Mexico

Mexico: Massive Vote For AMLO And Morena Marks New Period Of Class Struggle

July 3, 2018 By Ubaldo Oropeza, Marxist.com Create! Class Struggle, Electoral Politics, Mexico

Yesterday, on 2 July, there was massive participation in the Mexican general elections, in which there were 18,229 public positions at stake. However, by far the most important was the presidency. With more than 89 million voters registered, the level of participation – according to the available data – was one of the highest in the history of Mexico. A political and social earthquake occurred in the victory of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) of the MORENA party. The oligarchy and imperialism, who have always been accustomed to ordering and being obeyed, are now faced with a government that challenges them; a government that says it will separate economic and political power, and prioritise the poor.

Mexico Can Be A Counterweight To US Foreign Policy In Latin America

June 27, 2018 Oliver L. Vargas, Counterpunch.org Create! Latin America, Mexico, US Foreign Policy, US Imperialism

The candidate of the radical left Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, known in Mexico as ‘AMLO’ is set to win the presidential elections on July 1st, consistently over 20 points ahead of his nearest conservative rival. White House foreign policy analysts are frantically worried that he would reverse “one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world”[1]. What worries them most is AMLO’s plans to reverse the privatisation of Mexico’s oil and build refineries. Though more importantly for the wider region, his foreign ministers friendliness to Venezuela and the rest of the Latin American left that could derail Trump’s policy of isolating Maduro and Castro in the region. Losing the second biggest economy in Latin America as a US ally could help shift the right wing advance in the region and put momentum behind the radical left once again.

From Mexico To Argentina US Interventionism Intensifies: Expert

May 8, 2018 By Marion Deschamps, Telesurtv.net Educate! Argentina, Mexico, US Imperialism

Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington and president of Just Foreign Policy, talked about how U.S. interventionism has been toppling left-wing governments in Latin America as part of their foreign policy, and how they continue to do so from Mexico to Argentina. Speaking with Greg Wilpert of The Real news Network, Weisbrot noted how the U.S. interventionism has undermined left-wing and progressive governments in Latin America in favor of others friendlier to Washington's economic and political policy. The rise of left-wing and center-left governments in Latin America at the turn of the century brought a period of prosperity and sovereignty to the region, but that trend is now threatened as they have been displaced little by little.

Zapatista Women Inspire The Fight Against Patriarchy

April 6, 2018 Shirin Hess, Wagingnonviolence.org Strategize! Mexico, Nationalism, Sexism, Women, Zapatistas

Dawn had only just broken over the mountains. While most of the women and children on the camping grounds were still asleep, others were already wide awake, huddling together in the first rays of sunlight and drinking coffee. To a casual observer, this place might have seemed similar to any mainstream festival campsite. A distinguishing factor, however, was that there wasn’t a single man in sight. The sign on the main entrance left no one in doubt that only women and children were welcome at this event: “Men not permitted to enter.” Women’s participation in Mexico’s 25-year-old Zapatista National Liberation Army, or EZLN movement, has represented an incredible organizational achievement since its original uprising in 1994.

Mexicali’s ‘Water Defenders’ Take Fight to Big Alcohol

March 18, 2018 By Chris Burnett and Marco Vera, Truthdig Resist! Mexico, Water

In January 2017, the Mexican government implemented a 20 percent hike in gasoline prices, setting the stage for a nationwide rebellion and a people’s mobilization against the tightening screws of neoliberalism. To a population already struggling with poverty and low wages, this blatant exercise of power and greed was a wake-up call heard across Mexico. Today, the struggle continues, but in the desert border city of Mexicali it has expanded to the protection of water, as the people face off with a United States-based multinational corporation known as Constellation Brands. In a familiar scenario in which capitalism seeks to privatize the commons, and through secret backroom deals with corrupt politicians, Constellation Brands wants access to Mexicali’s precious water to produce alcohol for exclusive export to the U.S.

