On a warm Sunday evening in March, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the leftwing leader and runner-up in the 2006 presidential election, stepped out on to a stage in Mexico City’s central square before tens of thousands of supporters and attacked the government’s proposals for energy reform.
“With you, and with the moral authority of our movement, we stand firm against a group of nationals and foreigners who are cynically trying to turn the oil that belongs to all Mexicans into a lucrative private business,” he said.
