Mexico Presidential Candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Visits Colonized US Cities (2/20/2017)

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador visits Los Angeles, California (Photo: Gabriela Ortiz)

La Cartita --- Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador visited Los Angeles last week to hold a series of meetings with community organizers throughout the United States. The presidential candidate has suffered two well documented instances of electoral fraud and one hear attack since launching his first candidacy in 2006. This year, however, victory for his candidacy looks less improbable.

Discontent With Encumbents

Enrique Peña Nieto, the current president of Mexico, suffers from one of the lowest approval figures in Mexican modern history. Reforma pegs his total approving rating at 12 percent of the general public. As a representative of the PRI, the party long associated with the act of holding on to the presidency for more than 7 decades, EPN (Nieto's initials in Español) has likely done irreperable damage to the party's short term ambitions for political power. The privatization of oil, the forced disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa students, the various corruption scandals linked to Nieto and his wife, have all percolated the amount of disapproval the general public feels towards the PRI.

#AMLO, à la tête d'un rassemblement à Los Angeles; il réfute les allégations sans fondements de Trump au sujet des mexicains. #AMLOenLA pic.lacartita.com/IQf36oRy9G

— LaCartita (@LaCartita) February 14, 2017

In Los Angeles, hundreds of Mexicans joined the opposition candidate to preview his presidential run and echo his statements in solidarity with people targeted by the Trump administration. Most Mexicans continue to be angered by the Peña Nieto government's response to every social issue facing them. Lopez Obrador has long been able to exploit that public anger.

Gasolinazo: 2016

Mexicans are currently angered by the gas price hikes that have been temporarily suspended due to widespread protests. During the holidays of 2016, the Mexican government struggled to handle the effects of privatization and diminished security along PEMEX oil and fuel pipelines. Cartels continue to siphon gas directly from public infrastructure throughout Mexico. This has led to widespread fuel shortages. As detailed by our December story: México: falta de combustible marcara la economía política del país al inicio del 2017, some regions even had shortages that were actively denied by the federal government.