In Mexico, the Best Candidate Won

But our primary task remains to change the United States, writes Luke Pickrell

I took the metro to Mexico City’s massive Zócalo on Sunday night. For the next several hours, a mariachi band played while an inflated blue shark danced with a masked man wearing an enormous hat. At one point, an infant dressed in a red tracksuit and sombrero was “interviewed” on live T.V. As the sun set, almost everyone chanted, “La presidenta!” Finally, well past midnight, Claudia Sheinbaum — la presidenta — took the stage to address the crowd.

Sheinbaum is Mexico's new president. She won by a landslide, receiving almost 60% of the nearly 60 million votes cast (the highest vote percentage in Mexico’s history) and winning 31 out of 32 states. Sheinbaum is the first female president in North America and the first Jewish president of Mexico. Like the other candidates, she had her own theme song. Unlike the others, she holds a PhD in energy engineering and has authored/co-authored over 100 articles and two books on environment, energy, and sustainable development (and some say Enrique Peña Nieto couldn't even read).

Sheinbaum will take power in October from the current president and fellow Morena (National Regeneration Movement) party member Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and wield an undeniable mandate. Morena has substantial power, with Clara Brugada winning the mayorship of Mexico City and a new two-thirds majority in the House and the Senate. Congressional majority in hand, AMLO is looking to pass 20 constitutional amendments before his term expires, including direct elections of the 11 Supreme Court judges (known as ministers of the court). Currently, Federal judges in Mexico are elected the same way as their counterparts in the U.S. Predictably, opponents of Morena claim that Federal judges must remain unelect because their job (in the words of U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts) is to stay impartial and simply call balls and strikes. Of course, the idea of judicial neutrality is ridiculous, so subjecting the Supreme Court to democratic oversight is a good move.

Sheinbaum says she’ll follow in AMLO’s footsteps by building the “second floor” of the country’s Fourth Transformation — a set of policies touted by AMLO in 2018 as “a peaceful and orderly transformation, yes, but no less profound than Independence [1810-1821], the Reformation [1858–1861], and the Revolution [1910–1917].” These policies include expanding the country’s welfare system and the new universal pension program, introducing universal public education scholarships, reducing the wealth gap, building highspeed rail across the country, combating corruption in the government and armed forces (specifically, abolishing the Federal Police, establishing the National Guard, and putting the Marines in charge of Benito Juárez International Airport), and developing the Mexican countryside by paying farmers to plant trees. Many think Sheinbaum will keep her word based on conversations I’ve had with people in CDMX and the record number of supporters.

Still, not everyone is excited. Critics say AMLO has concentrated power in the executive branch by eliminating independent regulatory bodies and forming a new National Guard to replace the Federal Police. A flyer distributed by a Trotskyist group urged everyone to break from the parties of capital and listed every institutional party, including Morena, followed by “etc.” (as an American used to two political parties, I found this a bit funny). One student, who said they had participated in the recent protest at the Israeli embassy, explained that most of his friends are disillusioned with politics because Blackrock, the American multinational investment company, pulls the strings. A sign near the Palace of Fine Arts read “Kafka for President.” It explained that in a country with rich and lying politicians, the famous German novelist is needed to solve problems not from a perspective of reason but “from the absurd.” And finally, in the Plaza de la Constitución, a teacher camped out with dozens of his fellow workers said he had little hope that Sheinbaum would improve his life.

Still, tens of millions are enthusiastic, if not ecstatic, that Morena will be in power for another six years (the Constitution allows for one six-year term). Claims of “anti-democracy” under AMLO are easily refuted by people familiar with the high levels of corruption in the armed forces and regulatory institutions. Moves like eliminating the Federal Police and taking steps to integrate extra-political bodies into the state apparatus create more democratic oversight, not less.  “This is like Chile in 1973,” said one woman, “except Sheinbaum can carry out her policies because the army favors Morena.” The same woman explained that poor and working-class Mexicans are tired of being disrespected and looked down on by the people who have robbed them and the Mexican land.

In politics, individual choices and intentions matter. Sheinbaum’s government may improve Mexico's quality of life, and I sincerely hope so. Again, her mandate is historic. But Porfirio Diaz’s words — “Poor Mexico, so far from God, so close to the U.S.” — still ring true. Mexico is neighbors with the United States, and at the end of the day, the U.S. calls the shots.

The fact that the U.S. is still in command was brought home to me by economist Michael Roberts’ recent article, “Mexico: from AMLO to Sheinbaum.” According to Roberts, AMLO’s six years in office were “seen as a shift to the left in the interests of working people in Mexico over the long-standing rule of the corrupt and pro-capitalist parties of PRD and PAN.” However, under AMLO, Roberts claims that there was only a slight improvement in corruption and little to no improvement in crime and income inequality. Mexico still has the lowest tax-to-GDP ratio in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. While the country’s minimum wage has increased dramatically, the share of profits going to workers is still lower than “before the onset of neoliberal policies adopted by pro-capitalist governments in Mexico (and globally).”

At least one prominent Mexican labor leader has contested the data in Roberts’ latest article. My point in presenting Roberts’ article is not to argue against the effectiveness of AMLO’s policies. Instead, the article stands out for its essential reminder that the U.S. is still the worst neighbor any country could imagine. Roberts says that crime is essentially a product of the drug wars, and the drug wars are essentially a product of consumer addiction in the U.S. The Mexican economy, he continues, is “dominated” by the United States. The free market won’t solve extreme inequality, and the solution — “putting the public sector and planning in charge by taking control of the banks (mainly foreign), the state oil company PEMEX, and the major multinational operations within Mexico” — would run afoul with the U.S. regardless of who wins in November.

Sheinbaum’s victory is a beacon of hope; the best candidate for poor and working-class Mexicans has triumphed, and most people I’ve talked to are optimistic that the Fourth Transformation will continue. However, based on the analysis by Roberts and a basic grasp of the history of the Americas, I don’t see how more dramatic changes will be possible so long as the U.S. remains the global imperial power. For those of us in the U.S., our primary task remains to neutralize the world’s global imperialist power through the struggle for and eventual acquisition of a democratic constitution. Making the U.S. a democracy is the most essential form of internationalism and, therefore, the hardest.