“No one is a prophet in his own land,” says the saying, “and in the town of Xochitl Galvezopposition candidate for the presidency of Mexico, there is no doubt: support for her rival is evident and even some deny her humble origins.
Gálvez, senator and businesswoman of indigenous roots, was born in Tepatepec (Hidalgo) 61 years ago, but left to study computer engineering in Mexico City.
Since then the bond with her countrymen has weakened, to the point that today, when the center-right candidate needs them most, they seem to turn their backs on her.
In the streets of this agricultural town of 11,000 inhabitants, propaganda abounds in favor of the official candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, her opponent and favorite in voting intentions for the June 2 elections.
Rubén Ángeles Santiago, neighbor and friend of the Gálvez family, says that at a recent national meeting of farmers he was able to verify this paradox.
“I saw that the majority is with Xóchitl, but not here,” this 65-year-old veterinarian tells AFP, who does not doubt that Gálvez, second in the polls, is the candidate that best suits Mexico.
The leader, with colloquial language and a casual style, is supported by a coalition of the traditional parties PRI, PAN and PRD.
Absent from the agenda
When the young student migrated, Tepatepec was mired in backwardness and poverty. Already a professional, Gálvez founded a prosperous technology company and in 2000 she was called to participate in the cabinet of conservative President Vicente Fox (2000-2006).
But far from feeling proud, some of his countrymen come to question his history of improvement, which speaks of a Xóchitl who made jellies as a child to help with family support.
“It’s not like she says that (her childhood) was very painful,” says Feliz Manso, a 76-year-old housewife, about the applicant’s origins.
Although she left her town to make her way, friends and family say that the leader returns for celebrations such as Day of the Dead or Three Kings Day, carrying trucks loaded with toys for the children.
But except for a video recorded in the center of the town to launch the candidacy, Tepatepec appears little on his campaign agenda.
“Better option”
Nestled in the Mezquital ValleyIn Tepatepec, agriculture continues to be vital with extensive crops irrigated, however, with sewage.
Numerous houses and businesses display signs proclaiming their support for Brunettethe party of leftist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
On the facade of a humble establishment where they sell succulent handmade tortillas, there is a Sheinbaum poster. Feliz Manso, who lives right behind the business, confesses to being a devotee of López Obrador.
“It makes me feel bad because he’s going to leave,” says the woman, who says “thank God” because the government granted her the universal pension for those over 65 years of age (about $77 a month).
Manso also questions whether Gálvez’s childhood had been marked by domestic violence.
What she says are “pure lies (…). I hope she doesn’t become president because who knows how she’s going to leave us,” he says.
Very close to that place, José Luis Ramírez, a 48-year-old plumber who lives between Tepatepec and Mexico City, defines Gálvez as “the best option”, although he recognizes that in the town “it is not very popular.”
“They speak badly of her because of what other people say, they don’t have their own criticism. The problem with people is that they don’t read,” he points out. “They are going to vote for Morena because of all the money she gives them.”
Hidden vote?
The economic aid that the López Obrador government grants to different sectors has been central in the electoral debate.
Supporters of the ruling party accuse Gálvez of wanting to eliminate support, even though as a senator she voted in their favor. At the beginning of the campaign she promised to support them through a writing that bears her fingerprint printed in blood.
Rubén Ángeles claims to know people who will vote for Xóchitl, but he does not say so so that they do not “take away his pension.”
He is confident that his candidate’s chances in Tepatepec have improved after the presidential debates.
“I think it will be even, before I was sure that Sheinbaum would win, now I’m not sure,” he says.
And the little propaganda in favor of Gálvez? “It’s hard, those of us who are with Xóchitl make our own posters, those of Morena, who knows where they come from!”
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