Mexico’s federal government is undeniably popular but the naming of a neighborhood after the political project initiated by former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador and continued by current President Claudia Sheinbaum didn’t sit well with many residents.

Two neighborhoods in the municipality of Tultitlán, México state, were lumped together and renamed La Cuarta Transformación (The Fourth Transformation) late last year by now ex-mayor Elena García Martínez, who represented the ruling Morena party. The ostensible reason for the name change was to “regularize” the informal neighborhoods, which lack essential services and have unpaved roads.

The streets in the neighborhood — located north of Mexico City — were given new names associated with the 2018-24 government led by López Obrador, such as Tren Maya (Maya Train), Abrazos, No Balazos (Hugs, Not Bullets), Sembrando Vida (Sowing Life), Revolución de las Conciencias (Revolution of Consciences), Guardia Nacional (National Guard) and Reforma Judicial (Judicial Reform).

But on Wednesday, disgruntled residents of Tultitlán removed the new street name signs, an action that municipal police attempted to counter with the use of tear gas.

The renaming of the Fimesa and El Paraje neighborhoods angered residents for a variety of reasons. They said they weren’t notified of the name change prior to it happening and complained that they would have to change their addresses on official documents such as property deeds and voter ID cards, creating a bureaucratic headache. Some of the residents are evidently not AMLOvers, as ardent fans of the former president are colloquially known.

“There was no consultation, it was from one day to the next. They arrived and started putting up new names in the streets,” Daniel Ramírez, a resident of La Cuarta Transformación, said in a radio interview.

“We weren’t consulted or told anything. [The municipal authorities] say that [Fimesa] is not a regularized neighborhood, that it doesn’t appear on Google Maps, but we have electricity bills and voter ID cards,” he said.

Residents also say that authorities demolished 11 properties in the neighborhood formerly known as Fimesa in 2023 without first notifying the owners. The properties were presumably built illegally.

Residents clash with police 

Videos posted to social media showed residents using tools, and their bare hands, to remove the recently-installed street name signs in La Cuarta Transformación. A video published by the newspaper El Sol de Toluca showed residents stamping their feet on removed signs that lay on the ground.

Footage also showed residents throwing rocks at municipal police officers who sought to stop the removal of the signs through the use of tear gas.

“A thick cloud of smoke, as if it were mist, covered the high part of the neighborhood because the pepper gas invaded everything,” one resident told the La Jornada newspaper.

La Jornada reported that a number of residents suffered eye and throat irritation from the use of the gas and two children were hospitalized.

Colonia 4T residents seek restoration of former neighborhood names 

Residents have submitted a request to México state authorities to reinstate the names of Fimesa and El Paraje and regularize the neighborhoods under those names. The El Universal newspaper reported that a group of residents went to state government offices in the municipality of Cuautitlán Izcalli on Thursday to follow up on their request.

Some of the residents said they would block the Mexico City-Querétaro highway if state authorities didn’t intervene and reinstate the previous names of the two neighborhoods that together make up La Cuarta Transformación.

“We’re not troublemakers, we’re defending our rights,” one resident identified only as Lilia told El Universal.

“We’re seeking regularization … and compensation for those who had their houses demolished,” she said.

A federal deputy, Gildardo Pérez Gabino, is also involved in the quest to have the previous neighborhood names reinstated.

Sheinbaum weighed in on the name changes last month 

Sheinbaum, who says her government is building the “second story” of the “fourth transformation” initiated by López Obrador, was asked last month about the decision to create La Cuarta Transformación and give its streets new names.

She said it was a decision for the municipal government of Tultitlán, but expressed her preference for names that “recover the historic memory of Mexico.”

With reports from Proceso, La Jornada, El Universal, Infobae, El Sol de Toluca and López-Dóriga Digital