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The weekly newsletter of the Mexico Solidarity Project |
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Every issue archived online at mexicosolidarityproject.org |
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April 03, 2024/ Meizhu Lui, for the editorial team |
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Bridging the Divide: Gender in Transition |
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Judge Ociel Baena |
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Transplant, transport, translate — the list goes on. We use “trans” to mean crossing a boundary, moving something to a different place, connecting where there was no connection before.
Transgender people, those who are not of the gender wrongly assigned to them at birth, fit the general definition of a fluid action that benefits the sides being connected. We can save a person’s life with transfused blood or a transplanted kidney without hurting the donor. We can produce food in one place and carry it to another place where that food is needed. We can put the words of one language into the words of another to foster understanding.
The gender binary was never universal. For example, Indigenous people of North America called nonbinary people “two-spirits,” recognizing that far from being defective, they had twice the power of men or women. Under capitalism, the binary became important and enforced: men performed the labor that produced wealth, women produced more laborers to replenish the supply. It’s past time to do away with those gender assignments, and it’s a revolutionary task.
As nonbinary activist Edwing Roldán tells us, transcending the gender barrier today is dangerous and can generate conflict even among those in the feminist and LGBTQ+ movements. But taking actions that disrupt the way things are, even when those actions are beneficial, always takes experimentation and risk before we get it right. How many ships went down looking for transatlantic passages?
What is clear is that nonbinary people are transforming our societies, and our relationships with one another. As Edwing says, “Trans rights are popular rights too!” |
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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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Judge Ociel Baena: Hero/Heroine |
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Edwing “Canuto” Roldán is a nonbinary poet, Secretary of the World Poetry Slam Organization, organizer of LGBTQ+ cultural events in Arrecife Arte Trans, and on the editorial board at Anémona magazine, a publication made for and by trans and nonbinary kids, youth and families. They are also a collaborator at Fondo de Cultura Económica and an activist in the Movimiento Socialista del Poder Popular. |
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In November 2023, Jesús Ociel Baena-Saucedo, Mexico's first openly nonbinary magistrate, was killed. Tell us about them.
Jesús Ociel Baena-Saucedo was a groundbreaker. Well known as an LGBTQ+ activist, in October 2022 they (Baena used the pronouns they, she, and he) became the first nonbinary judge in Latin America, appointed in the state of Aguascalientes to the Electoral Tribunal, which specializes in matters related to elections.
Only 13 months later, tragically for our movement, they were found dead at home. Worse, the authorities quickly called it a “romance” crime without enough investigation to determine if it was a hate crime, though it had been documented that they’d been threatened several times. The murders of LGBTQ+ people are still not adequately recognized as hate crimes, often downplayed as “domestic violence.” After that announcement, 15,000 people took to the streets to demand a better official response. Ociel Baena may well have suffered discrimination in death! |
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Aguascalientes magistrate and LGBTQ+ activist Ociel Baena. (Ociel Baena/X) |
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Were they trans? That very question raises some thorny issues, including within the LGBTQ+ movement. Some said Baena was trans; others asked, “Are you sure he’s not a gay man?” Our movement is conflicted about how people identify themselves. Some claim that “nonbinary” is the same as trans. And some trans people say that “nonbinary” is the Trojan horse of gay men. But we should respect Baena’s own statement of their identity without unnecessary speculation. They were nonbinary! And they fought constantly for more rights for all nonconforming gender people. |
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What gains did they make for LGBTQ+?
I’ll take one big example: the state’s recognition of more than two gender identities. |
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In Mexico our ID card is not our driver’s license, as in the US. It is our voting card, issued by the National Electoral Institute, the INE. When we used to get our mandatory identification card, we had to choose male or female. Thanks to Baena and his being a judge in the Electoral Tribunal, which is related to the INE, we can now choose not to have those gender designations on our INE card; this recognizes the trans and nonbinary voting population.
