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AMLO to lead rallies in Progreso, Valladolid on Friday

Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico City two weeks ago. Photo: Getty

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is leading his rivals for the presidency in at least one poll, will hold rallies in Progreso and Valladolid on Friday.

Organizers expect around 10,000 supporters to appear at both events.

His own Morena party’s poll places the leftist candidate ahead in Yucatán. Nationally, López Obrador had a 22-point lead in a Reforma poll and a Bloomberg Poll Tracker puts him nearly 19 points ahead of the second-place Ricardo Anaya of the center-right National Action Party. Jose Antonio Meade of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, is in third place.

The Juntos Haremos Historia (We Will Make History) coalition will hold a 10 a.m. rally on the malecón at Parque de la Paz. Then at 3 p.m., AMLO — his affectionate nickname — makes an appearance over two hours away in Valladolid.

Asked if the visit will promote fellow Morena member Joaquín “Huacho” Díaz Mena, who is running for governor of Yucatán, a party spokesman said “it is to give a boost to everyone.”

“And we are sure that Joaquín Díaz Mena will be the next governor,” Elonaí Contreras Soto added.

In a pledge aimed at rural voters, the 64-year-old candidate has promised a massive increase in subsidies to rescue farming communities. It is part of AMO’s discourse of national revival and uplifting the poor.

Tabasco-born López Obrador entered politics in the mid-1970s, rising in state politics and later moving to Mexico City, where he was elected in 2000 to a position roughly equivalent to mayor. AMLO today is often described as a populist.

This is his third time in a run for the presidency. He lost by a razor-thin margin in the 2006 election by a razor-thin margin, which he declared fraudulent. And he lost the 2012 election by a wider gap to President Enrique Peña Nieto, which AMLO attributed to ballot buying.

Contreras Soto also promised an operation to avoid that happening again.

“We are putting together a network of colleagues who will help us in rural areas,” Contreras Soto said.

In the past races, he never commanded such a wide lead so close to election day.

Sources: Diario de Yucatán, Canal 10, U.S. News and World Report

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