise AMLO for being on the right side of the fight against corruption and labor opportunities, among other issues. In particular, they are ardent proponents of the Fourth Transformation, AMLO’s overarching promise to usher in a new era of advancement in Mexico’s history.

They refer to it by its initials, 4T. “¡Viva la 4T!”, the demonstrators chanted. “Long live the 4T.”

As AMLO wraps up his six year term, which is set to end in 2024, the demonstrators also clamored to support the politician they hope will replace him.

Martinez scrutinized Secretary of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard, who has been known for exercising functions pertaining more to a Vice President than his own official post. “We are not in favor of Ebrard. Imagine him as president,” she said. “He does not embody the 4T. He does not lead with it and it is definitely not in his heart.”

The committee has not yet reached a consensus on who to support after AMLO leaves, however. Currently, they are divided in their support for mayor of Mexico City Claudia Sheinbaum, and congressman Gerardo Fernandez Noroña.

Despite the division, Ramirez is convinced that the Committee will reach consensus. “It is a pity that AMLO cannot serve another term. But I promise him that his ideology will live on with us, with the movement.”

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Reporting for this story was done by Alfredo Eladio Moreno with the support of Delicia Alarcón Esteche, Kiana Katrisha Paclibon and Marin Scotten.