Mexico

The fightback
User avatar
blindpig
Posts: 12209
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 pm
Location: Turtle Island
Contact:

Re: Mexico

Post by blindpig » Wed Dec 29, 2021 2:42 pm

ABOUT THE III GOVERNMENT REPORT OF LÓPEZ OBRADOR


Published: December 06, 2021

Image

In favor of the monopolies, against the workers. Nothing changed in the country

Declaration of the Communist Party of Mexico

At the beginning of the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador in 2018, the Communist Party of Mexico affirmed that this government would be distinguished by its demagoguery and its double discourse, that Obrador would lead the country in close unity with the monopolies and businessmen at the forefront. of the same in the main branches of the economy, which are grouped in an Advisory Council. The forecast was correct. For this reason, as before, the only alternative for the workers and the popular sectors is to decisively confront this fallacious administration.



In his message to the nation after three years of government, López Obrador places lie after lie and ratifies himself as a bold government to favor the bourgeoisie inside and outside the country, as well as powerless to respond even partially to workers and popular needs. Where Obrador ensures basifications and achievements for the workers, what in reality there is is precariousness and an increase in extreme poverty; while insisting on the existence of a transformative process, it is omitted that it is a question of a subordination of the working class to capital.

The 4T is not only a trickster capitalist regime, but also a mythomaniac by conviction and necessity in order to ensure the demobilization of the people, make the monopoly project pass as a popular one and achieve this with the greatest possible advantage, with hardly any concessions. for the workers by extolling the charity and goodwill of the employers as the only possible answer to the great national problems. In three years, it can be confirmed that this response is a dead end. That we are clearly in front of the government of the plutocracy.

Prior to his message, and during it, the government has boasted of increasing the minimum wage of the working class like never before. Sometimes it claims that this increase is 42% and other times 65%, the truth is that the figures cannot hide the consequences of the actions of the current government. The streets of big cities have become bustling pilgrimages, where workers not only yearn to sell their labor power, but any merchandise that allows them to subsist. While reinforcing corporate unionism, this government hits labor rights one after another, and not only fosters the absence of all stable employment but has tolerated and enforced the eviction of thousands of workers from their jobs in the public sector and private. The figures on the state of the workplace are to take into account: more and more members of the working class are forced to work for one or two minimum wages, while the sector of those who receive three or more wages continues to decline, with the basic food basket, health and education being increasingly inaccessible . This is closely related to the concentration and centralization of wealth and capital in a few millionaires. 5 of the monopolists that Q4 present as a role model have amassed a fortune in the three years of Obrador's government that amounts to more than 110 billion dollars, 30% of the wage income of the entire working class in Mexico in a quarter. the basic food basket, health and education being increasingly inaccessible. This is closely related to the concentration and centralization of wealth and capital in a few millionaires. 5 of the monopolists that Q4 present as a role model have amassed a fortune in the three years of Obrador's government that amounts to more than 110 billion dollars, 30% of the wage income of the entire working class in Mexico in a quarter. the basic food basket, health and education being increasingly inaccessible. This is closely related to the concentration and centralization of wealth and capital in a few millionaires. 5 of the monopolists that Q4 present as a role model have amassed a fortune in the three years of Obrador's government that amounts to more than 110 billion dollars, 30% of the wage income of the entire working class in Mexico in a quarter.

The Executive's message to the nation insists on presenting itself as anti-neoliberal. In this regard, it is possible to advance two conclusions: it only differs from the previous governments of the PRI and the PAN by minor nuances, as well as without a doubt it is the continuity of the neoliberal management of capitalism in Mexico. The so-called Decalogue of the Washington Consensus, the historical platform of economic liberalism, is applied closely with López Obrador and constitutes the rules of this demagogic government: fiscal austerity, under the scheme of the “fight against corruption and republican austerity”; transfer of public spending for high interest projects of monopolies; deregulation and liberalization of interest rates; economic integration; openness to foreign investment; guarantees of property rights; privatizations,

The López Obrador government and the new social democracy have continued the path of large cuts in health, education and housing, disguised with welfare plans that have not prevented - as during the entire period of the governments of Miguel de la Madrid, Carlos Salinas, Zedillo, Fox, Calderón and Peña Nieto- the increase in extreme poverty. It has rejected the creation of stable jobs, the production and distribution of goods for the benefit of the working class and popular strata, as well as setting prices or limits on the voracity of monopolies, characteristics that have distinguished capitalist management in Mexico from the last 40 years. In addition, as with the PRI and the PAN, for the monopolists all decisions: trade agreements, trans-isthmian corridors, special economic zones, industrial reconversion, export economy, infrastructure projects, trains, marine highways, airports, etc., etc. This government, like those of the PRI and the PAN, works day and night for the concentration and centralization of capital, for the strengthening of monopolies. What is important in the report is what is not said, such as the decision to mortgage the working class in the economic confrontation of the United States against its main competition, which are Chinese capital, in order to further magnify the dominant bourgeoisie and its yearnings for markets, transportation routes and profit shares commensurate with their imperialist development. for the strengthening of monopolies. What is important in the report is what is not said, such as the decision to mortgage the working class in the economic confrontation of the United States against its main competition, which are Chinese capital, in order to further magnify the dominant bourgeoisie and its yearnings for markets, transportation routes and profit shares commensurate with their imperialist development. for the strengthening of monopolies. What is important in the report is what is not said, such as the decision to mortgage the working class in the economic confrontation of the United States against its main competition, which are Chinese capital, in order to further magnify the dominant bourgeoisie and its yearnings for markets, transportation routes and profit shares commensurate with their imperialist development.

Obrador and his compact group maintain that there is no militarization, that this is an infamy. Infamy is to give continuity to the strengthening of the role of the armed forces, whitewashed with the opportunistic discourse of the "people in arms," ​​etc., which he highlighted with the governments of Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto. Now the armed forces have not only achieved legality in public security tasks, but step by step the bourgeoisie through Obrador consolidates them as efficient managers in countless state tasks. The armed forces are, with the 4T, the shock force of capitalism against the working class, strengthened as the best administrators of the interests of the monopolies. Three years ago the Communist Party argued that the monopolies were aimed at developing a state of exception, The 4T and Obrador have carried out these plans even bearing the cost of gradually cracking bourgeois democracy, exalting authoritarianism and consolidating the class dictatorship of capital over the workers. In this framework, the struggle between the different parties of the bourgeoisie is nothing more than the dispute between different political groups of the same ruling class.

