MEXICO CITY (AP) — Every day at 7 a.m., President Andrés Manuel López Obrador strolls onto a stage in Mexico's National Palace, clad in a smart suit and tie, and peers out at a room of bleary-eyed reporters and social media personalities. “Buenos días, look alive!” the 70-year-old leader calls out in a gravelly voice.
And the show begins.
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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Every day at 7 a.m., President Andrés Manuel López Obrador strolls onto a stage in Mexico's National Palace, clad in a smart suit and tie, and peers out at a room of bleary-eyed reporters and social media personalities. “Buenos días, look alive!” the 70-year-old leader calls out in a gravelly voice.
FILE - Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during his daily press conference at the National Palace, in Mexico City, June 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his daily, morning press conference in front of the former presidential plane at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, July 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - Rafael Silva, right, and his brother Gustavo watch a live broadcast of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's morning press conference in Rafael's kitchen in Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico state, on the outskirts of Mexico City, Dec. 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
FILE - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is seen on a camera screen as he gives his daily, morning news conference at the presidential palace in Mexico City, Dec. 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador shows the front page of The Wall Street Journal, featuring a story about opposition to his electoral law changes, during his regularly scheduled morning press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, Feb. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his regular morning press conference at the Palacio Nacional in Mexico City, Dec. 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during his daily morning press conference before officially inaugurating the Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA) north of Mexico City, March 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
Throughout his nearly six-year term in office, López Obrador’s morning media briefings, known as “las mañaneras,” have provided him with a powerful tool: a direct line to his political base, broadcast live on government and local news channels, and streaming online. Without pausing to take bathroom breaks or even a sip of water, the president stands at the podium talking for sometimes more than three hours, often in long, roundabout musings or rambling diatribes, all in simple language that anyone tuning in can understand.
Before he leaves office Monday, the daily briefings, beloved by many supporters and criticized by opponents as full of falsehoods and personal attacks, are emblematic of the particular brand of folksy populism that López Obrador wielded to become one of the most powerful political forces Mexico has seen in decades. It's a model that his successor and protege, President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, will be hard-pressed to emulate.
“The national conversation revolves around him,” said Daniela Lemus, a National Autonomous University of Mexico professor who researches political communication and has written about the briefings. “He is the protagonist of the mañaneras … and what he says becomes the main topic of conversation by the media, day and night.”
When López Obrador won the presidency in a landslide in 2018, he pitched himself as a fighter for poor, working-class and rural Mexicans long neglected by the political elite. He started holding the briefings right after taking office that December, and has continued to do so every workday almost without fail for the duration of his time in office.
They're popular with his base: One older adult couple in Mexico City, for example, tune in religiously on a small TV wedged between bags of seeds and nuts at their stall in a food market. Elsewhere, a magazine vendor records the broadcast to watch at night after work. Still another fan of AMLO, as the president is popularly known, streams it on social media while he looks for work.
“The mañaneras have opened our eyes. They show us all what Mr. López Obrador has achieved,” said Jesús Hernández Alarcón, a 79-year-old roasted corn vendor. “We have understood a lot because the media is full of lies, many have tricked us. Now that we have the mañaneras, everything has changed for me.”
López Obrador often uses the space to provide updates on key projects and take questions from a cluster of journalists and government-friendly social media influencers, some of whom have gained a platform from their participation in the briefings — such as Carlos Pozos Soto, an eccentric, bow-tied, effusively pro-AMLO figure better known as Lord Molecule.
As time has gone on, the briefings have morphed into something resembling a morning show, with López Obrador inviting mariachi bands to serenade viewers on Mother’s Day, lecturing at length on Mexican history and hosting recurring segments such as “Who's who in the lies of the week,” in which government officials attack critical media.
“This is a way to educate, to raise awareness so that (traditional news organizations) cannot manipulate” information, López Obrador said one morning in August. “People are more informed, and that comes with a lot of advantages. … There is no topic that is off limits, there is no censorship.”
López Obrador’s willingness to publicly joust with journalists has had all the more impact because his predecessor, Enrique Peña Nieto, almost never took a question during his own six-year term.
But while the president calls the briefings a bastion of transparency in a nation long plagued by corruption, critics say he has used them to badmouth opponents and journalists, spread false information and firmly control the political narrative.
