President López Obrador has lashed out at those who questioned the constitutionality of his instructions to suspend the education reforms, triggering a backlash from opposition lawmakers, past presidents and others.

“They [opposition lawmakers] kept as quiet as mummies when they looted [the public purse] and trampled on human rights and now they shout like town criers that it’s unconstitutional to deliver justice and banish corruption,” the president wrote on social media on Saturday.

“There is no doubt that the only doctrine of conservatives is hypocrisy. Sorry but you are like whitewashed tombs,” he added.

Juan Carlos Romero Hicks, leader of the National Action Party (PAN) in the lower house of Congress and an outspoken critic of a memorandum López Obrador sent last week directing three secretariats to ignore the education reforms, called on the president to stop dividing the nation.

“President López Obrador, I invite you to a reconciliation with all Mexicans. Enough dividing already! The country deserves to move towards a rule of law in order to attend to the times of violence and impunity we’re living through. Let’s build together,” he wrote on Twitter.

Other lawmakers as well as two past presidents, a security analyst and a prominent journalist criticized the president for playing politics during the Easter break, and just hours after 14 people were killed at a bar in Minatitlán, Veracruz.

“These days [are] for retreat and reflection, love and peace, Mr. President,” PAN Deputy Laura Rojas said.

Citizens’ Movement deputy Martha Tagle described López Obrador’s words as a “self-portrait of authoritarianism,” stating that “while the country is shaken by the massacre at Minatitlán, he is lashing out at his critics.”

Former President Vicente Fox took aim at López Obrador in a series of Twitter posts while his successor Felipe Calderón also took a stand against the president.

“What a disgrace that you even use tragedies as a springboard for aggression. Not everything is about you AMLO. Speaking about the people is not governing, attending [to their needs] is,” Fox wrote on Twitter.

Calderón retweeted several posts that were critical of López Obrador including one written by journalist León Krauze, which said: “24 hours haven’t passed since the Minatitlán tragedy and the president of Mexico picks up his phone to write a message against his . . . political adversaries . . . Regrettable.”

Security analyst Alejandro Hope responded to López Obrador’s post by writing, “Mr. President, with all respect, today is not a good day to attack your adversaries or to speak of tombs.”

Source: El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp)