Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador surprised many of his followers when he alerted them to the existence of an ancient Maya woodland spirit supposedly found by one of his engineers. On Saturday, Obrador seemingly seriously tweeted a picture supposedly showing an aluxe, an elf-like creature known in the Maya tradition for its mischievous tendencies. The Mexican president claimed the little trickster had been spotted during the construction of the Maya Train, a much-touted tourist rail line through the ancient Maya heartland in the Yucatán Peninsula. “Everything is mystical,” said Obrador, who once cited a four-leaf clover and a two-dollar bill as protections against the coronavirus and has well-documented respect for indigenous cultures. While some on Twitter were charmed by the supposed aluxe sighting, others backed up their skepticism with evidence that the same photo had appeared in earlier news articles from Thailand and Indonesia.
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