Mexican President goes viral after posting alleged Aluxe photo
The Mexican President has captured the attention of social media users everywhere after he shared a photo that purportedly depicts one of the mythical Mayan elves.
“Everything is mystical,” Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said in a Twitter post Saturday, accompanied by two photos, including one that the president says shows an “aluxe.”
Ancient Mayan folklore maintains that “aluxes” are cunning, playful sprites of the forest and fields. It is said they often play pranks on people by hiding items away, so it is wise to leave small offerings as a form of appeasing them.
Les comparto dos fotos de nuestra supervisión a las obras del Tren Maya: una, tomada por un ingeniero hace tres días, al parecer de un aluxe; otra, de Diego Prieto de una espléndida escultura prehispánica en Ek Balam. Todo es místico. pic.twitter.com/Tr5OP2EqmU
— Andrés Manuel (@lopezobrador_) February 25, 2023
By Sunday, Obrador’s post had gained an impressive 5 million views. A pre-Hispanic sculpture captured in one of the photos stands out against a nighttime shot where something that looks like a creature with glowing eyes lurks from within the tree branches – both taken at Ek Balam, Yucatec-Maya archaeological site!
Last week, an engineer at the construction site of a new railway in the Yucatán Peninsula snapped a photograph of what appears to be an aluxe. This railroad is being erected to shuttle visitors back-and-forth between famous attractions such as Mayan ruins and other vacation spots, President Obrador said.
The post has provoked an avalanche of mocking comments and disbelief among Twitter users, with some suggesting the creature in the tree is actually just a wild animal.