Take Action Now To Support Yaqui Political Prisoner Fidencio Aldama Pérez

March 15, 2018 James Patrick Jordan, Afgj.org Educate! Indigenous People, Mexico, political prisoners

Recent events in the Yaqui traditional territory, located in Sonora, México, give us worrisome lessons about neoliberalism and cultural genocide. The Yaqui lands are enduring threats to the Rio Yaqui that put the entire people, ecosystem, and culture at risk. But there are other, more valuable, lessons to be learned, and these are lessons about struggle and solidarity. The threats include the diversion of water by the Independencia aqueduct to serve big agribusinesses and an industrial zone populated with foreign and transnational factories in the city of Hermosillo. Presently, the traditional agriculture of the Yaquis is so affected that there is the possibility that they will not be able to sow winter crops for the coming year. On February 17, Irrigation District councilor, and president of the 4P8 Irrigation Module, announced that, “We always say that the Independencia aqueduct would affect us, and this is already happening.

Zapatista’s ‘Women in Struggle’ Summit Sets Historical Precedent

March 13, 2018 Staff, Telesurtv.net Resist! Chiapas, Mexico, Women's Rights, Zapatistas

Thousands of women met in Zapatista territory against capitalist and patriarchal society. Thousands of women from all around the world met in Zapatista territory to participate in the first Women in Struggle International Summit, hosted by Mayan Zapatista women. The Zapatistas say over 5,000 women came to the Caracol of Morelia for the summit, which took place between March 8 and 10. Women started gathering in Caracol, located in a remote area of the Tzotz Choj zone of Chiapas, one day before the opening ceremony to begin arranging accommodation for themselves at the designated shelters or set up tents. More than 200 political, artistic and sports proposals had been registered for workshops and showcases, including music, dance, theater, poetry, book presentations, photography, cinema, football and volleyball.

5 Reasons Mexican Workers Would Cheer The Demise Of NAFTA

March 9, 2018 By Manuel Perez-Rocha, Fpif.org Educate! Labor, Mexico, NAFTA, Workers Rights and Jobs

Mexicans have plenty not to like about Donald Trump: his racism, his wall, his tirades against immigrants. But if there’s a disruption provoked by Trump we should actually embrace, it’s the renegotiation of NAFTA—or even the trade pact’s possible end. Along with Mexico’s upcoming presidential elections on July 1—in which center-left candidate Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador (AMLO, as he is popularly known) is the clear front runner—the possible unraveling of NAFTA has the country’s business elite and political establishment freaking out. While AMLO sees the renegotiation of NAFTA as an opportunity for meaningful changes that would benefit the majority of Mexicans, Mexican negotiators from the ruling establishment party have been very busy trying to secure a deal before the vote, in order to keep the status quo as intact as possible.

Cracks In Wall Of Capitalism: Zapatistas And Struggle To Decolonize Science

March 2, 2018 David Meek, Towardfreedom.com Create! Capitalism, Decolonize, Mexico, Science, Zapatistas

Below images of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, and a many-headed hydra consuming humanity, sit two groups. To the right, facing a stage, are approximately 200 delegates of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), seated as a homogenous block. Wearing black ski masks, they furiously take notes. To the left, 300 scientists and observers from throughout the world are seated. With a tiny pink ribbon pinned to her mask, Julía, a Zapatista delegate from Oventic, Chiapas, takes the microphone: “The rivers are drying up. We know that the people before had a way of planting their crops, but now it doesn’t rain like it’s expected to. Now, there are epidemics that weren’t common before, like cancer and diabetes…” Julía is unequivocal about the linkages between science and capitalism in perpetuating this crisis.

Mexico Is Trying to Stop an Indigenous Woman Candidate for President

February 11, 2018 By Tamara Pearson, Truthout Educate! Indigenous People, Mexico, Zapatistas

Mexico's first Indigenous female presidential hopeful might not even get her campaign off the ground, thanks to outright discrimination and a host of arduous requirements that stop ordinary people from participating in politics. The campaign of Maria de Jesús Patricio Martinez (also known as Marichuy) so far has just 14 percent of the signatures necessary to register her as a candidate for July's general election. Marichuy is representing the National Indigenous Congress (CNI), as well as a broader campaign in defense of land against multinationals, for environmental justice, women's rights and more. But those campaigning for her know she doesn't stand a chance.

