In Mexico, the West faces its biggest fear: leftist super-majorities

Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico's new president.

The life of the average Mexican isn’t dominated by insecurity - this is mainly an issue for the handful of so-called “narco states”. It’s like assuming that downtown Kabul was ever full of poppy fields and armed guards?

The story of “Mexico” - which is to say, of the entire nation - is one of a political unity and optimism which is statistically and culturally rather incredible in 2024. The OECD noted this prior to the vote: Mexicans have more economic optimism about the future than any other major economy in the world (they are tied with Costa Rica and bested only by Denmark).

And then you have the results of the elections… what a story.

Approximate results say the leftists swept everything - the presidency, essentially a 2/3rds supermajority in both houses of Congress, 9 out of 11 governorships up for grabs, they have supermajorities in 2/3rds of state legislatures - and anybody sweeping anything in these years after the divisive Covid hysteria is THE angle any reporter must take, no? 

It certainly is a pleasure to report. Yes, president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum’s election-night gathering at the central and very impressive Zocalo square/Plaza de la Constitución was rather bereft of excitement, but that’s what happens when you blow out your leading opponent by more than a 2 to 1 margin. I’m not an adrenaline junkie-journalist dying to cover a Mexican contested election - they’re happy, I’m happy.

Most of my reporting in the U.S. and Europe is about a citizenry which is fighting tooth and nail over ideas which they don’t really care about and which don’t even really affect them - this is entirely the aim of their Mainstream Media. The larger ideas which they need and want to rejuvenate their lives and societies are totally off the table. Looking at the Mexican elections and not seeing this huge wave of the 20-year Latin American “Pink Tide” - but instead only violence and gang rule - would be more of this Western talking about nothing in a political sense. 

So it’s unfortunate that when it comes to Mexico the Western story is the same as it has been since the 7-decade “camouflaged dictatorship” of the PRI party and the the 18-year, 3-cycle rule of the conservatives ended with Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador 6 years ago: drug crime and refugees are proof that Mexico is a “failed state”. 

It’s been a bit of a “connect the dots” moment when I have mentioned this theory to Mexican journalists: As soon as leftist AMLO came on the scene Mexico was reduced to these two issues as much as Iran is reduced to the shawl and a ban on alcohol. The West is not going to report positively - or even objectively - on any nation where truly progressive politics is occurring, and this is not changing in June 2024. 

But what a stunning change: grassroots, genuine national political unity of any kind is so rare these days, no? And only a curmudgeonly Trotskyist could refuse to admire the leftism in  AMLO’s Morena Party (“Morena” intentionally recalls the nation’s beloved Our Lady of Guadalupe).

There is a simple reason for this “distraction journalism” - Mexico’s leftists have earned enormous political control because of economic redistribution efforts and social programs which Mexico resisted for many decades. Mexicans saw how much these reforms - as opposed to pro-1% liberal deforms - can help a country where 70% of workers (though many work informally) make less than $900 a month ($10,800 annual), which is a couple hundred less than the poverty line for a family of four. 

(Interestingly, for me: the American dollar sign was actually lifted from the Mexicans! Mexicans aren’t about to give up their money symbol, so I should make clear I meant 900 American dollars a month, and not Mexican pesos. Amazing these two countries persist in what must cause a lot of regular problems?)

The peso is strong, the economy is strong, the minimum wage was doubled while the rest of us are all losing so much purchasing power to inflation, Mexican confidence in the national government has stunningly doubled in the past 6 years, AMLO was perhaps the most popular politician in the world, the homicide rate reduced slightly following the abandonment of failed total war on the cartels in favor of a policy truly labeled “Hugs, not bullets”, social welfare programs which gave tens of millions of Mexican poor, students, elderly, disabled and other precarious classes higher wages, pensions or some form of economic stability - need more reasons why the leftists won so convincingly? It couldn’t be more simple, as a reporter.

Need more reasons why all the West talks about is gang war and refugees? Cuba, Venezuela, China, Iran - wherever leftist-inspired economic redistribution efforts have been democratically installed it is the Western journalist’s job to distract, ignore and obfuscate - thus the singular “Mexican insecurity” editorial policy. 

Also not getting discussed is the looming financial war on the new Mexican government. Huge capital outflows, war on the Mexican peso (immediate drop of 3% the day after the surprisingly overwhelming victory became clear, though results aren’t officially released until June 8), and endless propaganda about what Mexico is not - this is what the West does when any leftist government comes to power. 

The capital outflows have already started, because let’s recall that 5 of the 6 largest Latin American economies are currently run by leftists, with Argentina headed by libertarian Javier Milei. In the five largest Latin American economies $137 billion U.S. dollars were pulled out in 2022 by people and corporations, per Bloomberg. That’s the most since 2010, and this is simply how the rich create financial problems for leftist governments: money earned in the country absconds, the economy suffers, inflation rises and unrest intensifies, and this is how the cycle of short-lived leftist governments is created around the world. You may not have been born, but in 1981 France democratically elected probably the most leftist platform in the history of the West - economic war by high finance led to Mitterrand’s infamous U-turn by 1983. 

As far as insecurity, Americans essentially told me I needed an armed guard to get out of the airport without being kidnapped, when it’s been the total opposite. A colleague who has lived here for years said that they actually feel safer in Mexico City than in Paris; I feel I could walk around the worst Fox News-alleged “no go zone” in Paris in a suit made of money and be fine, so I feel this person is saying quite a lot.

Contrarily, the last time I was in the U.S. an argument between two cars not 5 meters behind me escalated from a shouting match over being honked at to someone being shot at perhaps a dozen times (the person was in critical condition in the hospital, last I checked). A stray bullet could have easily killed me. This was also in a very good neighborhood - I was returning from covering a pro-Gaza demonstration in Chicago’s “Gold Coast” neighbourhood.

Are there bad parts of Mexico City? Yes, but the absurdity of US coverage is that they act like there are no dangerous neighborhoods in the United States! The United States has many issues and insecurity is one of them - another issue is most definitely NOT the installation of economically socialist policies.

Why the huge leftist win and the equally huge Western imperialist/high finance groan? The Morena Party-led social programs have radically changed Mexico for the better, they have received a widespread embrace as a revelation of economic stability and social progress, and the political reelection of social programs was so emphatic that supermajority Mexican opinion now has said programs poised to be enshrined in the constitution, effectively making Mexcio a new, progressive, leftist- inspired country in many very real ways.

Now that’s a story, objectively - who on earth could get it wrong?

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Any reposting or republication of any of these articles is approved and appreciated. He tweets at @RaminMazaheri2 and writes at substack.com/@raminmazaheri