20,000 Marched in Defense of the Homeland in Chihuahua - Abolish Capital!
This article by Fernanda Monroy originally appeared in the May 17, 2026 edition
of
[https://contralinea.com.mx/interno/semana/en-defensa-de-la-patria-mas-de-20-mil-personas-marcharon-en-chihuahua/]
Revista Contralínea
[https://contralinea.com.mx/interno/semana/en-defensa-de-la-patria-mas-de-20-mil-personas-marcharon-en-chihuahua/].
Chihuahua. The heat beat down like a hot iron. By three in the afternoon, sweat
was already trickling down the backs of those beginning to gather at the Pancho
Villa roundabout, but no one seemed ready to go home. First came the
noisemakers. Then the whistles. Then the shouts. “Out with Maru!” the crowd
chanted. The chants began to echo through the avenues as the sun hardened the
air and slowed the pace of the march. There wasn’t enough shade. Some tried to
shield themselves with hats, worn caps, or makeshift pieces of cardboard. Others
held Mexican flags above their heads to protect themselves from the relentless
heat that beat down on the city. At first, only a few people arrived. Then,
entire families, farmers , students, teachers, Indigenous women, labourers, and
elderly people slowly made their way forward, leaning on canes or wheelchairs.
Before the clock struck three in the afternoon, the roundabout was already a
collective body enduring under the sun. The crowd continued to grow until it
overflowed the avenues of downtown Chihuahua. According to organizers’
estimates, more than 20,000 people participated in the demonstration.
[https://mexicosolidarity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/image-93.png] Photo:
Fernanda Monroy Minutes before the march began, Luis Adame watched as the
roundabout started to fill with people under the sun. Holding a Mexican flag in
his hands, he stated that he decided to attend because he believes the
participation of foreign agents represents a threat to the country. “We are
Mexicans and we love our country. It is not good for another country to come and
interfere with us,” he said. For him, the actions of the state government
represent a way of “selling out the country.” The mobilization was called by
Morena following the operation carried out on April 19 in the Sierra Tarahumara,
where a drug lab was dismantled and the deaths of two alleged CIA agents and two
Mexican citizens were subsequently reported. Since then, the party has accused
the state government of allowing the participation of foreign agents on national
territory outside the mechanisms established by the National Security Law.
[https://mexicosolidarity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/image-94.png] Photo:
Fernanda Monroy But under the Chihuahua heat, the conflict no longer felt
distant. It was no longer just a political or legal debate. It walked among the
people. It sweated with them. It could be heard in the slogans, in the waving
flags, and in the shared feeling that something of theirs was under threat. The
roundabout began to fill with farmers wearing traditional hats weathered by
years of work in the fields; Indigenous women in long, embroidered skirts moved
like splashes of color amidst the city’s dry grayness; young people holding
hands moved through the crowd; and elderly people continued walking despite the
oppressive heat. Some had traveled from distant towns to reach the capital.
Others held the hands of small children who barely understood why they were
there. [https://mexicosolidarity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/image-95.png]
Photo: Fernanda Monroy Green, white, and red began to take over the avenue.
Mexican flags appeared everywhere: they waved above heads, hung from shoulders,
and rose in the heat like an extension of the march itself. Some used them to
shield themselves from the sun; others carried them on their backs as if that
fabric could give them the strength to reach the Government Palace. There was
more than just patriotism in those flags waving under the Chihuahua sun. Many
held them like someone trying to defend something they felt was under threat.
The signs also displayed anger written in capital letters: “The homeland is not
for sale,” “Out with Maru,” “Mexico must be respected.” The slogans mingled with
shouts of “The people united will never be defeated!” and “Anyone who doesn’t
jump is a PAN supporter!” as the contingent began to advance amidst the noise of
rattles, trumpets, and whistles. More than two kilometers under a sun that
seemed to harden everything: the air, the breathing, the skin. At the front
marched the Indigenous peoples. The women’s long skirts swung across the hot
asphalt as some covered their faces to escape the heat. Others carried Mexican
flags, arm in arm with their companions. Their steps were slow, but firm.