But the INE card is not an official designation of gender. Ociel Baena got the first official nonbinary passport and, importantly, became the first to have their birth certificate re-issued with a box added for “nonbinary.” Today, we are allowed to modify our birth certificates. If you are trans, you can change your gender from the one assigned at birth. |
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Baena became the first Mexican to receive a nonbinary passport. (Marcelo Ebrard/X) |
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In the US, since gays and lesbians have become widely accepted, conservatives have targeted trans people. What is it like for trans people in Mexico?
Second to Brazil, Mexico has the most trans femicides in Latin America — murders of people simply because they are trans women. In 2024, 21 trans women have already been murdered. These are just the ones correctly categorized; many are simply counted as homicides.
The Right is definitely targeting trans people. The Frente Nacional para la Familia is an organized anti-trans political formation in Mexico City. It promotes the traditional nuclear family with everyone in traditional gender roles; it actively demonizes trans people and organizes against trans rights. Congresspeople Lily Tellez and América Rangel, from the conservative PAN party, support this ultra-right group. The group stokes hatred through fake news, saying things like the trans movement wants to “mutilate kids.”
Because the job market discriminates against trans women, many are forced to turn to sex work, which too often ends in murder. Worse yet, feminists don’t fully support them; some don’t recognize sex work as work because, they claim, sex workers allow men to dominate. This view reflects the classism within the feminist movement. |
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Pedro Lollet/vogue.com/Mexico City Pride Parade 2022 "Your hate and ignorance are not my responsibility." |
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The women’s movement and the LGBTQ+ movement don’t hold just one point of view and haven’t always been mutually supportive in the past. A strand of feminism denies that trans women exist and claims that trans women are trying to take away women’s rights. As for trans men, they have it much easier than trans women — but some lesbian women say that trans men are fakes!
On the plus side, the Supreme Court recognizes the right to identify yourself as trans, including people under the age of 18 but over 12. It recently also recognized femicide and trans femicides as specific kinds of crimes that should be identified as such. In Mexico City, we have clinics that know how to care for transitioning and trans people; of course, more are needed outside of the urban center. |
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AMLO has been criticized for not giving adequate attention to gender issues. Do you agree?
When AMLO became president in 2018, we had a lot of hope, but we’ve been disappointed. Morena hasn’t paid attention to the feminist and LGBTQ+ movements; we’ve had no communication or public discussion of the issues.
But we also have our own problems. Today, three important movements don’t yet understand each other: feminism, LGBTQ+, and socialism. From my point of view, many feminists and LGBTQ+ activists are missing a class perspective. And some in the movement engage in “pink washing.” They’re in it for the partying, the parade, the show — not to demand rights. Too many politicians and corporations pay lip service to LGBTQ+ for votes and dollars but don’t provide more access to health, social services, and justice. |
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Will Ociel Baena be remembered for their leadership role in advancing LGBTQ+ rights? |
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Giving last good-bys to magistrate Ociel Baena |
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They inspired others to be open and public about who they are; they never said or did things to “fit in.” They demanded respect — and they gave respect, or they would never have been appointed a judge. Ociel Baena celebrated their nonbinary identity. But it wasn’t just about identity. It was about social justice. That’s the lesson we must learn from their example. |
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They say we are unpronounceable ... |
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Edwing "Canuto" Roldán World Poetry Slam Organization Secretary |
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Edwing Roldán calls themself a “poet without language.” Because language is only one tool to say what cannot be said, to create images and emotions that transcend the black symbols on the page or the person on the stage. They are a leader in a world-wide movement of slam poets who are the most radical practitioners of freedom of expression, using their bodies as well as their voices. From different languages, from different countries, from different circumstances, the poets support and challenge each other to unleash the real stories of their people — however they define who their people are — into the world.
-Meizhu Lui |
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They say we are unpronounceable meaningless signs that contaminate and hinder its structure because they make them stop at every step, notice what it means have only a couple of options. To be or not to be it is a dilemma of death. We are your vanishing point his ineffable cross, the mark in significant which nullifies its dual logic. reverse reading, lyrics that are ghosts vestiges of sexes that they wanted to erase and they don't disappear.
