Who was Ricardo Flores Magón and why AMLO remembered him to reinforce his speech against the opposition

On the morning of Thursday, April 21, during his traditional morning conference, Andrés Manuel López Obrador recalled the legacy that historical figures such as Ricardo Flores Magón or General Lázaro Cárdenas left to Mexico. However, in addition to exalting their contributions to the country, the Tabasco president used his convictions to reinforce the speech he has held since previous days against parties and members opposed to his administration.

Almost a week after the fateful defeat of the president of Mexico and the legislators of the Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional (Morena) party, the dimes and diretes continue in the Chamber of Deputies and on social networks, since both Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his supporters have described as “traitors to the country” all those opposition deputies who stopped the president's Electric Reform as “traitors to the country”.

When questioned and accused of spreading hate speech against the opposition, the president of Mexico argued that the qualifiers of “traitors to the homeland” would be justified by the ideologies of the “popular movement” it represents. This is based on the idea that, with the rejection of the Electricity Reform, foreign companies will continue to be privileged for the use of national resources and for this, he recalled historical figures such as former president Adolfo López Mateos and Ricardo Flores Magón.

“Los Flores Magón, Ricardo said that whoever gave the country's natural resources to foreigners was a traitor to the country”, were the words with which the President of Mexico reminded the Mexican journalist and politician who served as one of the most important precursors of the Mexican Revolution.

Ricardo Flores Magón was born in San Antonio Eloxochitlán, Oaxaca in 1873; his parents of indigenous origin supported him to study law at the University of Mexico. His values and rebellious personality consolidated him as one of the most popular social leaders of the time, as he is considered one of the most integral fighters in the cause of workers during the Mexican Revolution.

As a journalist, he founded, together with his brother Jesús, the newspaper Regeneración himself, where they reflected his ideals and constantly criticized Porfirio Díaz and his government. Years later and threatened by the authorities, the Flores Magón brothers went into exile in the United States and by 1906, with the support of some followers of their cause, they founded the Mexican Liberal Party itself, which was affiliated with socialist ideology.

During his struggle with the country's working cause, Ricardo Flores Magón demanded the eight-hour day, Sunday rest and the distribution of land to peasants. Motivated by socialist ideas, his party was behind the strikes that took place in the mining town of Cananea in Sonora, as well as those in the textile industrial zone of Rio Blanco in Veracruz.

After the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution, Ricardo Flores Magón and his brother promoted the Baja California insurrection, even managing to take the cities of Tijuana and Mexicali where they tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to establish a Socialist Republic. After their failure they returned to the United States, however, the conviction that the Mexican government was responsible for the precarious conditions and oppression suffered by the country's working class prompted them to continue their struggle against the administrations of Francisco I. Madero and Venustiano Carranza.

On different occasions, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has made public his admiration and recognition to social fighter Ricardo Flores Magón, to the extent that even his image is the hallmark of the Government of Mexico for 2022.

However, this decision has not been very well received by citizens who argue that Ricardo Flores Magón promoted anarchism and a political ideology that could affect the country to a great extent. However, there are also those who argue that even the forerunner of the Mexican Revolution would not agree with the image that Andrés Manuel López Obrador's administration reflects of him, since in his lifetime he was one of the main opponents of the government and authority.

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