The weekly newsletter of the Mexico Solidarity Project

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November 13, 2024 

If Mexicans Voted in the US...

Meizhu Lui, for the editorial team

What do Mexicans think about the US presidential election?

Right before the US election, Mexican voters were polled by El Financiero; 52% said that president Sheinbaum would have a better relationship with Harris than Trump. Only 4% thought Trump would be better for Mexico; 14% said they had a “bad or very bad opinion” of Harris, while 67% thought that about Trump.

Unfortunately, the US public voted for the guy who has promised to tell — or force — Mexico to kiss his boots.

Mexicans understand US imperialism well. Why do they perceive a difference between Harris and Trump when both would continue trying to dominate Mexico and Latin America, as the US has done since the Monroe Doctrine was put in place 200 years ago? It’s likely that it comes from their sense that president Sheinbaum would have had more wiggle room with Harris. For example, the Biden administration agreed that the full-on military approach to the “War on Drugs” wasn’t working, while Trump wants to ramp it up by unilaterally invading Mexico to take out the drug kingpins.

The viewpoint of many Mexicans living in the US, as we hear from Manuel Castro today, does not necessarily dovetail with Mexicans in Mexico.

But one thing nearly all Mexicans believe is that Mexico has the right to follow its own path without US instruction at best and intervention at worst. For all of us who love democracy and justice, defending Mexico’s sovereignty is absolutely essential. Whatever side of the border we’re on, whether we’re Mexican or US citizens, let’s be ready.

For a deeper dive into current news and analysis in English, check out our media website. And definitely see the new English podcast ¡Soberanía! (Sovereignty) with José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth.  They entertain, while dismantling the lies and distortions about Mexico fed to us by the mainstream media.

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US Mexicans Want None of the Above

What was the election turnout among Mexicanos in Chicago, and did they vote for Harris or Trump?

Turnout was not good. In 2020, we had more voters. This time — not a lot of enthusiasm or energy.

Why did Latinos vote for Trump, despite his harsh and false statements about immigrants?

Well, I see many reasons. First, Democrats didn’t do a good job of differentiating themselves from Trump. I asked a local Democratic party leader how Harris was different and how the two parties’ agendas differed. He said, “At least we’re not Trump.” That doesn’t cut it! We needed positive reasons to vote for Harris — I think the Democrats took our vote for granted. They started very late even remembering Latino voters.

Especially for men, their wallet was a big issue — most of the Latino votes for Republicans came from men — because they feel responsible for providing for their families. And our culture is still pretty patriarchal and macho, so many men didn’t mind Trump’s attitude toward women.

Some of the language used by Democrats was a turnoff. For example, they used Latinx. We don’t use that. They sounded out of touch, not even knowing the right terms to use.

What about our experience with Trump in his first term? AMLO handled Trump well; he knew how to massage his ego to get his way. So, in terms of US-Mexico relations, some good things happened between 2018 when AMLO was elected and 2020 when Trump was defeated.

I have one example myself. When AMLO visited Trump at the White House, it was right after a Black Lives Matter protest, and the armed forces were out in force — with tanks, even! Chicago Morena supporters planned to go to DC to celebrate AMLO’s visit, but friends in DC told us it was dangerous to go, especially since some of us were undocumented. We went anyway. To our surprise, when we entered the area, it was empty. Trump had removed the military, and we were allowed to greet AMLO in peace.

But every Mexicano knows people who aren’t documented, often in their own families. Aren’t they worried about Trump’s promise to deport millions?

Of course, Trump will have to make good on some of his promises, and some deportations will happen. But it won’t be 10 million; that’s not realistic. How could he manage that logistically? Immigrants are everywhere, in every community. Will he go house to house? I think many people will be able to evade getting caught. Besides, he’ll face opposition. Immigrant rights organizations are getting ready. But also, agribusiness and other industries that rely on immigrant labor don’t want to lose their workers. Maybe he’ll deport one million and say he kept his promise, just like he built pieces of the wall and claimed victory.

Why do Mexicans in the US have a different attitude about Trump than those in Mexico?