The Obrador government in these three years has been one of torture and sacrifices for the working class and the popular sectors: exploitation, increase in the rate of profit, poverty, unemployment, disease, mortality, school dropouts, dispossession of land, crime, violence . The working class needs to stand up, face the entire class of capitalists. It is clear that the alternative to capitalism, to its neoliberal management, is not a social democracy disciplined to the vested interests of large monopolists, but the struggle for a New Revolution: socialism-communism, the control of the working class over production and distribution of goods in the interest of the majority of the population, the Workers' Power to drive out all the capitalists and their representatives in order to put society for the benefit of the people. This begins now, with the resolute and combative, class struggle organized independently of the State and its governments, the working class and the popular sectors for the satisfaction of their contemporary needs: health, housing, education, right to life, full employment, social and labor rights, etc. In the way of this, capitalism in Mexico and the management of the new social democracy for the monopolies stand in the way. The task is to tear down the obstacles and illusions to achieve a New Revolution, the socialist revolution.

Proletarians of all countries, unite!


The Political Bureau of the Central Committee

http://www.comunistas-mexicanos.org/par ... ez-obrador

Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

User avatar
blindpig
Posts: 12209
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 pm
Location: Turtle Island
Contact:

Re: Mexico

Post by blindpig » Wed Feb 02, 2022 2:35 pm

CP of Mexico, On the election of the leadership of the Petroleum Workers Union of the Mexican Republic
2/1/22 4:07 PM

More than 89,000 oil workers affiliated with the Oil Workers Union of the Mexican Republic elect their general secretary, a position that has been vacant for two years since the corrupt former PRI legislator Carlos Romero Deschamps was removed.

From the Communist Party of Mexico we make the following remarks about said electoral process.

The role of President López Obrador has been one of open and rude interference in the internal life of the oil union, since he took office; this largely with the consent of the dissident leaderships themselves, who, confronted with the old PRI cacicazgo, align themselves with its "anti-corruption" policy as the solution to the ills that afflict the union. Losing sight of the fact that precisely this has been the main evil that afflicts the workers of PEMEX, since the chief executive is also the representative of the employers, that is, the Mexican State, since it is a public company and we already know that you can be “judge and jury”.

That allowing or granting the President of the Republic the power to intervene or influence the internal life of the union results in the corporatism that is said to be combated, the control of the union is given through the state apparatuses, the party in government , of the distribution of public positions or seats.

Twenty-five candidates registered to run for the General Secretariat, and yet this is not a sign of freedom and union democracy, this means the dispersion of the workers' vote, this is to maintain and promote the division of workers, prevent unity to give them the strength to defend their conquests and labor rights against the bosses (the Mexican State through PEMEX) and their partners, the monopolies that today control the oil sector.

In this way, the social democratic government, a faithful servant of the interests of the monopolies that have benefited from all the reforms to the Constitution and its secondary laws, today applies the labor reform approved in May 2019, demagogically propagandizing that this is how the freedom of association, but leaves aside the main issue of class independence, since without union independence there can be no union democracy; that is to say, the leaders cannot be freely elected nor can the interests of the workers be truly represented.

Nor do we lose sight of the fact that this labor reform is in tune with the labor chapter of the T-MEC, and that therefore it is not favorable to the true interests of the working class.

The so-called "morning catwalk" where candidates were able to express their proposals, limited to a maximum time of five minutes, showed the limits and shortcomings of the election, the candidates are tied by the hands of the process, the union control machinery she is still alive, with a new outfit, even if the electronic voting system does not “fall”; On the other hand, they have a deep influence of the ideology of the ruling class, conciliation and class collaboration predominate in their approaches, prevailing the bourgeois ideology of the Mexican Revolution.

Given this scenario, we affirm that contrary to what the Secretary of Labor, María Luisa Alcalde, affirmed, there is no “unprecedented exercise of union democracy”; and we denounce that the Federal Government has not only not remained on the sidelines, as President López Obrador affirms, but has carried out the trade union transition without breaking with the old vices and practices that guarantee the government in turn renewed corporate control of the union. Such a brutal exercise, even if it goes with “democratic” clothes, is only comparable to the charrazo methodfirst applied against the railroad workers and later against all classist union expressions, practiced by the PRI for decades to control and corporatize the union movement. It is very clear that López Obrador intends to reissue this policy of subordination to the State of the labor and trade union movement based on corporatism and union control, and in the application of that policy he fully agrees with the US Department of State and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Preserved the essence, the form is safely preserved, for a submissive policy to the Boss, and against the interests of the workers. If in its essence none of the dissident slates articulated their union program with independent class criteria, if the unity of the dissidents around a program with these characteristics was not claimed, but was dispersed among personal, sectional, local referents, etc., each one with the same sounding board program of the government in turn as supposedly opposed to the charro leadership, then the State as Boss has ensured that all the union currents of the STPRM not only allow it to intervene but also compete to see which of them "better serve the 4T", and it is easy to anticipate in such conditions a ratification of the group that controls the STPRM.

The oil workers still have a long way to go before they can definitively win their independence as a class. All the country's unions and workers must look at this mirror, because with a social democratic government like MORENA's, the essence of politics does not change. of the monopolies, since the class struggle that occurs as a consequence of the contradiction between capital and labor is not annulled.



Proletarians of all countries, unite!

The Political Bureau of the PCM Central Committee

http://solidnet.org/article/CP-of-Mexic ... -Mexicana/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

User avatar
blindpig
Posts: 12209
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 pm
Location: Turtle Island
Contact:

Re: Mexico

Post by blindpig » Fri Mar 25, 2022 2:34 pm

CIA Intervention in Mexico: The Removal of “Mexico’s Most Dangerous Communist”
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MARCH 24, 2022
Ivan Gonzalez

Image

In 1963, the CIA financed campaigns against three rectors of three universities across the Mexican states of Michoacan, Puebla, and Monterrey. As well as mobilizing right wing student-teacher groups and anti-communist propaganda institutes, also financed by the CIA, under secret project “LICOAX” and “LIHUFF” to carry out strikes, physical confrontations, gather intelligence, and spread the campaigns outside the university campus.

