Thousands of followers are already waiting for President López Obrador's rally in the capital's Zócalo with their umbrellas ready because rain threatens.
Some of the guests are already arriving at the National Palace, such as the head of the Government of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum, the head of the Interior, Adán Augusto López, or the politician Gerardo Fernández Noroña, who has also run for presidential replacement. 2024. Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard is expected and Ricardo Monreal has also been seen among the human tide, as well as governors of Morena who have arrived from their territories with hundreds of co-religionists.
This March 18 marks the 85th anniversary of the oil nationalization, a day of patriotic value in Mexico that López Obrador has taken advantage of to summon his own in the capital and show political muscle.
Hundreds of buses have arrived to listen to the capital from all corners of the country, some after more than 15 hours of travel.
From the early hours of the morning the streets of the city wore the colorful colors of the typical attire of the native peoples.
All of them are now in the Zócalo to listen to the president's speech, which is interpreted very politically, as a response to the latest concentrations of his political adversaries, who also filled the great Mexican square with people against the INE reform. launched by the current government.
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Images of the Zócalo thirty minutes after López Obrador's speech
Among banners, botargas that represent the president and some umbrellas, thousands of supporters who arrived in Mexico City from all corners of the country advance towards the Zócalo.
The capital's plate is almost full with people who wear Morena's shirt and who are excited to hear the president's speech on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the oil expropriation.
Unions, organizations defending human rights and governors of many States of the Republic have also arrived.
General view of the Zócalo in Mexico City on March 18, 2023. / Nadya Murillo
A botarga with the face of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador near the Zócalo in Mexico City.023.
/ Nadya Murillo
A botarga with the face of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador near the Zócalo in Mexico City.023.
/ Nadya Murillo
ACT.18 MAR 2023 - 23:40
Víctor Castro, governor of Baja California Sur, attends the march to support President López Obrador
"Going to Mexico City with great joy to support the initiative of Andrés Manuel López Obrador," said the governor of Baja California Sur, Víctor Castro.
Governors such as Claudia Sheinbaum, head of Government of Mexico City and other candidates for the presidency have also arrived at the National Palace.
They are waiting for the "applause meter" that will explode when López Obrador goes out on the balcony to give his speech.
ON MAR 18, 2023 - 23:29
The streets surrounding the Zócalo continue to register a large flow of people
About to fill the Zócalo in Mexico City, thousands of people with banners and stuffed animals and objects in support of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Morena, his party, prepare for the speech that will commemorate the 85th anniversary of the oil expropriation carried out in 1983 by General Cárdenas.
They have come from all over the country in buses paid for by the governors of the different states for those who wanted to attend the march.
ACT.18 MAR 2023 - 23:18
Governors of States related to Morena gather in the Zócalo
After the governor of Zacatecas, other governors related to Morena have approached the Zócalo of Mexico City.
Rubén Rocha Moya, governor of Sinaloa, has marched to the capital's plate along with other Sinaloans.
Salomón Jara Cruz, governor of Oaxaca, has also come to the capital to support President Andrés Manuel López Obrador this Saturday in celebration of the anniversary of the oil expropriation carried out by General Cárdenas in 1983. In the Zócalo the bells continue to ring mariachi bands and the threat of rain, with the overcast sky floating above the city, threatens to spoil the event.
ACT.18 MAR 2023 - 23:04
A concentration to celebrate Cárdenas, Juárez... and another political pulse of López Obrador
This Saturday two similar celebrations are mixed on the capital's griddle.
On the one hand, all of Mexico has gathered to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the oil expropriation of General Cárdenas in 1983. On the other, Morena gathers her followers to celebrate the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, which she intends to counter with this call the one carried out by the opposition a few weeks ago to protest the reform of the INE promoted by the president.
This weekend's concentration raises two great figures, that of Cárdenas and that of Benito Juárez, who are, along with Madero, the presidents that the current one invokes day after day as the inspirers of his politics.
To them he ascribes the great advances of Mexico in the course of the centuries, great figures that arouse Mexican patriotism.
You can read the full note by Carmen Morán Breña here.
