The weekly newsletter of the Mexico Solidarity Project

Every issue archived online at mexicosolidarityproject.org/archives/

May 28, 2025

Be Advised: Graphic Content in Comics

Meizhu Lui, for the editorial team

If kids don’t like vegetables, some parents find ways to disguise them in something the child likes to eat, like spaghetti sauce. For left organizers, a basic question is how to incorporate political education into the spaghetti. Those who are not interested in politics have to ingest the vitamin-filled perspectives that get them off their phones and into the street.

For multimedia artist Einnar Espinosa, his veggies came in the form of DC Comics. Some left fuddy-duddies  — we all know them! — might harrumph that Einnar’s uncle should have given his young nephew an author like Eduardo Galeano to read and thrown out the comic books, or that such easy-to-read entertainment dumbs down young minds. But for Einnar, that old Batman comic was his gateway to analyzing the way the world works. It opened his eyes to the injustices of capitalism.

Today, we’re being forced to live within what feels like a terrifying comic book, where reality and fiction are hard to distinguish. Trump is the new Joker, bent on authoritarian world domination, with his trademark red baseball cap replacing the Joker’s purple suit. But he goes one further, by marketing that cap to replicate himself like a 3D printer gone haywire.

No individual superheroes like Batman are going to fly in to take down the Joker and his minions. Remember the cartoon character Popeye the Sailor Man, who would down a whole can of spinach to give him strength to fight the bad guys? It’s people like Popeye-Pinche-Einnar who will be able to fortify people with spinach in the form of illustrations, graphic novels, films and more. Visualize the Joker/Trump taken down by an army of Popeyes!

We need to use every form of resistance we can. Eat your veggies! Read — and write — your comics!

Superhero Batman Inspires Political Action

Did you start drawing cartoons when you were a kid?

My first drawing — and it was pretty good, if I may say so! — was of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle; Donatello was my favorite. I was four. And as I kept drawing, people said I had talent. But that became more of a burden than a blessing. It’s difficult to have expectations put on you.

My childhood was very hard. My mom dragged me to Cozumel from Mexico City to “live a family life,” but that certainly wasn’t happening — it was a hard time at my house.

What kind of graphics influenced you? Mexican or from the US?

And not only because of Batman’s comic book form. It also introduced me to politics. In one episode, the bad guy, the Joker, kills Batman’s buddy Robin. Where? In Iran! Batman wants revenge, but then the story revealed that the Joker is the new US ambassador to Iran and a representative at the United Nations, or UN. Then Superman gets involved, representing the US government. It was the first time I’d even heard of the UN!

So, when did you discover Mexico’s graphic artists, and did they show you a path forward?

El tataranieto del Ahuizote, 1991

Back in Mexico City, I continued my studies in the 70s and 80s. But before that, my grandpa gave me a great book, El tataranieto del Ahuizote. I became a fan of Magú, pen name for Bulmaro Castellanos Loza, Gonzalo Rocha and Rogelio Naranjo — my trinity, if I must say.

I love these artists, but no, they didn’t influence me. I wanted to be an illustrator, not a cartoonist, and a communicator, not an artist.

I feel you don’t have to be an “artist.” You need a great idea. In fact, when drawing an illustration or cartoon, you have permission to draw badly! What’s important is the spoken words in the “bubble” that help the viewer understand what’s going on. For me, that’s it.

The words come first, the story, and the images illustrate the thoughts.

How did you become a critic of our capitalist world order?

I never read Marx or anything like that when I was young. I didn’t think about the right or the left; I just hated injustice.

The usual suspects, Two-headed monster, Peña-Nieto/Fox: Pinche Einnar

In the early 2000s, I had a rock band. I wasn’t political, but then I heard about the desafuera of AMLO.  That was when the PRI/PAN wanted to stop AMLO from being eligible to run for President. They cooked up a plan to accuse him of criminal activities, and attempted to strip him of immunity from criminal prosecution. What AMLO said made sense to me, and so I wrote and performed a song called “El Poder” or “The Power.” Audiences loved it; they asked for it whenever we performed. That put me on a political track.

So, my understanding of capitalism started with Batman! In school, you don’t learn anything about how the world works. I learned later that with music, literature, comic books, a great joke — you can get people to look at things in a different light. That happened to me.