As detailed by the declassified CIA document below:

Image

There’s a rector in the report named Eli De Gortari, who was identified as “Mexico’s most dangerous Communist” by an informant (an unidentified professor) that was working with the CIA.

Before being elected as rector at Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo in the state of Michoacán, Gortari was already known as a leftist professor and writer with ties to Socialist and Communist groups with constant participation in student movements.

After being submitted as a candidate endorsed by top student organizations, such as the Federación de Estudiantes de la Universidad Michoacana (FEUM) and Consejo Estudiantil Nicolaita (CEN), Eli De Gortari would be officially selected as rector in 1961 by the University Council. Gortari was also well received by Governor David Franco Rodriguez who sympathized with Eli De Gortari’s political views.

Image

What was Eli De Gortari doing as rector at the University in Michoacán to be labeled as “Mexico’s most dangerous Communist”?

Eli De Gortari concentrated on planning his and the universities actions using Dialectical Materialism (A Marxist approach). The main goal being to build a solid connection between education and the community, using the university as an institution to transform the material conditions of the surrounding community.

Some of Eli de Gortari’s actions and accomplishments as rector from 1961-1962:

– Reformed lesson plans

– Establishment of a student Medical Center

– Expansion of the university campus through the construction of new buildings dedicated to majors such as nursing, engineering, etc.

– Improved working conditions with the ideal that better labor conditions for teachers and staff promotes a higher quality of education. Including the increase in the salaries of the professors and campus workers,and providing health care for staff; thus, becoming the first university in the nation to achieve this.

– Establishment of a low-cost night school with education levels ranging from middle to high school. Specifically created to help workers who wanted an education as well. The night school was operated by university staff and a few education majors who in the process gained experience teaching.

– Establishment of new science programs and majors,while sustaining the humanitarian focus of the university

– Increased financial support for low-income students

– Added more campus housing for students and university cafeteria

– The creation of a community outreach program to provide the surrounding area of Morelia, Michoacán with artistic, cultural, and sport activities. As well as medical assistance, self-care education, counseling on the construction and maintenance of housing, legal advice, etc.

During Eli de Gortari’s first years as rector, the university was able to acquire the highest funding it had received in its history, as well as other resources gathered by the student federation. With all these changes happening so quickly, there were rumors of a group of people who weren’t happy with how things were being handled and were secretly conspiring.

On February 1, 1963, the CIA financed student-teacher group officially took action: 75 right wing students and some teachers signed an Anti-Gortari manifesto demanding he be removed from his position. This would mark the start of the CIA financed campaign against Gortari, which included claims such as, the misuse of funds, not being suitable for the position since he was born in Mexico City, that the community outreach program was not created to help the community but to spread Socialist and Communist ideology, and more.

In reaction, Pro-Gortari teachers and students organized in his defense against the right wing group. This would start confrontations between both groups on campus.

February 7th, 1963:

Since the majority of staff and students supported Gortari as rector, the University Council decided to suspend those who signed the Anti-Gortari Manifesto and were carrying out the campaign. That same evening a group of the Anti-Gortari students went to Gortari’s office to insult him and held him hostage, along with the general secretary of the University and the Dean of the Law Department.

The Anti-Gortari students had a strike earlier that same day but failed to have any significant impact.

February 11th, 1963:

The University Council decided to indefinitely expel 34 professors and 13 students who signed the manifesto against Gortari and were disrupting activities on campus.

February 14th, 1963:

Image

At this point, out of 340 professors, 280 were supporters of Gortari and out of 5,000 students only 250 aligned with the Anti-Gortari group. It was very clear that Gortari had the support of the majority on campus.

However, Anti-Gortari students and staff started to reach out to the conservative and anti-communist groups outside of campus, as well as reaching out to business men, banks, the industrial sector, etc.; insisting they too should get involved in the removal of Gortari. Through the support of their CIA financed activities, they gained the support of the new governor, Agustin Arriaga Rivera, as an ally despite claiming neutrality.

February 20th, 1963:

Governor Rivera sent a letter asking Gortari to re-admit those who were expelled from the university;this letter was also signed by Military General Felix Ireta. Gortari replied saying he would take the letter to the University Council so they could collectively decide.

During the first days of March 1963, the university became a tense environment as a result of the Anti-Gortari groups occupying buildings in protest while the Pro-Gortari groups were trying to avoid them wanting the campus to go back to normal.

March 14th, 1963:

The governor passed a new university law proclaiming the local government is the only entity with the authority to pick rectors instead of the University Council.

Eli De Gortari was fired the following day and all the University Council members were removed from their positions. Students and staff began to organize campus-wide protests.

Image

March 16th, 1963:

While Pro-Gortari student leaders met with the governor to express their disagreement of the removal of their rector, the military tried to enter the university to occupy it.

The students on campus quickly moved to defend the university and prevent the military from entering; blocking all entrances and keeping lookout on the rooftops. The military started to shoot live rounds against the students on the rooftops of the school. Many students were wounded and 1 student was killed: Manuel Oropeza García.

Once inside, the military detained multiple teachers and labeled them “Subversive”: Juan Brom, José Luis Balcárcel, Ricardo Ferré Damoré, Carlos Félix Lugo y José Herrera Peña. As well as detaining student leaders: Efrén Capiz Villegas and Víctor Rafael Estrada. Eli De Gortari would later leave Michoacán and head to Mexico City.

The story of the removal of Eli De Gortari, “Mexico’s most dangerous Communist”, by the campaign financed and mobilized by the CIA, which led to the murder of a student is just one of the many moments when the CIA has committed imperialist actions in universities in Mexico.

One must learn and analyze this history to understand how communities in México have organized and attempted to change their material conditions, but were met with various repressive strategies. Not just from those in power within Mexico, but also from international forces like the United States/CIA who have absolutely no right in deciding how communities in other nations collectively move forward.