How long you’ve been in the US, your legal status, how well you are doing financially, all make a difference. The undocumented may oppose Trump, but they can’t vote! And once people move up the economic ladder, they get more conservative. Even if you’ve experienced some racist stuff, you still want to make it to the winning circle — occupied mostly by white men — and so you identify with them in the hopes you can join them.

Is there any plan from the Morenista committees in the US for this new political situation?

Long lines at Mexican consulate, Santa Ana, CA. AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

We’re writing to the Mexican government requesting that they take extraordinary measures to protect Mexicans in the US through the consulates. We’re asking that they establish a relationship with US immigration and state department officials to ensure orderly deportations that respect human rights. The consulates will require bigger budgets to provide legal help to immigrants who are detained. Their offices have to be open longer and be better staffed to provide people with the necessary documentation — especially kids. Some families with children who are US citizens may get deported. We want both the US and Mexico to keep these families together, not separating children and parents because they have different legal status.

These days, Mexicans aren’t enthusiastic about either Democrats or Republicans. We need a third option — a party like Morena! But that will take a long time to organize.

The main thing right now is to keep calm — don’t panic. Trump has said a lot of things, and we shouldn’t react as if those words were already deeds. We should stick to actual facts and act accordingly. He might not follow through on many of his proposals and threats.

But if we need to fight, we will!

Sheinbaum Stares Down Mexico’s High Court

Writer, playwright, and journalist Kurt Hackbarth is a naturalized Mexican citizen living in Oaxaca. His  political commentary is regularly featured in Sentido Común, Al Jazeera, and Jacobin. 

Since taking office on October 1 as Mexico’s first woman president, Claudia Sheinbaum has had — to put it mildly — an eventful month.

Recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane John; key constitutional amendments; new social programs for women and children. And, facing her own gruesome welcome wagon of violence — the beheading of the mayor of Chilpancingo, Guerrero, a pair of car bombings in Guanajuato, and the killing of six migrants in Chiapas.

But it was the Constitutional judicial reform amendment, initiated before she took office but ratified after on September 15, that really tested her young administration. The amendment provides for the direct popular election of federal judges. Half the federal judiciary, including the Supreme Court, will be chosen in June 2025, and the other half in 2027. Current justices will have the option of running for office again or retiring from their posts.

Judges Run Amok

The Mexican public has repeatedly demonstrated its utter fatigue with justices living high on the hog while leaving everyone else to endure a dysfunctional, profoundly unjust, and highly partisan justice system. Appointed judges stuff the bureaucracy with family members, as reported by the chief justice of the Supreme Court herself, Norma Piña. In 2022, the nepotism rate in the judicial bureaucracy was a staggering 50%, and judges routinely protect high-profile elites while leaving some 87,000 prisoners languishing for years without trials or sentences.

Remember that Morena ran on the judicial reform in 2024, asking the public to provide the two-thirds majority needed to pass it. Voters obliged. And in a series of polls taken shortly before ratification, support for the direct election of judges ranged from 68 to 75 percent.

Not surprisingly, the judiciary itself doesn’t share this enthusiasm. During the legislative process to approve the reform, judges attempted to halt congressional debate by means of injunction. However, Article 61 of Mexico’s law governing the use of injunctions (Ley de Amparo) — passed by today’s aggrieved opposition itself in 2013! — makes abundantly clear that injunctions cannot be used against constitutional amendments.

Once the amendment was officially a done deal, a conservative judge from Veracruz ordered it stripped from the book within 24 hours; if not, she warned, prosecutors could jail the president for up to nine years for contempt. Coolly, Sheinbaum noted that it was illegal for the judge to remove something already added to the Official Federal Register, and therefore it was the judge who was in contempt.

Then it was the Supreme Court’s turn. Throughout October, opposition legislators and political parties submitted a series of petitions to stop the reform. But political parties in Mexico don’t have standing to seek injunctions on constitutional matters.

On October 28, Justice Juan Luis Alcántara Carrancá presented a draft of his ruling. In language eerily reminiscent of the Bush v. Gore decision of 2000, which infamously limited itself to the “present circumstances,” Alcantára’s text took great pains to present this case as “exceptional” (9 times) and “an exceptionality” (5 times). He admits that a constitutional amendment cannot be unconstitutional but contends that the offending parts of the reform are not constitutional-level text at all. These parts can be downgraded to simple “federal electoral law" and thus susceptible to being overturned.

