Global Americans and the Canadian Council for the Americas presents “Two gringos with questions,”an interview series featuring political and cultural leaders from across the Americas. In its ninth episode, Victoria and Ken talk to Tatiana Clouthier, Congresswoman and former campaign manager for President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) during the 2018 federal elections.
In January 2018, Tatiana Clouthier was named campaign coordinator for the 2018 Mexican presidential elections by then pre-candidate of the “Together we will make history” coalition, López Obrador. Clouthier was key in preparing what became a juggernaut of a campaign, that relied heavily on social media (particularly Twitter) to build a base and support the campaign’s communication strategy.
A native of Culiacán, Sinaloa, Tatiana comes from a family of conservative politicians. Her parents were Leticia Carrillo and Manuel Clouthier (a.k.a.”Maquío”). Maquío is recognized as an icon in the country. In 1988 he ran for president under the National Action Party (PAN). Maquío “lost” to then PRI candidate Carlos Salinas de Gortari, but his candidacy paved the way for the PAN’s victory in 2000. A year later, Maquío died tragically in a car accident. Tatiana has 11 brothers, including politician Manuel Clouthier Carrillo, who recently announced his retirement from political life.
Clouthier is currently a federal Congresswoman under the leftist Morena party, the party of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In 2009 she founded Evolución Mexicana, a non-profit where she also serves as an advisor. The objective of the organization is to promote citizen participation and accountability.
She is also the author of five books “Crónica de un fraude anunciado” (1992), in co-edition with Jesús Cantú and Cuauhtémoc Rivera, “Curul 206, una vision del Congreso” (2006), “Maquío, mi padre” (2007), and “Parejas-Parejas”( 2017), written along with Valeria Guerra. And just this month, Tatiana released her fifth book titled “Juntos Hicimos Historia” (Together we made history), where she tells the story of her experience as AMLO’s campaign manager.
To discuss her political career and her book, Victoria and Ken talk to Tatiana about her rise in Mexican politics, the process that led her to resign from the PAN party and her time as AMLO’s campaign manager.