Sources (In Spanish):

https://cieumich.mx/EbookLetras29/pages ... doA27.html

CIA document: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... elPageId=2

Project LICOAX: https://www.maryferrell.org/php/cryptdb.php?id=LICOAX

Project LIHUFF: https://www.maryferrell.org/php/cryptdb.php?id=LIHUFF

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/03/ ... communist/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

User avatar
blindpig
Posts: 12209
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 pm
Location: Turtle Island
Contact:

Re: Mexico

Post by blindpig » Mon Apr 18, 2022 1:59 pm

Mexico Denies UN Accusations of Enforced Disappearance Impunity

Image
AMLO rejected critics reflected in UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances. Apr. 14, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @telesurenglish

Published 14 April 2022

On Wednesday, Mexican President rejected the critics made by the UN Committee on enforced disappearances.

Andres Manuel Lòpez Obrador, Mexico's President, rejected criticisms made by the United Nations committee which called on the country to take action in light of the increase of reports of enforced disappearance.

"No international organization is going to put us in the dock if we are acting legally, humanely — if we do not allow corruption or impunity," said the Mexican President. According to the report made by the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances released on Tuesday, "organized crime has become a central perpetrator of disappearance in Mexico, with varying degrees of participation, acquiescence or omission by public servants."

The document requested immediate measures from the Mexican government to face the "alarming trend of rising enforced disappearances" which, according to the UN's statements, was facilitated by "almost absolute impunity," adding that less than six percent of reported cases had resulted in prosecutions.

The document said that men between 15 and 40 years old are the most affected by the matter, in the meantime disappearances of 12-year-old boys and girls alongside teenagers and women, continue to increase. The national register indicates that almost 99 000 people are enlisted as missing in Mexico.


The Head of State also rejected the petition to demilitarise security tasks. AMLO said that the UN officials "do not have, with all due respect, all the information."

"It's not like before when the army was used to suppress or finish off the wounded," he added.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Mex ... -0019.html

************************************************

Mexicans mobilize in support of president AMLO’s electricity reform
The electricity reform promoted by president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) seeks to nationalize Mexico’s energy industry by rolling back the process that opened it up to foreign and private investment in 2013

April 15, 2022 by Tanya Wadhwa
Mexico energy sector reform

Image
Hundreds of Mexicans marched from the Zócalo to the Chamber of Deputies in support of the electrical reform in Mexico City on April 12. (Photo: Pablo Ramos/La Jornada)

On Tuesday, April 12, hundreds of citizens took to the streets in different parts of Mexico in support of the electricity reform promoted by president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). In the capital Mexico City, members of various civil society organizations, social movements, and trade unions held a march from the Zócalo to the Chamber of Deputies. They demonstrated outside the Legislative Palace of San Lázaro, calling on the legislators of the opposition parties to approve the reform to the Electricity Industry Law (LIE), which allows nationalization of the energy industry.

The protesters chanted anti-privatization slogans such as “Join people, today is your day, nationalize energy. Fight by night, fight by day, nationalize energy”, “Free energy is what the people need; private energy can go to hell”, and “No no no, we don’t want to be a North American colony. Yes, yes, yes, we want to be a free and sovereign nation,” among others.


Demonstrations in favor of the reform also took place in the cities of San Luis Potosí and Querétaro. The call for the mobilizations was given by the National Front in Defense of the Electricity Reform, a platform that brings together over a hundred social organizations, trade unions, and progressive political parties, which advocate that the reform will help in the recovery of the country’s energy sovereignty.

Silvia Ramos Luna, general secretary of the National Union of Petroleum Technicians and Professionals (UNTyPP), one of the organizations that participated in Tuesday’s demonstration, in an interview with La Jornada stressed that energy “must be under the direction of the state, because it is a human right, not a commodity.” Luna said that “the electrical reform must be approved because it allows us to recover energy sovereignty.”

The discussion and vote on the electricity reform in the lower house of the Congress was scheduled for April 12. However, it was postponed to Sunday, April 17, on the request of the ruling center-left National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party and its allies, the Ecological Green Party of Mexico (PVEM) and the Labor Party (PT). The coordinator of the bench of deputies of the MORENA party, Ignacio Mier Velasco, reported that the request was made with the purpose of achieving greater public awareness about the content of the reform.

Mauro Espínola, member of the Socialist Alternative organization, highlighted that “mobilization is essential to achieve the reform in the face of the maneuvers of the opposition PAN, PRI, PRD and MC parties, who have expressed to vote against it.”

On April 11, the National Front condemned that “the opposition parties (PRI, PAN and PRD) tried to mount a provocation and limit their rights to mobilize scheduled for April 12 with the clear aim of justifying in some way their vote against the electricity reform, and presenting the demonstrators as violent people.”


What is AMLO’s electricity reform?

The electricity reform presented by president AMLO seeks to roll back the opening of the energy industry to foreign and private investment by the far-right government of former president Enrique Peña Nieto in 2013. The reform proposes to change electricity dispatch rules to favor state-owned entity Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) over private renewables. It seeks to limit private investment in the energy market and strengthen the state companies. It also suggests exclusively authorizing the state to carry out the exploitation of lithium, and granting the CFE the responsibility of managing the strategic generation and distribution of electricity in the country. The government wants to boost the CFE’s market share to above 54% from a current share of 38%.

The AMLO administration and the MORENA party have stated that the reform aims to modernize and strengthen the energy sector, without having the need to privatize public companies such as Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex). The federal government has also stated that the initiative will help establish a competitive public system in order to provide electricity at lower prices, and achieve higher production standards accompanied by transparency and accountability of industry activities. The government has also assured that the reform promotes a successful policy of social and environmental responsibility.

Opposition parties National Action Party (PAN), Institutional Revolutionary (PRI), Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) and Citizen’s Movement (MC) have rejected the measure. The parties have alleged that the reform threatens billions of dollars of investment, violates the trade agreements between Mexico, the United States and Canada, and will lead to electricity being more expensive.

Meanwhile, the ruling party has rejected the claims and has accused the opposition groups of defending American and Spanish energy companies operating in the country.

Opposition’s attempts to obstruct the reform

The opposition parties have made several attempts to block the initiative in the past two months, but have failed to stop it so far. They filed an appeal before the Supreme Court to reverse the reform, alleging that it was unconstitutional. However, last week, on April 7, the Supreme Court denied the bid to cancel the reform. The majority of judges voted against the articles of the proposed reform, but the majority failed to reach the votes required to invalidate the bill.