ACT.18 MAR 2023 - 22:28
Thousands of people shout in the Zócalo in Mexico City on March 18, 2023. President López Obrador called his followers to a political rally in commemoration of the oil expropriation in Mexico.
/ Rodrigo Oropeza
The rain does not prevent people from going to the Zócalo in Mexico City
The Zócalo begins to fill up despite the rain, which falls lightly on some parts of the capital of Mexico.
The contingents of people, coming from different parts of the country, begin to gather in the Zócalo hours after the call by the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Reforma Avenue at Parque Alameda is closed to traffic to allow people to pass through and the streets surrounding the Zócalo have also been flooded by rivers of people.
The capital plancha sounds like the group of mariachis that are enlivening the wait from the stage.
Light rains are expected during the afternoon, although for the moment that has not scared people away from attending the event for the 85th anniversary of the oil expropriation that is being held today.
ACT.18 MAR 2023 - 22:05
Ricardo Monreal prepares to attend the call for López Obrador in the Zócalo
Ricardo Monreal, leader of the Morena bench in the Senate, was preparing an hour ago to attend the celebration of the 85th anniversary of the oil expropriation, called by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the Zócalo of Mexico City.
Despite the conflicts that have characterized the relationship between the two in recent months, Monreal has put on his "hat, tennis shoes, comfortable clothes and sunscreen," said the senator.
"But above all, encouragement, enthusiasm to celebrate this historic date", he continued.
For him it is a "political duty" to attend these events and he considers that the oil expropriation was the seed for "sovereignty, the economic independence of Mexico."
ON MAR 18, 2023 - 21:35
David Monreal, governor of Zacatecas, attends the march with a large contingent
Governors of States related to Morena, the party of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, have come to the capital of Mexico to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the oil expropriation of 1938. This is the reason why López Obrador has wanted to gather his people in the political pulse that maintains with the opposition, which a few weeks ago also had its own march against the reform of the INE promoted by the president.
David Monreal Ávila, governor of Zacatecas, has come to Mexico City with a very large contingent of people.
"Today we have also come to strengthen this reform, this new governance that our president offered to the country. Today we are here about to start the march with the rest of the contingents that have come to accompany our president," said Monreal,
at the head of the march of people coming from his state.
The Zócalo is already filling up, little by little, with people waiting for what will happen there during the afternoon.
Concerts, speeches and a tribute to the oil expropriation and to the one who promoted it, President Lázaro Cárdenas, have been announced.
ACT.18 MAR 2023 - 21:36
How to get around the chaos of Mexico City during the demonstration: schedule, closed streets and alternatives
The march to commemorate the anniversary of the 1938 oil expropriation and the political muscle of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador begins at 5:00 p.m. this Saturday on the Zócalo plate in Mexico City.
The program of the event is not yet known, but López Obrador himself has spoken of a concert: "We are going to invite our singers, those who like the people, the people. It is going to be a party because we rescue Pemex and the Commission Federal Electricity”, he said.
The streets for vehicular traffic that will remain closed during the event are the following: Circuit Plaza de la Constitución, Avenida 20 de Noviembre, José María Pino Suárez, 5 de Febrero, Corregidora and 5 de Mayo.
Although the ceremony will start at 5:00 p.m., the security devices will be active two hours before, according to the Citizen Security Secretariat.
It is estimated the participation of more than 250 traffic officers who will divert access to motorists through the traffic routes indicated by the same instance of the capital's government.
Click here to read the complete note from José Carlos Oliva.
ACT.18 MAR 2023 - 21:05
Cárdenas Batel assures that his relationship with the president is "very good"
Lázaro Cárdenas Batel has assured this morning that his resignation as head of President López Obrador's advisers is due to a "change of cycle" and not to a disagreement with the president.
"I completed a cycle, I thank the president for his trust and the opportunity to collaborate in the Government," he said at the Monument to the Revolution, where every March 18 the Cárdenas family visits the tomb of the general, who is commemorated today with reason for the nationalization of oil when he was president in the thirties.
You can read the full note by Carmen Morán Breña here.
ACT.18 MAR 2023 - 21:05
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