[dropcap size=big]O[/dropcap]dilia Romero, president of the Frente Indígena de Organizaciones Binacionales in Los Angeles (FIOB), looked around the inauguration luncheon happening for the new president of Mexico on Saturday, and realized with a laugh that she was “the only Indian.”
Romero, a native Zapotec speaker of Oaxaca and a longtime resident of South-Central, decided she would try her luck in a roomful of diplomats, ambassadors, presidents, and sitting royalty at the National Palace. She was invited “last-minute,” in a process she called “mysterious” and rushed — she didn’t get a plane ticket from L.A. till the day before.
At the luncheon, Romero got up from her seat next to the ambassador of Ukraine, and marched toward the table of newly installed President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador. “I said, ‘Hola Andrés Manuel, como estas? Felicidades, señor presidente,’” Romero recalled on Sunday.
Lopez Obrador, known by his initials AMLO, didn’t miss a beat. He turned right around and responded: “How are the compañeros from the FIOB?”