The opposition parties also raised 12 objections to the reform. MORENA’s deputy Mier Velasco, at the session of the united commissions of Energy and Constitutional Points on April 11, assured that the objections had been taken care of and necessary modifications had been made to satisfy the opposition. In the aftermath, the board of directors of the commissions of Energy approved the proposal with 24 votes in favor and 19 against, and of the Constitutional Points with 22 in favor and 18 against.

The reform now faces its biggest challenge in the Chamber of Deputies. It needs two-thirds of the votes to be approved, which is an unlikely scenario with the ruling party and its allies holding 277 of the 500 seats, and the opposition parties having expressed themselves explicitly against the reform.

AMLO’s plan B

Faced with the possible legislative defeat, on April 11, president López Obrador during his daily morning conference reported that in the event that the electricity reform did not pass, he would send a bill to reform the Mining Law to protect lithium.

“If the conservatives win, those who are in favor of foreign companies and against the Federal Electricity Commission, against the people of Mexico; if they succeed, because it can not be ruled out that there are different reasons, they want to continue stealing, the legislators are subjected to strong pressure from the companies; in case the absolute majority is not reached, the next day I send a bill to reform the Mining Law and protect lithium,” AMLO told the press.

He explained that “lithium is a strategic mineral for the independent development of Mexico, which should not be handed over to individuals, much less to foreigners, which should be the property of the people and the nation.” He added that “that specific reform does not require a supermajority, it is approved with a simple majority, half plus one, and I am sure that this will be achieved.”

The president explained that with the Court’s decision to declare the electricity reform constitutional, it would be easy to develop hydroelectric plants and produce clean, cheap energy, and not increase the price of electricity.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/04/15/ ... ty-reform/

*********************************************

Chamber of Deputies of Mexico rejects electrical reform

Image
This was the first time that the Chamber of Deputies rejected an initiative proposed by the ruling National Regeneration Movement. | Photo: @Mx_Diputados
Published April 18, 2022 (7 hours 26 minutes ago)

The electricity reform project promoted by the Mexican president did not reach the 332 votes necessary to be approved.

The deputies of Mexico rejected this Sunday the electrical reform promoted by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, failing to reach the necessary votes to advance.

READ ALSO :

Mexican deputies will discuss electricity reform

In a marathon day, the electricity sector reform project achieved 275 votes in favor, 223 against and 0 abstentions, far from the 332 votes necessary to approve the initiative.

This was the first time that the Chamber of Deputies rejected an initiative proposed by the ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena).


The electricity reform did not have the support of opposition political groups, nor by the national and foreign private sector, who publicly expressed their disagreement with the initiative.

The objective of the reform promoted by López Obrador is to repeal the 2013 energy law, proposed by former President Enrique Peña Nieto, which according to AMLO grants greater benefits to private and foreign companies.


López Obrador's proposal aims to favor state power generation plants to be self-sufficient and, at the same time, cut energy sales from private projects that come from abroad.

Hours before the decision of the Chamber of Deputies, the Mexican president reiterated that he already had his plan B in case his proposal was not approved by the plenary session.


It is expected that this Monday a new proposal will be delivered, which was signed by President López Obrador, which is a Reform to the Mining Law, so that lithium is exploited only by the State and not by private parties.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/diputado ... -0003.html

Google Translator

ALMO portrays himself as a populist, the Right portrays him as a dangerous leftist but he seems to be an economic nationalists which is marginally better than a cringing vassal. To the owners of Western capital he is just as disagreeable as the communists as he stands in the way of their profits. To the working class, subject to the extractions and oppressions of their owning class the difference is academic at best.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

User avatar
blindpig
Posts: 12209
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 pm
Location: Turtle Island
Contact:

Re: Mexico

Post by blindpig » Sat Jul 09, 2022 1:48 pm

The handling of the crisis and the counterrevolutionary process that social democracy sets in motion
JON ORTIZ 03.Jul.22 Ideology

In recent months, the “social” and change agenda that the social democratic government has as a banner and the alternative to the crisis that it intends to lead in the face of the consequences of COVID-19 has been spreading and unmasking, which ranges from the rhetoric of “ new normality” to the continuation of the “fourth” transformation before the “attack” of the so-called opposition, say FRENAA or the coalition “Por México al Frente”, etc.

But let's see how, based on the recounting of some episodes on the way in which the social democracy manages the bourgeois state under its charge, the latter helps the extinction of the protest movements, how little by little it shows the true face of its management and seeks to eliminate any expression related to the social revolution.

The military issue and hidden militarism

During the years in which AMLO dedicated himself to vindicating his "victories," one of the topics he addressed was reversing the militarization that was being implemented by the other regimes, those of the right-wing social democracy, of the PAN (during the famous "transition democracy”) and the PRI (under the so-called “pact for Mexico” in which parties from the “right” to those from the “left” participated) and which is no small thing considering the measures aimed at militarization that AMLO and the new social democracy have implemented.



What seemed to be a temporary maneuver as a consequence of the failure to manage insecurity, that is, putting public security in charge of the military, and which was once constantly criticized by the social democracy of MORENA, has been imposed as the main resource that they have [1] and they have shown it by paying bills [2] , but also, in a cynical way they began to empower and de facto legitimize their presence outside the barracks [3] , and that is, in addition to being the main contractor of the AIFA project is also the main contractor of the so-called "Mayan train" to the extent that, according to the statements of AMLO and the director of FONATUR, SEDENA [4]would be the one in charge not only of building entire sections but of the "operation and administration of income and its resources through a new military company" [5] , which can only mean managing a greater flow of income by part of the military as well as a greater influence in the institutional framework and a greater weight in the economy; At the same time, another project has been launched, that of the National Guard (GN), a body whose main component is elements from the armed forces and which is also headed by a general [6] .



