After the acts of violence recorded over the weekend in different parts of the country, particularly in Baja California, Jalisco, Guanajuato, and Chihuahua, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) denied that the death toll was 260 dead and, on the contrary, assured that it was one of the most peaceful weekends of his administration.
“Tell the people of Mexico to be calm, that there is governability, there is stability and, at the same time, there is an interest on the part of our adversaries to magnify things. To do tabloid, sensationalist journalism”, he said at the beginning of his morning conference in response to the headline “Four days of terror, drug blockades, attacks and 260 deaths” from the newspaper Reforma.
López Obrador also said he was analyzing the possibility of starting security cabinet meetings and morning conferences on Saturdays. The first so that the topics do not accumulate during the weekends and the second so as not to give his opponents the opportunity to take advantage of events like these to spread lies.
The president went on to suggest that most of the attacks were acts of propaganda by his political rivals, suggesting that much of the weekend violence was just to hurt his presidency.
Most of the scenes witnessed since last August 9 consisted of the burning of private cars, public transport buses, and self-service stores (mostly Oxxo).
This moved the Business Coordinating Council (CCE) to condemn the violent attacks that, they affirmed, “are becoming more frequent and serious” in various parts of the Republic. For its part, the Employers’ Confederation of the Mexican Republic (Coparmex) condemned the acts and urged the Federal “to fulfill its obligation to guarantee physical and patrimonial security.”
Even the consuls of the United States (USA) issued alerts for American travelers due to the growing wave of violence. To this end, they instructed their compatriots to follow the advice and instructions of local authorities, as well as to remain protected until further notice.
However, when questioned about it, President López Obrador did not hesitate to label the calls and opposition critics as “exaggerated” who, he said, “seize that flag of violence.”
“Without a doubt, our adversaries are exaggerating (…) It is a setup. It is propagandistic. There is no major problem, but they do want to grab that flag of violence.”
