On March 19, 2020, President López Obrador ruled out a curfew. “No voy a decir ‘he decretado que haya limitación a las libertades, toque de queda, nadie salga a las calles'” (I am not going to say “I have decreed limits on freedoms, a curfew, nobody goes out into the streets”), he said. In April 2020, the undersecretary of health, Hugo López-Gatell, said that there was no legal basis for using public force.
On November 16, 2020, López Obrador again rejected coercive measures. “Lo mejor es hacer conciencia en la gente y tenerle confianza al pueblo” (The best thing is to raise people’s awareness and to trust the people), he said.