After two years of restrictions due to the pandemic, AMLO gives the Shout before thousands of Mexicans

( Spanish) — The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, gave the traditional cry of Mexico’s independence on the night of this September 15 in the midst of a crowd that chanted cheers and celebrated the Mexican holiday for another year.

The traditional cry of Dolores is given every September 16 to commemorate the start of the war of independence from the Spanish colony in 1810. Like every year, Mexicans took to the public squares to relive what, according to history, happened in the early morning of September 16 when the priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla called on the parishioners to take up arms.

AMLO, as López Obrador is popularly known, appeared minutes before midnight this Thursday the 15th on the balcony of the National Palace and cheered on independence figures, but this time he added some harangues to this cry: “Dead! Corruption, death to classism, death to racism!” said the president, while thousands of Mexicans celebrated in the Zócalo, the main public square in Mexico City.

This year, the cry occurred before a Zócalo full of attendees, which had not been possible in the previous two years due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the Mexican Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, published a video on his social networks having lunch with former presidents José Mujica, from Uruguay, and Evo Morales, from Bolivia. The former presidents were special guests at the ceremony of the Cry of Independence of Mexico. The meeting between Ebrard, Mujica and Morales took place in the traditional bar and dining room La Ópera, which for years has seen illustrious visitors such as former presidents and writers.

From left to right: José Mujica, former president of Uruguay; Evo Morales, former president of Bolivia; Aleida Guevara, and John Shipton and Gabriel Shipton, father and brother of Julian Assange, attend the annual cry for independence in Mexico. (Photo by Cristopher Rogel Blanquet/Getty Images)

The traditional cry of Dolores is symbolic, historians say, as it encouraged thousands of people to rebel against the ruling class with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the first banner of the struggle for independence.

Although the insurgency collapsed within months after Hidalgo was captured and shot by hanging his head on the corner of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas, the seeds of revolution had been planted.

The cause was taken up by another priest, José María Morelos y Pavón, who made a formal declaration of independence in 1813 at the Chilpancingo Congress. Two years later, however, he too was captured and killed, and the movement he led dissipated.

Eleven years later, in 1821, the Trigarante army, led by Agustín de Iturbide and Vicente Guerrero, triumphantly entered Mexico City and the country signed the Declaration of Independence. Spain did not recognize the Independence of Mexico until 15 years later.