[https://mexicosolidarity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/image-96.png] Photo:
Fernanda Monroy Behind them marched peasants in dusty boots, their hands
calloused from the earth. Men with faces weathered by the north wind raised
their fists as the chants grew louder. Entire families, young people, and
teachers also marched, carrying signs denouncing Governor María Eugenia Campos
Galván , whom they accused of having “ betrayed the nation.” The march moved
forward heavily, stifled by the heat, but sustained by something stronger than
fatigue: a collective energy that kept growing. From loudspeakers, the chant “
Mexico, Mexico, I carry you in my heart” began, followed by another song that
gradually became the chorus of hundreds of voices: “I am Mexican and that is my
flag…” Some shouted it, raising their fists. Others barely murmured it as they
continued walking under the scorching sun.
[https://mexicosolidarity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/image-97.png] Photo:
Fernanda Monroy The music moved along with the crowd as a way of reaffirming
themselves against the weariness and against the idea of a foreign intervention
that, for many of the attendees, represented a direct threat against something
deeply their own: the country, sovereignty and the very idea of homeland. Amid
the shouts, the flushed faces of children could be seen, dragging their feet as
they walked wearily, clinging to their parents’ hands. But each time they yelled
“Get out, Maru!”, the adults responded even louder, and the children smiled
again. The city also reacted to the march. Some drivers honked their horns to
join in the chants; others responded with annoyance and shouts from their
vehicles. People standing on the sidewalks recorded the human column with their
phones as it advanced through dust, sweat, and waving flags along the avenue.
[https://mexicosolidarity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/image-98.png] Photo:
Fernanda Monroy The march proceeded without any visible riot police presence.
Just a couple of traffic officers were directing cars as the group occupied the
avenues in an orderly fashion. Although there were moments of tension and anger
along the way, the march remained peaceful. One of the most intense moments
occurred when members of the contingent close to René, known to his companions
as “the ugly dog”, removed some billboards placed on the avenue where Morena was
referred to as a “narco-government”. Those who participated in the action
claimed that the advertisement was part of a smear campaign orchestrated by
political and media groups aligned with the state government. As they tore down
the banners, some accused the state administration of allocating public funds to
propaganda instead of investing in basic services such as healthcare and
transportation.
[https://mexicosolidarity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/image-99.png] Photo:
Fernanda Monroy Later, in front of government offices and local media outlets,
the contingent continued chanting slogans against what they considered a lack of
a free press and an early political propaganda strategy in the lead-up to future
elections. By then, the heat had already begun to disrupt the pace of the walk.
Fatigue was starting to settle over the group. Many people sought shade under
the few trees along the route, while empty water bottles began to pile up on the
sidewalks. Almost upon reaching the Government Palace, bodies began to appear,
resting in any available space. People sat on shop steps, benches, and small
patches of shade that barely covered their faces. Some rubbed their feet; others
simply remained silent, trying to catch their breath. But exhaustion never truly
took hold. Even with the heat clinging to their skin and their legs weary from
the march, many remained convinced that they had come out to defend the country
from what they considered treason.
[https://mexicosolidarity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/image-100.png] Photo:
Fernanda Monroy Valentín García, originally from Ciudad Juárez , said he decided
to participate because he believes the state government has betrayed the people.
“What this government is demonstrating is that it is selling out our country,”
he stated. “First they said one thing, then another. The people are no longer so
easily fooled.” For many attendees, the demonstration was also a way to vent
other pent-up frustrations: insecurity, the lack of public transportation, the
deterioration of health services. “Where is the money?” García demanded. “Why
are the cities getting worse?” Among young people, the sentiment was similar.
Andrea Quezada, a teacher and participant in the mobilization, stated that she
decided to take to the streets because she feels the state government has
stopped listening to the people. “ We have a state with many needs,” she said.
