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Kurt Hackbarth is a writer, playwright, freelance journalist, and the cofounder of the independent media project “MexElects.” He is currently coauthoring a book on the 2018 Mexican election.
Mexico is one of the most unequal countries in the world, with a caste of superrich lording over a mass of urban and rural poor barely surviving. Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s transfer programs have gone some way toward distributing wealth, but much more needs to be done.
When the US spearheaded the Mexican war on drugs in 2006, many suspected links between members of Felipe Calderón’s administration and the cartels they were charged with stamping out. Now, fresh evidence makes clear that not only were top government figures profiting personally from links to the cartels, but that the US knew about it all along.
Mexican elites have done everything in their power to discredit and undercut President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador since he first took power. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, they’re ramping up their attacks.
Pedro Carrizales — “El Mijis” — came to Mexican politics by an unconventional route: a former gang member from the barrios of San Luis Potosí, he is now a left-wing state legislator, dedicated to the plight of Mexico’s poor young people, collateral damage of the war on drugs.
The AMLO government has enacted modest reforms to help struggling renters. But more radical solutions are needed to solve Mexico’s housing crisis. A report from Oaxaca.
In Mexico, the “war on drugs” was never about drugs at all, but about repressing social movements, smashing unions, and creating a shock-doctrine atmosphere for conservative governments to privatize pensions, health services, and the oil sector. The AMLO administration must dismantle the narco-state.
It’s been a year since Andrés Manuel López Obrador took power in Mexico. Against the odds, his administration has won a host of important progressive victories. But it’ll need to do more to withstanding pressure from Washington and the more conservative parts of the MORENA coalition.
In attacking President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration over a recent botched raid on the Sinaloa Cartel, the Mexican right is cynically using a crisis of its own making in an attempt to destabilize AMLO, taking Mexico’s people as hostages.
The AMLO government has made progress creating a more just Mexico. But it has more work to do when it comes to women’s rights.
American gun manufacturers are responsible for arming the El Paso shooter. They’re also responsible for arming the bloody drug war that’s killing Mexicans by the thousands.
Trump is threatening a trade war if Mexico doesn’t fall in line with his depraved migrant policy. But a trade war might actually hurt the US more than Mexico. AMLO should call Trump’s bluff and refuse to do his bidding.
Both Mexican and international elites want to scuttle AMLO’s progressive agenda. He’ll only overcome their resistance with mass mobilization.
AMLO’s first one hundred days in office has shown what the Mexican left will need to do throughout his term: defend him against attacks from the Right, while building a movement to push him from the Left.
The Mexican and international right are united in their efforts to delegitimatize the AMLO presidency.
AMLO takes the reins of a traumatized Mexico. He’ll be fighting for vital reforms, but much more is needed.
What can the Canadian experience teach us about building a mass working-class party in the US?