There was chaos yesterday at a Chiapas airport when President López Obrador arrived for a meeting with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele as teachers and other protesters yelled and shoved to try to approach the head of state.

The president had flown to Tapachula to meet with the Salvadoran president and to announce an investment in a binational project that will aim to provide jobs in the Central American country.

But he had barely stepped off the plane when he was plunged into the middle of a teeming crowd of angry protesters, principally members of the CNTE teachers’ union.

The scene was one of mayhem as the president and his team tried to push their way through the throng of teachers who clutched at the president’s clothing, shouted demands and complained about Chiapas Governor Rutilio Cruz Escandón Cadenas.

One especially persistent protester managed to push her way through the crowd while yelling that López Obrador he had “let down the people of Chiapas.”

▶ A gritos y empujones, CNTE recibe a AMLO en Tapachula https://t.co/bBPcZaVfi6 pic.twitter.com/c1fNJuveJs

— Milenio.com (@Milenio) June 20, 2019

She was briefly held at bay by presidential staff but before they could completely block her access, she broke away and elbowed through to the president, where she stopped and posed to take a selfie with him before continuing her verbal barrage.

Continuing his slow advance toward a waiting vehicle, López Obrador, who appeared to have been accidentally struck and shoved several times himself, cried out, “Don’t push, don’t push! Stay calm! Don’t squish me!”

Several protesters and teachers also managed to break through the lines to the president, handing him handwritten demands and complaints. Finally, the president’s desperate team began to push back against the crowd, making space for him to climb into the waiting van, provoking cries of “Mentira, mentira, la misma porquería!” (“Lies! Lies! The same old shit!”)

As the president waved to the assembled crowd, CNTE teachers who had not managed to hand him their lists of demands threw them at him before he finally climbed all the way into to the vehicle and was driven to his meeting with the Salvadoran president.

Source: Milenio (sp), Eje Central (sp)