There is more than a whiff of desperation around this vulgar little coup, what in Spanish is called patadas de ahogado, the flailing of a drowning person. The strategy is clearly to put Sheinbaum’s administration in an early bind: either knuckle under and accept its wayward ruling or be seen as disobeying the highest court of the land. This would reinforce the authoritarian image of Morena’s popular government, carefully cultivated by the national and international press over the last six years.

Postscript: Game over! On November 6, Alcantara’s proposal fell one vote short in the Supreme Court. If passed, it would have triggered a battle between the judiciary and the executive. The election of judges will now go forward as planned.

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.

Pablo Manríquez, Biden Team Plans One More Asylum Ban Migrant Insider. The push by Nuñez-Neto and Sherwood Randall comes as migrant rights advocates desperately push the president to do anything he can to protect communities before Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States on January 6.

Luis Hernández Navarro, Chiapas, narcotráfico y neocolonialismo La Haine. En Chiapas, además, esta ofensiva está enmarcada en la guerra de contrainsurgencia contra el zapatismo y las comunidades en resistencia. No en balde, muchos viejos paramilitares o sus hijos se han sumado al crimen organizado en esta cruzada. La nueva colonización narca demanda aniquilar la voluntad de luchar por una otra vida, que los rebeldes encarnan.

Mexican workers assaulted and sent death threats for unionizing at Canadian-owned mine Financial Post. The Mexican government has formally recognized an independent miners’ union as the legal bargaining agent for workers at the Canadian-owned Camino Rojo mine in Zacatecas. However, the mine’s owner, Orla Mining, has pressured workers to instead join a pro-employer “protection” union.

Arturo Sánchez Jiménez, Demandan activistas a Sheinbaum romper relaciones con Israel La Jornada. Manifestantes partieron poco antes de las siete de la noche en una caminata desde el Antimonumento +43, en Paseo de la Reforma y avenida Juárez, con rumbo a la embajada de Estados Unidos, en donde instalarán una ofrenda por los fallecidos en Gaza.

Pablo Meriguet, Mexico’s Judicial Reform survives latest right-wing attack People’s Dispatch. Both Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s previous administration and Claudia Sheinbaum’s current administration have fiercely defended the reform, which promises a greater democratization of Mexican justice. The reform proposes to limit the economic benefits of judges and hold popular elections of thousands of judges at all levels.

Estado y poder en el México de la 4T Memoria. Para nadie es un secreto que, por esta vía, dichos gobiernos lograron transformaciones sociales considerables, develando así la importancia estratégica que tiene el Estado para las luchas populares que disputan el contenido y forma de la nación. Sin embargo, lo que a primera vista resulta inexplicable es que México, un país con constantes tendencias progresistas y donde la construcción de la reforma intelectual fue más profunda en el siglo XXI, llegara tarde en este siglo XXI.

Tomás Garrido Canabal: a life dedicated to the Mexican southeast Archivo General de la Nación - Mexico. Despite growing up in a conservative family of wealthy landowners, the young Tomás Garrido sought to show his own ideals related to the socialist, democratic and liberal tendencies that were beginning to awaken the revolutionary spirit of the time.

Viri Ríos, Una Corte dispuesta a todo Milenio. Cayeron las máscaras. En tiempo real observamos cómo el bloque duro de ministros opositores está dispuesto a todo con tal de echar abajo partes de la reforma judicial.

Mexico Demands Arms Embargo Against Israel, Mexico Solidarity Media. It remains to be seen whether these signatories will take action to enforce this arms embargo if the UN Security Council fails in its responsibilities: a number of the signatories currently grant transit for arms shipments.

Uriel Velázquez Vidal, La historia del Movimiento Marxista Leninista mexicano Resumen Latinoamericano. La historia del Movimiento Marxista Leninista de México se remonta a los debates dentro del Partido Comunista Mexicano, originados por la influencia de las tesis delineadas en el XX Congreso del Partido Comunista de la Unión Soviética de 1956, que motivó el análisis de los errores en la conducción del instituto político y en la exigencia de aplicar urgentes rectificaciones en la organización.

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!

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