The Earth decides to give its own report in the morning
Ah, the sweet and predictable mornings at National Palace. Where speeches flow, cameras flash and the nation eagerly awaits the morning’s pearls of wisdom. But this Friday, an unexpected speaker, anonymous and with sudden movements, completely stole the show. At 7:58 a.m., just as attendees were probably struggling to maintain eye contact with their coffee cups, the presidential seismic alert (yes, the one that sounds the same to everyone, but here it has a more pompous title) decided it was its time to shine. The daily press conference was abruptly interrupted by an earthquake that clearly had not revised the official agenda.
In the Treasury Room, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo was in the middle of… well, something important, surely. Suddenly, he perceived what any chilango with half a brain feels before he sees: the floor dancing an unknown son. “It’s shaking, calmly, please“, he requested from the lectern, in an admirable exercise of self-control while a magnitude 6.5 earthquake attempted to rearrange the foundations of the Historic Center. A request as Mexican as the taco: asking for calm while the world shakes. Instantly, the symphony of modernity sprang into action: cell phone alerts chanted in unison with the loudspeakers, creating a cacophonous hymn to geology. The hurried steps and the rustle of professional equipment mixed in an evacuation ballet where, for once, the focus was not the speech, but the closest emergency door.
Protocols, cameras and the eternal fight for the perfect photo
What followed was a logistical display worthy of a low-budget film. The president was escorted by her entourage, while security and military elements, the same ones that are usually part of the set, took command, choreographing a “Con calm” that was repeated more than a reggaeton chorus. The irony reached its peak when some uniformed officers, with an unwavering faith in the power of discretion, asked reporters not to record or take photographs. Yes, you read that right. Asking a horde of journalists in the middle of a historic event to put away their cameras is like asking a dog not to sniff a steak. The flow, at least, was orderly, marching through hallways that have seen more history than all of us combined.
Minutes later, already in greeting (or at least in a designated place to be safe), the chief executive communicated with her cabinet and with the governor of Guerrero, Evelyn Salgado, because when the earth shakes, the first thing is to make a group call. The good news, after activating the sacred Civil Protection protocols, was that the National Palace suffered no damage. Thank goodness, because explaining a crack in the façade just behind the podium would have been… awkward. Sheinbaum, in a gesture of recognition of the obvious, thanked everyone for their responsible response. A normality, briefly interrupted, to remind us that no matter how many plans and speeches, nature has the last turn at the microphone.
And the epicenter? Ah, Guerrero, the frequent guest at these telluric parties. There the rigorous protocols were activated and, apparently, the land was satisfied with a monumental scare, without reporting serious effects or human losses. By 9:00 a.m., only a few “small” aftershocks (the largest being 4.2) were playing on the coast, as if the big tremor was saying, “Did you see? Did you see?” In Mexico City, the megalopolis that prides itself on its resilience, life returned to its chaotic normal almost immediately. Drills are useful, apparently, even when the drill is real and catches you in the middle of an official act.
The moral? You can plan the political agenda of the day, but the earth’s crust will never review the call. Today, for a few seconds, the true power was not in the room, but beneath it.
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