Incidentally, one of the first constitutional reforms that he implemented when he was in power was to incorporate the term "permanent armed force [7] " and that in recent days has revealed to be a true maneuver of cunning and treachery, since the GN passed under the control of the army in order to avoid its "decomposition" [8] , something that has little novelty since with commanders assigned from the FAP and with the training of its elements in schools that are run by the same institution [9] , given the inefficiency or plain inexistence of any other [10] , including the supposed police training to which the elements that compose it would be subjected has been ignored to the point of violating the law of the national guard itself [11]Again, social democracy demonstrates that under the bourgeois regime the laws are a cover for the illegality with which an exceptional regime acts and normalizes.



And the foregoing is not only worrying because of the increasing role played by military elements, but also because of the direction that has been imposed in the management of resources destined for security [12] , since we must remember that the institution has been founded on the defense of a political-economic order that benefits the bourgeoisie (and for such an example we can mention the new contracts with Motorola Solutions in terms of radio communication equipment [13]); and that its officers have stood out throughout its history for having the most reactionary elements, notable for the repression of the people as well as for being in collusion and working closely and in coordination with the political elite, or being part of it bourgeoisie, something radically different from the little that the head of the Navy recalled when trying to wash the face of an institution that limps on both legs and that differs little from the officials it criticizes.







To the crisis in the price of goods, more market is "recommended"

On the other hand, in recent weeks another conflict has been manifested, the increase in the price of goods as a consequence of a crisis in the world capitalist system that surpasses the government of MORENA, which, as a good administrator and firewall, proposed as an initial measure, in the face of the increase exorbitant increase in the price of gas, the creation of a supposed gas distribution company along with the establishment by the CRE of a "temporary" price control, which in particular has caused discomfort among gas workers due to that their precarious working conditions do not allow them to remain as gas carriers with the prices established by the CRE [14] . Combined with little power on the part of the executive to ensure that the established prices are respected [15]. In other words, not only were workers already precarious, and whose conditions did not depend only on them but on the chronic unemployment that exists under the capitalist regime in Mexico, updated today with the 4t, attacked, but little was done to “remedy ” the problems derived from the monopoly of the gas oligarchy [16] , which nevertheless profits in such a way from the energy sector, the head of PROFECO pointed out that the control of its price does not prevent competition [17](among monopolies). Once again, all of the above has caused gas to remain at extremely high levels compared to last year, which means that we workers now have to spend more without our purchasing power having improved, as the social democracy boasts, since inflation itself has responsible for pulverizing the vaunted "progress" regarding the "recovery" of wages.



Incidentally, social democracy promises to "tame" the consortium of oligarchs who own the monopolies with calls for ethics and simple claims that border on demagogic theater.



Another example of how MORENA bosses around the issue of the market was the so-called "energy reform", since in short it was proposed to divide the market (46% for the business community and 54% for the bourgeois state, through the CFE) arguing that it was that the business community "does not take over" the electricity market and electricity rates are "maintained" at a price "below" inflation [18] [19] , all this justified with the legend of "not delivering lithium ” to foreigners or private initiative [20]. Given which, the bourgeois objections issued in general go hand in hand with defending "competitiveness" and the "rule of law", to which the government responded that it was trying to recover the "stewardship" of the state in energy matters and without disappearing the participation of private initiative. Which, including the final result in Congress, has been further proof of the lukewarmness with which social democracy intends to control the bourgeoisie: "reorient" the market towards healthy competition, without touching any monopoly or tycoon.







On the social question, limited reformism and the hand stretched out to the business community

It is clear that the fuel that gave vigor to the “leftist” reformist wave is running out, because in part their very poor results in the electoral consultation demonstrated how little they have managed to speed up their capacity to mobilize the masses; On the contrary, it is organizations in “rebelliousness” such as the EZLN, as well as others from the left, that have been swept away or taken to the social democratic torrent with the purpose of banal demands such as those of “carrying out the pertinent actions in accordance with the constitutional and legal framework, to undertake a process of clarifying the political decisions made in past years by political actors, aimed at guaranteeing justice and the rights of possible victims”; something that shows that the social democracy is not willing to investigate on its own the so-called crimes of the political elite, but to negotiate, for example, with the labor aristocracy by substituting them in an amicable way with their own figures, and to dupe the left, from the most bourgeois and reformist to the most naive; that the EZLN and the like spend their time demanding that MORENA “fulfill” what it promised or at least that the social democracy behaves like the progressive regime that it claims to be[21] is scandalous and shows how little serious he is with his fables, as well as the null intention of politicizing and putting an end to the so-called "bad government".



On the other hand, the state governments of the "transformation" have shown themselves to be lousy in their administration and intransigent with the demands of the various sectors of society; to the point of carrying out a frontal and punitive attack against the normalist comrades in Chiapas, as the most intransigent and repressive example, or the process of evident militarization in Tabasco and Michoacán.



It should be emphasized that in the face of the supposed "fight" against corruption, everything possible has been done to dismantle the social organizations that still survived without ties to the political apparatus, through the "individualization" of government subsidies; or if not, see the case of the remaining rural Normal Schools, of which, being "guerrilla nests", the least risky option to dismantle them is to eliminate them as a fraternization center and pulverize the social ties of the students [22]. trying to sell the idea that by spending the subsidies on their own, they would achieve more without having to resort to "corrupt intermediaries", ignoring the fact that their survival to this day is the result of the resistance and organized work of the group of normalistas .



On the other hand, AMLO, when attending an event in Chiapas and being reprimanded by the CNTE teachers, said that "we don't owe anything (to the teachers)," he further detracted from the protest and made remarks with which he implied that his government has dedicated itself to materializing the regime of "freedom (to aspire to be a good bourgeois)", (that) everyone's problems will be solved automatically; but we must remember that in his government the businessmen of the once mafia "power mafia" have been guests of the first line in his morning conferences, despite the fact that many of these individuals are responsible at the head of their monopolies for disasters of epic proportions such as the spill in the Sonora River, the responsibility of Grupo México, the collapse of subway line 12, in which the construction company CICSA part of Grupo Carso[23] has full responsibility and this has not only been questioned but has been an episode to show the complicity that some characters very close to AMLO want to keep hidden by altering the results of the expert opinion as well as blocking any attempt to serious and thorough investigation [24] .



The work of dismantling any non-aligned movement or organization is notable, in a quite subtle way by the way, because while looking for a way to undermine its social base or livelihood, a campaign is launched to enhance the achievements of the proposal , trying to highlight that the corrupt and clientelistic “intermediaries” are over, despite which the treasury continues to be used discretionally, as demonstrated by the results of the Sembrando Vida program.