Often, rather than answering a question directly, he instead uses it as a launching pad to talk about one of his preferred topics. He consistently sidesteps questions about Mexico's continuing cartel-fueled violence, for example, or pivots to rail against his predecessors for starting the drug war.
López Obrador has attacked judges, criticized opponents during election campaigns and regularly targeted both domestic and foreign journalists.
In February, after a New York Times reporter sought comment for an article investigating ties between his administration and drug cartels, the president disclosed her cellphone number during a morning briefing.
And last month, when an independent Mexican journalist said she had been harassed by a mob of his supporters and forced to flee an event she was covering, López Obrador responded with a mix of scorn and disinterest.
“I am at risk because of this, now anyone can attack me in the street,” Reyna Ramírez told the president. “You have polarized society. Don’t you have anything to say about that?”
“Have you gone on long enough?” the president said.
Advocates for press freedom have expressed concern over his hostility toward critical media in a place that is more dangerous for journalists than any other country not currently at war. At least 138 journalists have been killed in Mexico in the past 20 years, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, and many more have gone missing or been threatened, attacked, tortured or forced to flee their homes.
The president's discourse created “a narrative of us versus them, of journalists being the enemies of this political project, the opponents of the people … diminishing the urgency of protecting press freedom,” said Jan-Albert Hootsen, the CPJ's Mexico representative.
Meanwhile a 2021 report by the political consulting agency SPIN found that López Obrador made more than 56,000 false or misleading statements in his mañaneras in a period covering 2 1/2 years. Among them is his assertion that cartels “ respect citizens ” and only fight among themselves.
“Just because the president is walking up to a stage and is talking about something, doesn’t mean he's being open,” Hootsen said. “If he’s lying all the time, and there are no consequences, then we’re not talking about transparency.”
In the age of social media, videos and soundbites from the mañaneras often go viral online, further boosting the president’s audience.
“It’s not what happens in the morning press conference itself, but what happens after,” said Kevin Zapata, a social and public policy professor at the University de Nottingham who has studied the briefings. “A 30-second clip can be more powerful than the two hours on the TV.”
For people who may not have much time to investigate López Obrador's claims and deeply distrust Mexican media, it's often the government's narrative that ends up dominating.
When asked about false information and attacks on journalists, his supporters often repeat the president's lines of attack, for example saying such criticism comes from a corrupt opposition and the president is defending Mexican sovereignty.
López Obrador's popularity spurred his Morena party to major electoral gains in the June elections. Morena will have an even greater majority in Congress as Sheinbaum takes up the presidency, and lawmakers recently passed a constitutional amendment that observers and critics say is likely to result in courts being stacked with judges friendly to the party.
Sheinbaum has said she will continue the morning broadcasts. But most Mexicans agree that she lacks the natural charisma that has allowed López Obrador to wield the mañaneras so effectively.
“It’s something that worked for AMLO because he’s a very unique figure and very charismatic. ... But now democracy is becoming a popularity show in Mexico,” Zapata said. “Many people will try to emulate it, that’s for sure. But not everyone will be able to.”
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FILE - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his daily, morning press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, March 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during his daily press conference at the National Palace, in Mexico City, June 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his daily, morning press conference in front of the former presidential plane at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, July 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - Rafael Silva, right, and his brother Gustavo watch a live broadcast of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's morning press conference in Rafael's kitchen in Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico state, on the outskirts of Mexico City, Dec. 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
FILE - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is seen on a camera screen as he gives his daily, morning news conference at the presidential palace in Mexico City, Dec. 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador shows the front page of The Wall Street Journal, featuring a story about opposition to his electoral law changes, during his regularly scheduled morning press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, Feb. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his regular morning press conference at the Palacio Nacional in Mexico City, Dec. 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
FILE - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during his daily morning press conference before officially inaugurating the Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA) north of Mexico City, March 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Families of the 43 students from a rural teacher’s college abducted 10 years ago in southern Mexico marked the painful anniversary Thursday, disillusioned after what they say was a decade of unfulfilled government promises.
Thousands marched with the families in the rain through Mexico's capital, demanding the truth about what happened and justice for the missing.
“The first time we came through here, who could have imagined that all of this time would pass and (we're) here again without answers,” said Margarito Guerrero, the father of missing student Jhosivani Guerrero de la Cruz.
