AMLO as trickster: ‘indigenous spirituality’ in Mexican politics

Abstract (English)

The aim of the paper is to examine the phenomenon of the inclusion of elements of indigenous religious beliefs and practises in the discourse of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), President of Mexico in 2018-2024. The ceremony of handing over the baton to AMLO by representatives of indigenous peoples on the day of the inauguration; the altars to the dead of several indigenous peoples set up in the National Palace during the pandemic in 2020; the ceremony in honour of Mother Earth for the approval of the Mayan Train - are unusual events in the history of independent Mexico, in which the political governments of the 19th and 20th centuries have been able to assert the power of the institutionalized religion in political sphere. The political governments of the 19th and 20th centuries restricted the power of the hegemonic Catholic Church and fought the politicised clergy, leading to the establishment of a secular state with legal barriers against the interference of religion in politics. The paper analyses selected elements of AMLO's political discourse - ceremonies with indigenous communities and references to indigenous symbolism - and their context, in order to answer the question of why he resorts to them at this historical moment.