Another example of the tragicomedy of the 4T is the pathetic inefficiency with which the Attorney General's Office (FGR) has operated against scandalous examples of corruption, at the hands of businessmen such as Alonso Ancira of AHMSA, who was released even after having embezzled the treasury and which did not show signs of fulfilling its commitment until he was "threatened" with prison again; It would be the last straw if, like Miguel Alemán Magnani, he took an international trip to “confer” with investors and ended up moving his home abroad. We should remember the thousands of individuals who are overcrowded in the prisons of this country, victims of the immobility of the judicial system, of the arbitrariness of the police, the military and the officials of the FGR.



And it is that, in fact, one of the most recurrent messages of social democracy, in addition to "republican austerity", is that the "emblem" projects will be completed in the next 2 years and this goes hand in hand with the constant conflicts that have arisen, for example, with the construction workers of the AIFA [25] , due to the violation of their rights, and with the community members of the adjacent regions, due to the poor quality of the works that were given to them in exchange for the cession of their land for the project; In recent months, another conflict was triggered at the Dos Bocas refinery due to the protest of some 5,000 workers from ICA Fluor (a subsidiary of the same construction cartel involved in the tragedy of Metro line 12) who demand payment of overtime, and better conditions[26] of work, and before which it was sent to the Navy and "shielded" with anti-riot elements, resulting not only in its containment as if it were a mob of arsonists [27] , with several wounded in between, but also a justification-accusation that the employer complies with its labor obligations and that the dissatisfied are not workers [28] .



Social democracy, through its "neutrality" game between workers and businessmen, pretends to advocate for the former by giving sermons to the mafia of monopolies, even when MORENA constantly acts against the interests of the working people and turns a deaf ear to the constant violations of rights. rights of the residents of the “emblem” projects in the southeast; a new example of such behavior is in the case of the expansion of the train that will connect the AIFA with CDMX, which tries not to disturb the activity of the companies that are on the track by building elevated sections in their area, while destroying the life of the communities that live on the route, responding to claims that there is "no more budget" (at least for the working people) [29] .



It would suffice to see the cases of influence in which the "elite militancy of MORENA has benefited, because even with its motto of "transformation" social democracy is not different from the other bourgeois parties because there are plenty of cases of corruption [30] , as it is in the case of Senator Guadiana, the influence and nepotism of Sánchez Cordero, Monreal or Mario Delgado, or the cases of career whitewashing of former governors by giving them the opportunity to remove them from the country as ambassadors, giving them a white check to get away with any accusation, to today Quirino Ordaz, from Sinaloa, Claudia Pavlovich, from Sonora [31] , etc.



So it becomes evident that the "commitments" of the social democracy of "transformation" once again fall on deaf ears, they are nothing more than empty campaign slogans, deception for the naive who continue to defend them.







The economic task in which social democracy is an expert

Another good example of the servility of social democracy towards the monopolies is the discourse of alleged "benefactor" and "interventionist" policy in which while on the one hand it continues to appeal to recover, for "social" benefit, de facto privatized companies such as PEMEX [32] , wholesale contracts and in favor of the participation of the same monopolies as always continue to be granted [33] , demonstrating once again that the government allocating resources to PEMEX not only saves a parastatal that operates under capitalist logic but also saves and maintains the rate of profit of the capitalist monopolies, thereby avoiding the "fall of the economy".



On the other hand, the so-called "welfare policy" is not only another stratagem to save the monopolies, granting wholesale crumbs to workers, peasants and students because with the universalization of government scholarships, the profit rate of those is maintained. capitalist monsters [34] , but it is also the Keynesian way [35] of maintaining the well-being of the monopolies and thus, while the fighting spirit of the masses of workers is numbing, the future continues to be taken away from them with their programs of subsidiarization of labor for the capitalist class.



A couple of months ago a debate broke out at least in the leadership of the Bank of Mexico. The reason for the nonsense, what to do with the 12,117 million dollars received as SDR from the IMF [36] . These resources, according to AMLO, would not be used except to pay the unpayable foreign debt, to which some technocrats reacted with statements denying that possibility, but this is little news; Their disagreement is not about what will be done with it, but rather which group of the bourgeoisie will benefit most: the cartels of the former "mafia of power" or those who are supporting the "transformation" by putting their capital to "enlarge" his Mexico. Social democracy gives another kick to leftist organizations whose struggle is "national liberation."



Finally, even when the most reactionary sectors of the business leadership or the social elite denounce the supposed "communism" or "socialism" that the MORENA regime would "try" to establish, through its assistance programs or the fight against tax evasion, the Reality surpasses the fiction of those oracles, since social democracy is perfectly clear that its task is in accordance with the search for the well-being of the bourgeoisie through respect for its private property [37] "always" and, even, to serve as a containment for the Chinese bourgeoisie through greater economic integration with the US monopolies [38] , in the purest style of the reactionary White House lobbyists.







Final considerations on the "social" emblem with which social democracy is promoted

Finally, it is worth mentioning that recently some "nationalist" sectors and those anchored in the figures of Mexican reformism have once again tried to bring back the shadow of the "oil expropriation", recycling the legend that, just as "the Mexicans" recovered the oil, it is time to recover a resource such as lithium, electricity, banks, etc. And it is enough just to see how was the development of the “Mexicanized” economy after Cárdenas, that is, of the so-called national bourgeoisie and the capitalist Mexican State, to notice that the beneficiaries were the capitalist class, the political elite, their well-connected families. and his cronies; the same ones who today cackle support for the 4T or boast of "having accepted" the increase in the minimum wage in favor of the "well-being" of Mexican families,



One of the great transformations that have occurred in this renewal of the bourgeois cabinet is the popularization of the "social" character of it and of all its work, that is, each one is bathed in the mantra that the well-being of society I demanded it and, therefore, it is the most convenient. And it would be more or less credible with all the hype with which the "universalization" of scholarships and pensions is celebrated, if it weren't for the fact that news about corruption, nepotism, diversion of resources, collusion with drug trafficking or with monopolies help to show the true character of the regime, anti-worker, militarist, anti-immigrant, enemy of popular struggles and servile to the bourgeoisie.