Guerrero appreciated those who accompanied them, like Lourdes Silva, a homemaker, participating in her first march with her daughter, a student who has been following the families' movement for a decade.
“We need to keep pressuring,” Silva said. “We want this agony to end for the parents.”
The anniversary falls just four days before the departure of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whose election in 2018 generated hope among the families.
His administration made some early advances, established a Truth Commission and declared the disappearances a “state crime.” But when the investigation stalled without the cooperation of the military, the president closed ranks with the generals.
“He gave us a lot of hope,” said Joaquina García, mother of missing student Martín Getsemany Sánchez. “But it looks like he really protects the military and that’s not fair.”
On Sept. 26, 2014, students from the Rural Normal School at Ayotzinapa went to Iguala to steal buses — a common way they obtained transportation. They were attacked by a local drug gang in cahoots with local, state and federal authorities.
Two administrations later, many details of what happened to the students and most importantly where they are remain unknown. They are among the more than 115,000 recorded missing in Mexico.
“Ten years of suffering, 10 years of pain, of not having your son isn’t easy,” García said at an event Thursday at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. “Here we’re shouting to see if the people who took our children will find it in their heart.”
Some 120 people are in custody. Mexico’s former attorney general has been charged in inventing a false narrative about what happened.
López Obrador had promised to solve the mystery. But on Wednesday, he downplayed, minimized and even pushed back against the findings of his own administration, asserting that those trying to link the military are driven by “political interests.”
The United Nations Human Rights Office lamented in a statement Thursday the “unsatisfactory results” of authorities. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which sent experts to Mexico to aid in the investigation for eight years said in a statement it was worried the investigation had stalled and denounced a “pact of silence that has impeded the identification of the perpetrators and those who cover for them.”
The families are prepared to pressure incoming President Claudia Sheinbaum as well.
“We're going to press her if she doesn't respond,” Guerrero said.
García agreed. “This fight is not over.”
Workers remove a spray painted message accusing the government for the disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college students, after a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of their disappearance, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Orbach)
Youths are silhouetted in clouds of smoke caused by fire balls thrown at the barriers protecting the facade of the National Palace during a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Youths chant, raising their fists in unison, as they take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college students, in front of the National Palace in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Masked youth destroy a Starbucks storefront during a march marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Families and friends take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Families and friends they take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
A masked youth takes part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Youths take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college students, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Orbach)
Workers remove a spray painted message accusing the government for the disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college students, after a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of their disappearance, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Orbach)
Youths are silhouetted in clouds of smoke caused by fire balls thrown at the barriers protecting the facade of the National Palace during a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Youths chant, raising their fists in unison, as they take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college students, in front of the National Palace in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Families and friends gather outside the National Palace during a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Masked youths crack a window as others spray paint anti-government slogans on a barrier protecting a storefront restaurant during a march marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Youths raise their fists in unison as they take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Youth holding mock coffins take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college students, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Orbach)
Youths chant and raise their fists in unison as they take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Families and friends they take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Youths take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college students, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Orbach)
Families and friends take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Masked youths destroy a Starbucks' storefront during a march marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Families and friends take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Families and friends take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Families and friends take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Youths take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Masked youth destroy a Starbucks storefront during a march marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Families and friends take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Families and friends take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Families and friends take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Families and friends take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Families and friends take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Families and friends take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Families and friends take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Families and friends take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
A masked youth takes part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Youth holding mock coffins take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Families and friends take part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Hooded students demonstrate ahead of the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa students in Guerrero state, outside of the Senate building in Mexico City, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
A hooded student throws an explosive at the Senate during demonstrations ahead of the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa students in Guerrero state, in Mexico City, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Students demonstrate ahead of the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa students in Guerrero state, outside of the Senate in Mexico City, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Students demonstrate ahead of the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa students in Guerrero state, outside of the Senate in Mexico City, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
A hooded student throws an explosive at the Ministry of the Interior during demonstrations ahead of the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa in Guerrero state, in Mexico City, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)
Hooded students demonstrate ahead of the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa students in Guerrero state, outside the Interior Ministry in Mexico City, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)
A masked youth takes part in a demonstration marking the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students from an Ayotzinapa rural teacher's college, in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Students demonstrate ahead of the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa students in Guerrero state, outside of the Senate in Mexico City, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