Dicen que somos impronunciables, signos sinsentido que contaminan y entorpecen su estructura porque les hacen detenerse a cada paso, reparar en lo que significa tener solo un par de opciones. Ser o no ser es un dilema de muerte. Somos su punto de fuga, su cruz inefable, su tache inaudito, la marca in significante que anula su lógica dual. Lectura inversa, letras qux sxn fantasmxs vestigios de desexs que han querido borrar y no desaparecen. |
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Recent news reports and commentaries, from progressive and mainstream media, |
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José Luis Granados Ceja, Mexico debates a rising political party's 'New Deal' for the poor Al Jazeera. It is Lopez Obrador’s unique political identity as both a populist and an iconoclast that has transformed Mexican politics, not only in terms of lifting the people’s living standards but also renewing their faith in government and raising their revolutionary consciousness. When AMLO was elected president, 88 percent of Mexican respondents told pollsters that they believed that the government primarily served the elites. But since then, the ratio of Mexicans who trust the federal government has nearly doubled.
Ernesto Reyes, Derecho de réplica Paola Flores. A Alejandro Murat se le ha cuestionado por haber sido cómplice u omiso en la gran operación de despojo a familias oaxaqueñas. Con estos antecedentes, Mario Delgado y Claudia Sheinbaum lo propusieron como candidato.
Kurt Hackbarth, The Campaign to Smear AMLO as a Narco Jacobin. As the Mexican presidential campaign heats up, media outlets and think tanks are desperately trying to tie AMLO and his popular Morena party to drug traffickers. It's a ludicrous smear that smacks of elite desperation.
Alejandro Páez Varela y Álvaro Delgado Gómez Salinas Pliego seguirá siendo un factor de desestabilización: Noroña Sin Embargo. “El tipo es muy reaccionario, le ha ido muy bien en este sistema, pero él cree que por ser poderoso económicamente nosotros debemos de obedecerlo, no, nosotros debemos de obedecer al pueblo”.
Brandon Mancilla, Our Class Has No Borders: Why the UAW Is Standing Up with Mexican Auto Workers Labor Notes. The UAW, and the labor movement as a whole, face an existential question: are we going to consent to our decline, or do what it takes to end the international race to the bottom?
Julieta Villegas Aguayo, El famoso usurero no es millonario, sólo es el más grande deudor fiscal del país SPR Informa. La campaña sucia de Salinas Pliego inicia lanzándose contra el SAT, afirmando sin pruebas, que ha sido «extorsionado» por la institución.
Johnathan Hettinger and Carey Gillam, ‘We are defending your products:’ Emails reveal coordination between US government, industry in foreign trade disputes The New Lede. Against the backdrop of a fierce battle between the United States and Mexico over the safety of certain farming products, newly obtained government communications provide fresh evidence of how powerful corporate interests often drive US officials to meddle in foreign affairs.
Ataca Milei a los presidentes de México y de Colombia La Jornada. El presidente de Argentina, criticó una vez más al mandatario mexicano. "Es un halago que un ignorante como López Obrador hable mal de mí, me enaltece", dijo.
U.S. Tries to Force Potentially Hazardous GM Corn on Mexico Center for Food Safety. CFS maintains that Mexico cannot be forced to rely on U.S. protestations that GM foods are safe, because the U.S. position is based on a sham regulatory system designed to promote GM food acceptance domestically and abroad rather than ensure GMOs are safe. What passes for GMO oversight fails the definition of "regulation" in USMCA, says CFS, since it is not mandatory, and is filled with loopholes and inconsistencies rather than applying generally to all GMOs.
Roberto Téllez ¿Habrá huelga? STRM busca mejoras laborales para más de 63 mil empleados El Sol de Córdoba. El Sindicato de Telefonistas de la República Mexicana (STRM) alista el emplazamiento a huelga hacia Teléfonos de México. |
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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, Susan Weiss. To give feedback or get involved yourself, please email us! |
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