Groups Call Soccer-Jersey March in Mexico City to Defend the INE
Some 50 groups, including Marea Rosa and Unidos, call a Mexico City march from the Auditorio Nacional to the Ángel over the INE presidency. Route and demands.
A coalition of 50 civic organizations has called a march in Mexico City under the name “Marea Mexicana” to demand an independent National Electoral Institute (INE, the body that organizes Mexico’s elections). Participants are asked to gather at 10:00 at the Auditorio Nacional, walk to the Ángel de la Independencia and wear the Mexican national soccer team jersey, according to the newspaper Expansión Política.
Among the groups that joined the call are “Marea Rosa” and “Unidos.” Expansión Política reports that these are the same groups that called a march four years ago, when then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador tried to change the law governing the structure of the country’s electoral authorities.
What the organizers say about the INE presidency
Ana Lucía Medina, who speaks for the mobilization, told the outlet that the governing Morena party placed a woman close to the party at the head of the INE. She was referring to Guadalupe Taddei. Expansión Política adds that at least 10 relatives of Taddei have held or currently hold posts in governments run by Morena.
Medina rejected the idea that the problem can be pinned on the past. Those who want to blame earlier leaders point to Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Lorenzo Córdova, Ciro Murayama and everyone else who has passed through the institute, she said. In her telling, those figures colonized the institute and installed Taddei.
The demands in the call
The public call, published on social media, sets out what the groups want from the institute. It asks for “a citizen INE,” which it describes as an impartial referee that guarantees transparent elections and does not become a mail-forwarding office for whichever government is in power.
Medina said one of the specific demands at the march is that all political forces take part in choosing the INE’s next president. The organizers want that choice shared among parties rather than settled by one of them.
What this means for Mexico City
The march is a street event in the capital with a fixed start time and a route between two landmarks. The call asks everyone to dress in the national team jersey, so the crowd is meant to look uniform. Dozens of organizations stand behind it, which means the turnout will come from many networks at once.
Residents and visitors who use the stretch between the Auditorio Nacional and the Ángel de la Independencia are the ones most likely to notice the gathering. Expansión Política does not report an expected attendance figure.
Where the dispute stands
The claims about Taddei and her relatives come from the organizers and from the newspaper’s account of them. Taddei, the INE and Morena are not quoted in the report, so their position on the allegations is not on record in this coverage.
The groups present the march as a continuation of their earlier mobilization against changes to the electoral authorities. Their stated aim now is a different way of choosing the next person to lead the institute, with every political force at the table. The date of the march was not given in the report.
Source: Expansión Política
