“We are going to calm down Mexico”: López Obrador

By Armando García

With cries and chants of "You Are Not Alone!" And the "The People is Present with the President!" And that of "It is an Honor to be with Obrador!" A large crowd of Mexicans received president Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the Plaza del Zócalo in Mexico City who arrive to give his first State of the Nation address.

The president, at his arrival and as well as at his departure from El Zocalo, he was greeted by the people who approached him asking for autographs, gave them requests and took photographs. The president was without visible security, contrary to the custom of former presidents and was only accompanied by his wife and three assistants who collected the things that the people gave him.

Obrador opened his address by saying that the “…the change we are making is been seen,” he also emphasized with the Fourth Transformation was going to calm down Mexico. "We are putting order from the dome of power."

The president said it would take another year to lay well the foundations of the Fourth Transformation. "No longer having the same," he said and stressed "the old does not just die and, the new is not yet born."

López Obrador said that after a year, it will be practically impossible to return to the time of opprobrium, neoliberal and neoporfirism of the past.

"The triumph of the reaction is morally impossible" López Obrador said recalling the words of Benito Juárez.

The President defended his decision to give Political Asylum to Bolivian Evo Morales by saying that "... he is not only our brother but was the victim of a coup d’état." And he exclaimed: "Democracy yes, Militarism no!"

He thanked the presence and as a guest of honor to the Uruguayan ex-president José Mujica, one of the most austere leaders of the modern history of Latin America.

Regarding his relations with the United States, he said that the country has experienced invasions in its territory throughout its history. And that he has good relations with President Donald Trump, based on respect and cooperation. But that Mexico will not allow any violation of its sovereignty or any kind of intervention or invasion.

In summary, the contents of his address  covered all the achievements of his administration, and he said that little more than 75% of his presidential promises have been fulfilled. His State of the Nation will certain be the subject of the Mexican media both of those who sympathize with him as well as his detractors, including historians who are registering this transformation of the Mexican Republic.

Armando García is a Mexican American journalist, editor of Nuestra América Magazine who has worked in various media in the US. It also has the Live Our America Program on social networks where news events in Latin America are analyzed.