Does Mexico have a unique history of making political art?

A huge collection of drawings, caricatures, photographs, paintings and more is at the Museo del Estanquillo in Mexico City, which opened in 2006. It was fitting that its first director was El Fisgón!

Speaking of El Fisgón, it says something about Mexico that one of the most important people in Morena — their director of political education — is a cartoonist!

You’ve been a political cartoonist in Guanajuato, one of the most conservative places in Mexico. How has that been?

I moved to Guanajuato when I was 26 to study art, dreaming of being a political cartoonist. I became one, founding and working for the online magazine, POPLab, producing a cartoon every day and illustrating almost every article and investigation. In five years, I made around 3,000 cartoons and illustrations. As a kid, I was called “Pinche,” an inferior, unworthy person. But it’s also used almost endearingly, like “pinche, you funny little devil!” So, I took the pseudonym Pinche Einnar with that double meaning.

Given how corrupt our politicians were, it was easy to satirize them. Journalists are often close to people in the political world, people who tell us the dirt on other politicians. But I came to the hard realization that exposing one politician’s wrongdoing didn’t create positive change. A politician informing me about another one’s corruption was just their way of taking down a rival, and they used me to help them. This realization was depressing, and I decided to stop making political cartoons in Guanajuato.

Now, I’m having to rethink how to use my drawing. I’m 40, and it’s time to get rid of Pinche Einnar. Cartoonists use graphics to resist injustice. That’s been their role throughout Mexican history. And I will find my place in it.

Three infamous corrupt union leaders: Fidel Velázquez, Elba Esther Gordillo y Carlos Romero Deschamps: Pinche Einnar, 2019

People on the Move: Something new?

PART ONE

Colonial Crossings: Art, Identity, and Belief in the Spanish Americas

The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

Mexodus: Berkeley Repertory Theatre Kicks Off Its 2024/25 Season with the West Coast Premiere of the Hip-Hop Remix; Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson

 Any national history is complicated, but all people are of a nation, one way or another. And, imho, all art tells the story of peoples, whether intentionally or not. Many different forms of migration mean many different forms of art.

Recently, I visited a surprising number of exhibitions about migration and diaspora. Once I would have been surprised to see even one, though migration between Mexico and the USA is a bedrock, foundational piece of our historical story. So why the exhibitions now? I assume they see the threatening USA looming over the Mexican border, and the changes in our relations, mostly having to do with issues of Mexican sovereignty and deportation. But it seems to me those issues has been around for a long time …

Here’s what’s notable in one exhibition and one musical play that I saw.

The “Colonial Crossings” show at Cornell put the diaspora in a centuries-old perspective:

The artworks in this exhibition span more than three hundred years of history, five thousand miles of territory, and two oceans, introducing the rich, artistic traditions of Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines during the period of Spanish colonial rule (approximately 1492-1830).

And:

The Spanish conquest of the Philippine Islands in 1565 led to an important commercial connection between Manila and Acapulco, on Mexico’s Pacific Coast.

The Spanish Empire by 1776

The Cornell exhibition displays portraits, books, religious icons and furniture, all clearly influenced by Eurocentric art techniques, although Mexican traditions shine through. At the entrance to the exhibit, a worldwide map shows the Spanish influence through the three centuries and runs right through (and over) Mexico. Makes you stop and think…

The conquistadores were at it already.

Fast forward to the 1860's, to the southern Underground Railroad that led into Mexico. I had the great privilege of attending a play called “Mexodus.” It’s the magnificent, unexpected, acted-out story of two men, one a runaway slave, one a Mexican dirt farmer, who meet towards the end of the US Civil War, just across the Mexican border.

Mexodus, Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson

This is a fairly lttle-known story about the fluidity of borders, the osmosis between nations along a border. It’s a story that says that migration can go both ways, can affect those on both sides of a border: it’s a complicated relationship.

The histories of Mexico and the USA are inextricably entwined; what kind of a difference that makes to the people in both countries. If you get a chance to see either of these two musicians/actors/writers, grab the opportunity!

These were just two of the migration-related shows I saw recently. Stay tuned for part 2 of my journey.

