Imperialist pressure on Mexico intensified with Trump’s blackmail and threats, such as the imposition of tariffs and blatant military interference regarding the treatment of migrants, the apprehension of drug traffickers, and attacks on vessels off the Mexican coast and even on Mexican beaches. The government of Claudia Sheinbaum—despite its rhetoric of “defending sovereignty”—constantly yields to these pressures and reproduces them on the exploited sectors of Mexican society.
Mexican society has accumulated tremendous economic inequality and social injustice for many decades. Throughout our history, there have been enormous uprisings, revolutions, and constant resistance. The most recent surge began in 2014: the people of Mexico once again began to confront this injustice. The catalyst was undoubtedly the state crime against the 43 students of Ayotzinapa. The immense wave of indignation and mobilizations produced a radical change in the situation. These actions were followed by the teachers’ strike against the neoliberal “educational reform” in 2016, and in that context, the Nochixtlán massacre. A culmination of this process was the massive uprising against the 2017 “Gasolinazo” (gas price hike), when hundreds of popular assemblies and local rebellions erupted, and hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across Mexico shouting “Out with Peña!”
The powerful oligarchs—whom López Obrador referred to as the “power mafia” or the “rapacious minority”—were frightened and decided to “take off some rings so they wouldn’t lose their fingers.” And so they appealed to López Obrador himself to embody the “hope of Mexico.” They conveniently forgot that back in 2006, they had stigmatized AMLO as a “danger to Mexico.” And just in case any doubts remained, AMLO explained to Mexico’s top bankers, gathered at the palatial Hotel Prince in Acapulco, that if it wasn’t him, “Who’s going to tame the tiger?”…
And so it was, the “tiger” was not only tamed but hypnotized! Today, six years into his term and on the “Second Floor” of the “Fourth Transformation,” the palliative social programs for the poorest sectors—which were received with relief and blessings at the beginning of the previous administration—no longer manage to compensate for the discontent of other broad sectors of workers and the exploited, who, with long workweeks, generate enormous wealth and yet remain trapped in precariousness. Scholarships and other forms of aid have not resolved the lack of opportunities for a large segment of the youth: those with informal jobs, job insecurity, or exploitative contracts that violate labor laws and all labor rights, without social security or benefits, working long hours without regard for break times or rest periods, without access to their own housing, and struggling to afford rent due to low wages. There is also the frustration of those who, with great sacrifices for their families, have finished their studies and cannot find work even remotely related to their field of study, only precarious odd jobs.
The expectations of improvement generated by the AMLO administration are beginning to transform into disappointment, uncertainty, and distrust. Popular “hope” is turning into anguish and apathy, and is beginning to give way to weariness. This disappointment has not yet led to mass action by the exploited due to the brutal resistance of the corrupt union leadership, loyal to the current administration, and also because the masses distrust this reactionary right wing that is now a “fierce opposition.”
Why is this happening? Because the changes were superficial and merely cosmetic, lacking depth. The president changed, and the ruling party changed, but the regime itself remained unchanged, serving the interests of the oligarchs. This service is maintained through a privileged relationship between the government and the old and new corrupt union bosses. If anything stands out in the regime today, it is the increased power the Armed Forces have regained with their “new star”: the National Guard. To make matters worse, numerous hated figures from the PRI and PAN parties jumped ship like political opportunists to find positions within the ruling Morena party. Despite the slogan “For the good of all, the poor come first,” it was the wealthy elite who were the first to double their fortunes.
Nor did the country’s semi-colonial status change. External debt grew to almost half (49.9%) of the Gross Domestic Product. The yoke of NAFTA, signed in 1992, which proved to be an instrument for plundering the country’s wealth and ruining the peasantry, was reinforced with the signing of the USMCA in 2018. Meanwhile, the interference of the DEA and Trump himself continues to grow in relation to his supposed “war on drugs.” And the decadent imperialist magnate has no shortage of excuses when the collusion between organized crime and many governors, mayors, representatives, and senators is laid bare.
Source: insurgenciamagisterial
