Mexico vs. the Right

Recently we have witnessed how in Latin America the Far-Right has gained control over several countries, all backed by the current US government. These electoral triumphs, in my opinion, are highly questionable, yet the most coveted country by the Far-Right, Mexico, has not fallen under their spell. For years now the US, implicitly and explicitly, has tried to bring Mexico under their control as it did in Neo-liberal times. The Far-Right has done hundreds if not thousands of misinformation campaigns since Andrés Manuel López Obrador became President in 2018 and the Fourth Transformation began. What has Mexico done to counter every attack from the US and its Far-Rght allies? What makes this country different from others in the region? In the following paragraphs I will point out and try to explain as best as possible what makes Mexico so unique and try my best to answer these questions.

The first thing that needs to be understood about Mexico is that it wasn’t too long ago that the country already experienced what the political opposition to the current government and its Far-Right allies propose to install/bring back. The 2018 election was a loud rejection to the then-current status quo and Mexicans looking for a change in direction. When Morena and Andrés Manuel López Obrador came to power the changes brought were significant. When 13.4 million people were lifted from poverty between 2018 and 2024 going back to the failed neoliberal policies is seen as a step back. This is why Claudia Sheinbaum won the 2024 election and Morena continues to grow as people want continuity to the project started by López Obrador, consolidation of what has been achieved and growth of that project.

The other thing that the Mexican opposition and its Far-Right allies seem to misunderstand is that the Mexico of today is very different from what it was just a decade ago. Mexican society has become more politicized and informed and more importantly the lives of millions of Mexicans has changed for the better, not just because of the social programs, which are now Constitutional rights, but by smaller things like the raising of the minimum wage or all the infrastructure investments that make life better, but it goes much deeper than that. Mexico, over the past few years has shown the World what a government can do when it actually works for its people. Undoing the harms caused by years of terrible policies and actual state promoted violence caused in the last few years by a useless and failed war on drugs will take years, this is probably why at this point in time people will continue to vote for the Morena party. No opposition party offers something different than going back to the way things were pre-2018 and there are no other options that are an alternative to Morena.

Finally, it can be pointed out that the biggest thing the opposition, its Far-Right allies, both national and international miss is that they truly don’t know or understand Mexico. For the most part these groups work within the confines of Mexico City or in some other country. Most of their campaigns have no penetration amongst most Mexicans and are basically running in a loop within the same groups. The media is pretty much irrelevant as it is facing a crisis of their own, in credibility and in financing. The international media with newspapers like the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal or The Washington Post have no real impact within Mexico, yes they make a little noise but that’s pretty much it, and over in the US I think the results are the same. It is quite baffling to think about the millions of dollars spent on creating negative campaigns that don’t really work like the one in the 2024 election. Unlike many other countries Mexicans, like I mentioned above are more informed and can actually see the results, so every narrative created by the opposition and its allies is easily countered by reality itself.

There are of course risks, it would be foolish to think that there were not, specially with the upcoming mid-term elections next year but with a more politicized society that is more vigilant, the government putting legislation to reinforce the country’s sovereignty and continuing to strengthen our electoral system, it’s pretty clear that the opposition, its Far-Right allies and even the meddling United States don’t have it easy.

Image: Gemini AI