“Rendez-vous at the polls”: the strong message of women to AMLO on the way to the electoral process

The Citizen’s Security Secretariat (SCC) indicated that following the mobilizations on the occasion of International Women’s Day, it was concluded with a balance of 62 police officers and 19 civilians injured. Of this total, 9 elements of the SSC and one civilian were transferred to a hospital for medical treatment.

Despite the official figures, internet users on social networks have ranked 8M of this 2021 as a day full of aggression, uncertainty and little dialogue from President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. And it is that before the demonstrations, the government of 4T placed various metal fences in the monuments, the enclosures and of course the National Palace.

Faced with government action to “avoid unrest”, feminist groups and families victims of femicide decided to place flowers on the wall that protected the presidential building, in addition to making a sort of memorial with all the names of women who have been victims of gender-based violence in Mexico.

Some time later, on the walls of the National Palace, phrases very present in the public sphere in recent days began to be projected. “Femicide Mexico”, “A rapist will not be governor” and “Legal abortion now” were a few.

Already in the march, a strong police force accompanied the demonstrators so that “there is no destruction or loss of property”; however, reporters complained, who said they were attacked by CSC staff near the Hidalgo metro. We refer to Sashenka Gutierrez, photojournalist for EFE and Leslie Pérez, from El Heraldo de México.

Subsequently, a series of complaints were filed throughout the day. The Red break fear denounced the fact that the police officers deployed in the Plaza de la Constitución used tear gas to frighten the women surrounding the fences erected in front of the National Palace.

Around 7:50 p.m. this Monday, demonstrators reported “intimidation” from the government. Paola Zavala Saeb, with user @PaolaSaeb, denounced that people on the roof of the National Palace fired tear gas, which caused fear among protesters.

“I’m deleting the tweet because they say it wasn’t weapons, but ‘anti-drone guns.’ They peeked around releasing tear gas. Those of us who have them “They saw them were afraid. They intimidated us with their” guns not their guns “and now they want us to be thankful that we are alive.”

However, what caught the attention of the demonstrators the most was the presence of men on the roof of the National Palace. At first, in the images that circulated on social networks, it was denounced that they were personnel armed with snipers. But the AMLO government itself, in the hands of spokesman Jesús Ramírez, assured that there were never any armed personnel, because the devices available to the men were Hikvision-type drone inhibitors to prevent the theft of devices above the building because they are in an area reserved for security.

All these actions generated annoyance and indignation in the Mexican female sector, which is why in social networks the hashtag “See you soon at the polls”, referring to the decision that women would take in the next elections, where obviously Morena appears as a hegemonic party or with more legislative power.

Likewise, a photograph of the Zócalo’s plate seen from above went viral and as the women placed covers with different phrases, some of them are: “Already chole of impunity”, “No aggressor in power” and “Rendez-vous at the polls”.

And does the phrase “See you at the polls” take on a lot of relevance because of the power that women have over voter turnout. According to information from the National Electoral Institute (INE), with a deadline of February 26, 2021, In Mexico, 93,295,470 citizens are registered on the nominal list, that is, people who have applied for registration in the national territory and who already have their voting certificate with a valid photograph.

Regarding gender, in Mexico, there are 45,005,374 men on the nominal list, which means that they represent 48%. For its part, the number of women on the Nominal List is 48, 290, 096, that is to say, they represent 52%.

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