Recent news reports and commentaries, from progressive and mainstream media,
on life and struggles on both sides of the US-Mexico border. Compiled by Jay Watts.

Natascha Elena Uhlmann, Will Mexican GM Workers Get a Fair Union Election? Labor Notes. GM is well aware of what could be won should SINTTIA manage to bargain a shared contract across its facilities in Mexico—a precedent that auto companies across Mexico have resisted for decades.

Zósimo Camacho Ibarra, Magisterio mexicano: desde la izquierda, el mayor reto político que enfrenta Sheinbaum Diario Red. El desencuentro entre el gobierno progresista de Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo y una de las organizaciones de izquierda de mayor arraigo en México tiene origen en una de las reformas neoliberales que no terminan de desmontarse en el país.

Pablo Meriguet, Two advisors of Mexico City’s Head of Government Clara Brugada were murdered in Mexico City People’s Dispatch. The murdered are Ximena Guzmán and José Muñoz, very close collaborators of the Head of Government, Clara Brugada. The country’s presidency has offered its full support to the investigations.

Gabriel Rojas, Salen de pobreza 9.5 millones, la mayor disminución en 40 años Regeneración.

Reporte del Banco Mundial informa que, en México, con AMLO hasta 2023 menor pobreza por Bienestar, salario mínimo, y reformas laborales: Sheinbaum

The Law is Not the Same as Justice: An Interview with Federico Anaya, Mexico Solidarity. “We’re told that electing judges won’t work because law is supposed to be a very complex, obscure science that only those initiated and highly trained in universities can understand. The popular response to this is that law is not the same as justice, and what we want in the courts are people who deliver justice.”

El derecho no es lo mismo que la justicia: entrevista con Federico Anaya Memoria: Revista de Crítica Militante. “Nos dicen que no va a funcionar elegir a los jueces porque se supone que el derecho es una ciencia muy compleja, oscura y que solamente podrían conocer los iniciados y muy bien preparados en universidades. La respuesta popular a lo anterior es que el derecho no es lo mismo que la justicia, y que lo que queremos en los tribunales son personas que hagan justicia.”

Pamela Cruz, Despite Approval of Tax Bill in U.S. Congress, Mexico Will Continue Efforts to Eliminate Remittance Tax: President Claudia Sheinbaum Mexican Press Agency. Sheinbaum reminded the public that reducing or eliminating the tax is not only crucial for Mexico, where remittances account for about 3% of GDP, but also for Central American countries where such money transfers represent up to 20% of GDP.

Sabina Berman, El ministro Pérez Dayán se despide regalándoles el país a las mineras El Universal. ¿Se atreverán los ministros a dar esta prueba final de que son los defensores del Gran Dinero? ¿O se despedirán obsequiándonos una sentencia a favor de los pueblos y la salud ambiental?

Jordan Lippert and Sofia Hernandez Ramones, Ahead of Mexico’s first-ever judicial elections, most Mexicans approve of the law that implemented them Pew Research Center. As Mexicans head to the polls in the country’s first-ever judicial elections, two-thirds approve of a 2024 law requiring all judges to be elected by popular vote.

Gardenia Mendoza, Gringos compran cada día 95 casas y departamentos en México Milenio. Algunos huyen de Trump, otros buscan mejor clima, felicidad, humanidad o invertir a precios más bajos que en su país. Inmobiliarias registran boom en 2021 y 2024.

The Mexico Solidarity Project brings together activists from various socialist and left organizations and individuals committed to worker and global justice. We see the 2018 election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador as president of Mexico as a watershed moment. AMLO and his progressive Morena party aim to end generations of corruption, impoverishment, and subservience to US interests. Our Project supports not just Morena, but all Mexicans struggling for basic rights, and opposes US efforts to undermine organizing and Mexico’s national sovereignty.

Editorial committee: Meizhu Lui, Bruce Hobson, Agatha Hinman, Victoria Hamlin, Courtney Childs, Pedro Gellert.  To give feedback or get involved yourself, please email us!

Web page and application support for the Mexico Solidarity Project from NOVA Web Development, a democratically run, worker-owned and operated cooperative focused on developing free software tools for progressive organizations.