Since the times in which Mexicans dreamed of “the Revolution doing them justice,” they have lived – except for very brief periods, almost always imposed by cruel reality – in “political fiction”: the ideal and perfect country in speeches. (like now in La Mañanera) to whom reality contradicts. Today there are, legally and officially, two pre-candidates for the presidency of the Republic, who really are candidates and have been campaigning for elections for several months, even though they both use euphemisms and lies. . Their loyal followers – “lovers” or something like that they call them now – justify them in any way. But, because they violated the law, they violated it. Tomorrow they will demand, when they believe it is convenient for them, to respect the law.
Both are supported or, let’s say it as it is, use the names of political parties that have official registration as such, but which are no longer political parties, but simple placement agencies for elected positions.
Mexico has a long tradition of political parties, which they wanted to be and managed to be in some periods of their existence. The Mexican Communist Party (PCM) dates back to 1919 and is the most remote antecedent of what is the PRD (formerly PCM, with official registration, PSUM and PMS). The PRI’s predecessor was founded in 1929 as PNR and then PRM, with a corporatist structure, similar to Hitler’s party, according to Luis Javier Garrido’s doctoral thesis at the Sorbonne. The PAN was founded in 1939.
They were parties that defined and spread their ideology. From the left, from the right and even from the center. They had a national project. Good or bad, but they had it, they believed in it and they fought for it. They had real militancy and internal life with strong organizations.
For some time now, Mexican parties have been simple placement agencies, because the law grants them the privilege of registering candidates for elected positions. They are necessary for the legal process and to benefit – at least politically – its leaders and controllers.
Is the PRI today that of, for example, that of Lázaro Cárdenas, Miguel Alemán or Jesús Reyes Heroles? Is today’s PAN that of Gómez Morín, González Luna, González Morfín, Luis? H. Álvarez or Castillo Peraza? Arnoldo Martínez Verdugo, Gilberto Rincón Gallardo, Heberto Castillo, Eduardo Valle The owlLuis González de Alba and many others, let’s not talk about Valentín Campa or Demetrio Vallejo, would you agree that the current federal government is a left-wing government?
No, no, we must start from the beginning: the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador is not a left-wing government. A real left would not have dismantled the health, social security, and basic education systems, for example.
Traditional definitions of left and right have faded, but they are still useful for propaganda, and many voters apparently no longer care about those definitions. What today, as there was before, is to stretch out our hand.
In June 2024, Mexicans must go to the polls to elect the Executive and Legislative branches of the government, in addition to nine governorships. Regarding the candidates for the presidency of the Republic, there does not seem to be much difference: one repeats what the president says, and the other tries to contradict and criticize what the president himself says. There is no proper speech, much less a country project, and there are less than seven months until the election.