“And we, as young people, also want to show that this fight is ours.” Near the
end of the march, when many people were looking for shade on the sidewalks to
rest their feet, René was still speaking with the same intensity with which he
had walked the streets of Chihuahua. While those around him continued to hear
slogans and music blaring from loudspeakers, he insisted that the mobilization
wasn’t just about politics, but about sovereignty and the feeling that the state
was being handed over to foreign interests. “Here, the CIA governs us.” When
they finally arrived at the Government Palace, the sun was finally beginning to
descend, as if giving a truce to the hundreds of people who were waiting to hear
the message from the national leadership of Morena. In front of the building,
Ariadna Montiel, the national leader of Morena , announced that they would
pursue impeachment proceedings against the state governor, supported by citizen
signatures. The response was immediate: whistles, applause, and renewed shouts
of “Out with Maru!” From the platform, leader Montiel accused the governor of
having ceded power to foreign agents and criticized her absence from security
meetings with the president of Mexico. She also pointed out that Chihuahua leads
the nation in homicide statistics while, she asserted, the state government
remains detached from the state’s problems.
[https://mexicosolidarity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/image-101.png] Photo:
Fernanda Monroy When the speech ended, the noise of the chants gradually
subsided. Then, from within the crowd, the first notes of the National Anthem
began to be heard. Thousands of voices joined together at the same time. Some
people raised their fists; others placed their hands on their chests while
holding the Mexican flag. “But if a foreign enemy should dare to profane your
soil with his foot…” The stanza sounded different. Slower. More serious. More
urgent. When the event ended, many people were still chanting “ Morena, Morena!
” as the loudspeakers continued blaring across the plaza. Their faces were
flushed from the sun, and sweat soaked their clothes. There were complaints of
sore feet and legs, but their spirits remained high. Some were still dancing.
Others were looking for water or resting on the benches after hours of walking
in the heat. But even in their exhaustion, the same conviction that had driven
the entire mobilization remained: the idea that sovereignty was not a distant
word uttered from the desks of power, but something that could also be defended
by walking under the scorching Chihuahua sun. * Parades, Petitions, Treason &
Chihuahua’s Gringa Governor
[https://mexicosolidarity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/chihuahua-march-large-1024x683.jpg]https://mexicosolidarity.com/parades-petitions-treason-chihuahuas-gringa-governor/
Analysis [https://mexicosolidarity.com/category/analysis/] #### Parades,
Petitions, Treason & Chihuahua’s Gringa Governor
[https://mexicosolidarity.com/parades-petitions-treason-chihuahuas-gringa-governor/]
May 18, 2026May 18, 2026 Demonstrations are useless in these cases; even less so
the collection of signatures and the “analysis of all possibilities” by Mexico’s
wise legislators, which only delay action against a treasonous Governor. *
20,000 Marched in Defense of the Homeland in Chihuahua
[https://mexicosolidarity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/chihuahua-cia-march-morena-large-1024x683.jpg]https://mexicosolidarity.com/20000-marched-in-defense-of-the-homeland-in-chihuahua/
News Briefs [https://mexicosolidarity.com/category/news-brief/] #### 20,000
Marched in Defense of the Homeland in Chihuahua
[https://mexicosolidarity.com/20000-marched-in-defense-of-the-homeland-in-chihuahua/]
May 18, 2026May 18, 2026 A marcher insisted it wasn’t just about politics, but
about sovereignty & the feeling the state was being handed over to foreign
interests. “Here, the CIA governs us.” * Mexican State Apologizes for its
Responsibility in Forced Disappearance of Gregorio Alfonso Alvarado López
[https://mexicosolidarity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Gregorio-Alfonso-Alvarado-Lopez-large-1024x683.jpg]https://mexicosolidarity.com/mexican-state-apologizes-for-its-responsibility-in-forced-disappearance-of-gregorio-alfonso-alvarado-lopez/
News Briefs [https://mexicosolidarity.com/category/news-brief/] #### Mexican
State Apologizes for its Responsibility in Forced Disappearance of Gregorio
Alfonso Alvarado López
[https://mexicosolidarity.com/mexican-state-apologizes-for-its-responsibility-in-forced-disappearance-of-gregorio-alfonso-alvarado-lopez/]
May 18, 2026May 18, 2026 Gregorio Alvarado was a teacher, poet, father, and
Indigenous social leader who was forcibly disappeared along with his family,
after months of surveillance & persecution in September 1996. The post 20,000
Marched in Defense of the Homeland in Chihuahua
[https://mexicosolidarity.com/20000-marched-in-defense-of-the-homeland-in-chihuahua/]
appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media [https://mexicosolidarity.com/]. —
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