There are nearly 2,500 communities in Mexico spread across the 32 states. In such a vast country there are communities in the mountains, plains, jungles and deserts, some are hot or cold and dry or humid, some are very rich and very poor, many have indigenous and peasant populations, many others are just ghost towns Remains of migrants or disappeared. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, 69, boasts that he is the only politician in Mexico’s history to have visited each of these areas at least once. Those who have covered one of his campaigns have witnessed the intensity with which the leader conducts territorial campaigns, with four to five rallies a day. López Obrador has been building his career on the concerns of the left on the street (often in the mud) since the 1990s. So many years of getting his shoes dirty among the people made him a popular politician and, in 2018, the country’s most-elected president in the country’s history. López Obrador has also created a school for his special way of understanding politics as a permanent campaign to mobilize the population. Claudia Sheinbaum, who is now seeking to succeed him as President of the Republic, is trying to emulate the example of her mentor in the fight for Morena’s candidacy to show that when someone followed in her footsteps, it was she.
In her first week on the mission, the former Mexico City leader visited six states, leading rallies in front of thousands of people an average of three times a day. The Morena leadership gave the corcholatas — the contenders — 70 days to apply across the country before conducting the poll that the party will use to determine who the presidential nominee will be in next year’s election. Sheinbaum plans to hold 200 major events across the 32 states during that period in an intense daily campaign, with some quiet on Monday, the day of strategy planning, a war room member has confirmed to the newspaper. . The former president turns 61 this Saturday. The program includes events in Querétaro, a state heavily dominated by the conservative National Action Party (PAN). For Sheinbaum, who has led the majority of election polls, orbiting the earth around the sun will be another day of popular mobilization.
Claudia Sheinbaum greets her fans on June 22nd in Tijuana (Baja California). Joebth Terriquez (EFE)
Another aspect of his campaign, according to the strategist interviewed, is using brigade members to go door-to-door to promote Sheinbaum’s image. These brigades are likened to the armies of militants spreading the cause of López Obrador in their neighborhoods, guarding polling stations on election days, camped and mobilized on the Paseo de la Reforma after the 2006 elections – which the leader described as fraudulent on the street against the privatization of oil. Sheinbaum herself was part of these Obradorist armies and brought it up at their rallies as evidence of their allegiance to the leader. This week she declared that she is the only one who has always belonged to the left and, alongside López Obrador, a perfect arrow for her three adversaries in the Morenista intern, former Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, Senator Ricardo Monreal and former Foreign Minister Adán Augusto López , who was a member of the PRI before joining Obradorism (although it was difficult not to, since he was the hegemonic party in the last century: López Obrador himself was in the ranks of the PRI).
In a much-anticipated presidential succession in which candidates contest the symbols of obradorismo and the legacy of the leader, Sheinbaum has given a wink to his mentor’s philosophy. The ex-president makes her way through the crowd, giving hugs and kisses, touching hands and faces, taking photos, taking people’s wishes, cheering them on, shouting “President!” It’s all fun. He grabs the microphone and says that López Obrador is “the best president that there has possibly been in the history of Mexico”, that he “will always be the great leader of Mexico”, that he is a tireless man who never gives up. And he looks at the rosary of his administration’s accomplishments: that he’s nationalized lithium, that he’s kept the peso strong, that he’s given pensions to all the elderly, that he’s expanded the public health system, that he’s built universities, that the Maya Train and Dos Bocas Refinery and Felipe Ángeles Airport. And Sheinbaum quotes by heart the terminology from Lopez Obrador’s dictionary: “There can be no rich government with poor people”, “Power is a virtue only when it is put at the service of others”, “For the good of all, the poor “Come first”.
The tone of the capital’s former president’s campaign is in stark contrast to the imprint Ebrard gave it, a far cry from López Obrador’s guidance. The former chancellor, second in the polls, has opted to run small events with few people — which Sheinbaum’s advisers take as a sign of his lack of electoral structure — have a heavy presence on radio and television programs, and exposure to content on social Networking for a younger audience and earning a spot on the front page of newspapers every day (as evidenced by the frustrated offer of a job to López Obrador’s son). The former official has assumed a rebellious personality in every sense. He has called for debates between candidates, urged the party to fix the polling model immediately and circumvented the ban on making campaign proposals.
Claudia Sheinbaum began her tour on June 19th in Oaxaca. With kind approval
Ebrard’s disruptive tone has helped Sheinbaum also prove an obedient adherent to the rules of internal strife established by López Obrador, who has taken on the role of director of the successor orchestra. In Tijuana, when a councilwoman wanted to speak into the microphone at her rally, the former president told her that the Morena National Council banned it: “The rules of our party are very clear: we cannot mix whoever is in government .” now and whoever we are in the movement”. When the former chancellor – her fiercest rival – persisted in the debates, she referred to the agreements: “It is very clear from the document that this is not the time for internal debates or that internal debate will strengthen our political opponents.” We were told that and so we signed it. If Ebrard were to look for another opportunity to talk about his campaign proposals, she would deter him: “It’s not about debating between us at the moment, it’s more about saying something.” [por delante] the achievements of the Fourth Transformation, what its continuity means and why there should be no regression to the past.”
Sheinbaum has tried to remove the word “change” from his speeches, as if mentioning it would mean abandoning the path taken by López Obrador. Rather, he promises that he will put his “own stamp” on his government if he wins the poll and wins the 2024 presidential election. For now, the biggest test for the former president seems to be taking care of the leader’s form, destroying it without destroying it, polishing it with every praise, and finally putting it back into its place in history.
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