TransCanada Faces Indigenous Pipeline Resistance In Mexico

January 4, 2018 By Steve Horn, Desmogblog.com Resist! Indigenous Peoples, Mexico, Pipelines

Under Mexico's new legal approach to energy, pipeline project permits require consultations with Indigenous peoples living along pipeline routes. (In addition, Mexico supported the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which includes the principle of “free, prior and informed consent” from Indigenous peoples on projects affecting them — something Canada currently is grappling with as well.) It was a similar lack of indigenous consultation which the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe said was the impetus for lawsuits and the months-long uprising against the Dakota Access pipeline near the tribe's reservation in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, in late 2016. Now, according to Bloomberg and Mexican reporter Gema Villela Valenzuela for the Spanish language publication Cimacnoticias, history is repeating itself in the village of Loma de Bacum in northwest Mexico.

Mexico: Indigenous Women Fight Femicide With Hip Hop

November 28, 2017 Staff, telesurtv.net Resist! Art, Hip Hop, Indigenous Women, Mexico

By Staff of Tele Sur - Through music they are denouncing the stealing of their lands and violence against women. Indigenous women arrived in Mexico City to present their work defending their territory and to denounce femicides inside and outside their communities, through hip-hop. They arrived from different parts of the country to the Chopo University Museum to talk about feminism and gender violence. Zara Monrroy, an Indigenous woman from the Comca'ac community of Punta Chueca, Sonora, said she started rapping to spread culture and tradition. She added that music has been a tool for her message to reach indigenous women since many of them do not know how to write. "Especially among young people, because there they listen to music from outside that sometimes they don't understand, because they don't speak English, but they prefer it to songs in our language." She said she spreads her experiences and the traditions of her people and the injustices that are committed especially toward women. The rapper said she uses her music to bring to other women under violence clear messages that can help them change their situation. For Monrroy, to find acceptance by the older people of her community wasn't easy. "When I started singing, there were grandmothers and grandparents who were not in agreement with the musical fusion that I was doing," she said.

NAFTA Renegotiation More Important Now Than Ever

November 22, 2017 Celeste Drake, aflcio.org Resist! Assassination, Mexico, NAFTA, Trade, Workers

By Celeste Drake for AFL-CIO - The need to fundamentally improve the labor provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement took on a new urgency over the weekend, as a group of armed civilians, calling themselves the “Tonalapa Community Police,” (Policía Comunitaria de Tonalapa) attacked striking workers, killing two, at the Media Luna mine in Guerrero, Mexico. The murders occurred just five hours south of Mexico City, where representatives from the United States, Canada and Mexico are in the midst of their fifth round of talks about rewriting NAFTA. The aggressors, meanwhile, were released after being briefly detained by an army squadron. The striking workers, who want to be represented by the National Union of Mine, Metal, Steel and Related Workers of the Mexican Republic (Los Mineros) and are demanding the removal of the employer-dominated "labor" federation CTM (Confederación de Trabajadores de México), identified local CTM leaders as among those responsible for the attack. The practice of false unions siding with the employer over workers is a common feature of Mexico’s failed labor relations model. Employer-dominated "labor" federations are antithetical to the idea of democratic worker-led unions whose goal is to help workers build better lives.

Indigenous Woman Registers To Run For Mexican Presidency

October 10, 2017 Staff, www.reuters.com Create! Elections, Indigenous Peoples, Mexico

By Staff of Reuters - MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - An indigenous woman backed by Mexico’s rebel Zapatista movement registered on Saturday to run as an independent candidate in next year’s presidential election, adding to a growing list of hopefuls bucking established political parties. Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez is the spokeswoman for the National Indigenous Congress, the political arm of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), and in May was picked to be the group’s 2018 presidential candidate. Local media reported that after Patricio Martinez registered with the National Electoral Institute (INE), she pledged not to accept any funding from the government to run her campaign. Mexico’s major political parties have struggled to gain support in recent years, and voter surveys show all presidential hopefuls struggling to win support from as much as a third of the electorate. The front-runner in most polls is former Mexico City mayor and two-time presidential runner-up Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a leftist with nationalistic leanings. The ruling centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) of President Enrique Pena Nieto, who is barred by law from seeking a second term, has yet to pick a candidate. Already, more than 10 first-time independent candidates have registered to run. Three of those contenders failed to meet initial requirements, according to the INE.

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