By KELIN DILLON

On Monday, Sept. 27, large festivities featuring dances, soldiers, fireworks and a speech from Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) were held in Mexico City’s Zócalo, celebrating the 200 years that had passed since Mexico’s Consummation of Independence in 1821.

Large lights lit up the downtown square to look akin to the Mexican flag, with staged reenactments happening throughout from different periods in Mexico’s history, including the pre-Hispanic period, the 1810 Cry of Dolores, the Plan of Iguala and the Córdoba Treaties, leading all the way into the country’s 1821 signing of the Act of Independence.

The ceremony included a video message from the U.S. President Joe Biden, congratulating Mexico on two centuries of independence. 

“On behalf of the people of the United States, I am proud to send our best wishes to all the people of Mexico to celebrate their victory for having achieved their independence 200 years ago,” said Biden.

“I wish you all a happy and healthy celebration. The United States has no closer friend than Mexico, and I look forward to everything that our two nations will achieve together in the years to come.”

For his part, López Obrador made a point to note in his speech that the Trigarante Army that marched into Mexico City on Sept. 27, 1821, was composed of “the political and military elite” and was missing the lower class members of the military that “came far behind, who did not even sign the Act of Independence.”

“Even though the Sept. 27 entrance of the Trigarante Army to Mexico City was a celebration of the military and political elite, and with little or no social significance,” said AMLO, “it is still the formal event that came from the Plan of Iguala and the Córdoba Treaties.”