Marcelo Ebrard, during a press conference in Mexico City, September 11th. RAQUEL CUNHA (Portal)
Former foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard has announced the creation of a civil association to organize his supporters and create what he called a political movement. Ebrard has not formalized his departure from Morena, so he will continue to lead his new formation as a member of the Guinda party. The group will be called “El Camino de México AC,” a name derived from the title of the former chancellor’s autobiography published this year. Around 800 people signed the founding of the new organization at a closed event in Xochimilco, Mexico City. “What we are establishing today is a citizens’ association, it is not a party, I make that clear, because parties cannot be founded at the moment. Why are we founding an association? It is the way we organize, we are a political movement, that is what we are, but we need our own form of organization and the steps we take will belong to the movement,” Ebrard agreed his audience.
The former secretary’s announcement initially implies the formation of a current or faction within Morena, which is prohibited by the party’s statutes. Ebrard distanced himself from Morena after the internal process in which Claudia Sheinbaum was declared the winner and nominated as a candidate for the presidency of the Republic. Since then, the former official has shown signs of a breakup without consummating it. He has already filed a complaint with the Morena Honesty and Justice Commission, saying his stay in the party depends on its outcome. In various interviews, he has assured that his goal is to run in next year’s presidential election. The unknown is how he will achieve it. The deadline for running as an independent candidate has already passed, as has the deadline for establishing new political parties. There are only a few options.
The former chancellor maintains an open dialogue with the Citizens’ Movement (MC), a party for which he once ran for parliament. This Monday’s announcement, attended by deputies and senators not only from Morena, served as an outreach opportunity to keep the base active and was at the same time a demonstration of political strength. The new AC will help Ebrard maintain a tour of several states in which the former minister seeks to carry out what has become his crusade: denouncing internal irregularities in the presidential candidacy, demanding that these anomalies be recognized and changed, the moral voice that Morena, the party founded by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, must banish from its blood the corrupt practices of other formations.
“They will never beat us,” Ebrard told his base that Monday. “It is our movement and we will get where we want to go, that is Mexico’s path.” The former chancellor asked his supporters for patience and not courage. “These things take time,” he added. “I will never let you down, we say it here, we will do it,” he promised. The Marcelists stood up between the chairs and shouted “President!” several times, raised their fists and gave applause and shouts of triumph.
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