As for the construction of the pharaonic infrastructure works of the regime, each criticism is answered with the indication of being part of the conservatives, reactionaries or the opposition. But one would have to ask if in the successive reforms through the previous social democratic regimes the benefit of the monopolies [39] and the bourgeoisie have prevailed, then what is the purpose of insisting on the search for “social” benefit by the the social democracy of MORENA [40] ?



It seems clear to me that those calls for the wisdom of the people, those applause in depoliticized commemorations, those vain celebrations such as the anniversary of AMLO's election or support for "progressive" or leftist regimes in Latin America have more to do with dumbing down of all vanguard political organization and therefore of the people and workers, since, being a government and claiming as a product of all the combative organizations of the past, all indication that there has been and will not be any progress for the people is silenced and domesticated with MORENA, but on the contrary a strengthening of the State and a weakened people without experience in political struggle; an exclusion of all the means of struggle won during the previous regimes; and therefore,



So it is worth reflecting on whether all the paraphernalia of the "transformation" is just another strategy to hide the favoritism that the "left" has for the capitalist order or its biased vision that the people are made up of a bourgeoisie that holds dominance. political and economic and a people formed by the proletariat that must settle for the crumbs that its “government” deems convenient; if that "concern" for the poor is not really another ruse to reduce the tendency to rebellion and outbreaks of violence of the working people or if all that call to get involved with the transformation is nothing more than one more trick to bring the weak “revolutionaries” with their arms down, from those anti-establishment movements of yesteryear, at the tail end of their servile bureaucracy.



Ultimately, MORENA represents the dam against the social revolution that is required and with each call to "refound" their party and their work they seek to justify their unlimited and counterrevolutionary reformism.







* Unpublished text.







[1] Julio Astillero, “Armed Forces, my main support: AMLO (Metapolitics note)”, at: https://julioastillero.com/ Fuerzas-armadas-mi-principal-apoyo-AMLO/

[2] La Jornada , “National security spending grew twice as much as resources for health”, at: https://www.jornada.com.mx/notas/2021/0 ... -seguridad -national-growth-twice-than-resources-for-health/

[3] Contralinea , “Military deployment increases to 318 thousand 889 troops”, at: https://contralinea.com.mx/despleg-mili ... efectivos/

[4] In recent days it has been revealed that the company that will manage the assets that have been granted to the FF. AA. It will be called “ Olmec Maya Mexica”.

[5] El País , "López Obrador gives more power to the Army: the Mayan Train will be a military heritage", in: https://elpais.com/mexico/2021-03-18/lo ... le-otorga- more-power-to-the-army-the-mayan-train-will-be-military-heritage.html

[6] As an anecdote of the validity of the military career in our country, Plascencia de la Parra mentions in HOFA 1917-1937, p. 259 that "The military career in Mexico has the characteristic of something permanent, which is never lost."

[7] FAP onwards.

[8] Process , "The National Guard: A tricky conversion by Sedena", at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/reportajes/2 ... ional-una- tricky-conversion-charge-of-sedena-269357.html

[9] That is, from the FAP.

[10] Article 39 of the GN Law, sections I. Police training institutions of the Federation, duly certified; and II. Public institutions, national or foreign.

[11] Animal Politico , “Only 5 of the 32 generals who lead the National Guard are trained as policemen”, at: https://www.animalpolitico.com/2021/09/ ... -policias/

[12] Animal Politico , “Military police take over from civilians in road surveillance”, at: https://www.animalpolitico.com/2021/08/ ... ras-relevo

[13] Process , "Military and public security communications: The 4T removes a monopoly... but creates another", at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/reportajes/2 ... militares- of-public-security-the-4t-removes-a-monopoly-but-creates-another-272273.html

[14] Energy Regulatory Commission, federal institution in charge of the general regulation of fuels and energy.

[15] La Jornada , “LP Gas Price Will Increase in Some States”, at: https://www.jornada.com.mx/notas/2021/0 ... -aumentara -in-some-states/

[16] El Horizonte , “Artemio Garza company monopolizes the LP gas market”, at: https://www.elhorizonte.mx/finanzas/aca ... mio-garza- /4054219 and Common Sense , “Cofece detects lack of competition in LP gas distribution”, at: https://www.sentidocomun.com.mx/articul ... ?id=102899

[17] Milenio , “Only five families distribute more than 50% of domestic gas”, at: https://www.milenio.com/businesses/solo ... 50-del-gas -domestic

[18] In short, increase energy subsidies.

[19] AMLO, “Presented report on reform initiative in electrical matters; “it suits the people”, affirms the president”, at: https://lopezobrador.org.mx/2021/10/11/ ... nvenir-al- people-says-president/

[20] La Jornada , “Lithium does not enter into negotiations on electricity reform: AMLO”, at https://www.jornada.com.mx/notas/2021/1 ... un-arreglo -on-the-electric-industry-AMLO/

[21] Proceso , “EZLN condemns operations against migrants: “it is shameful””, at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/est ... os-contra- migrants-dare-271316.html

[22] Process , “AMLO criticizes self-government in rural normal schools; proposes direct delivery of resources”, at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/202 ... os-directa -269089.html

[23] El Financiero , “Carso, ICA and Alstom, the consortium behind the failed Metro Line 12”, at: https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/cdmx/20 ... /carso-ica -and-alstom-the-consortium-behind-the-failed-subway-line-12/

[24] Proceso , “MORENA blocks the creation of a commission on the collapse of Line 12”, at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/202 ... a-creacion -of-a-commission-on-the-collapse-of-the-line-12-271941.html

[25] Milenio , “Santa Lucía airport construction workers protest”, at: https://www.milenio.com/politica/comuni ... anta-lucia

[26] Chiapas Paralelo , “State riot police repress workers protest in Dos Bocas”: https://www.chiapasparalelo.com/noticia ... de-obreros -in-two-mouths

[27] El Universal , “”I'm going to lose my eye!”; video shows wounded in Dos Bocas protest”, at: https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/estados/ ... sta-de-dos -mouths

[28] El Financiero , “Workers and riot police clash at the Dos Bocas refinery”, at: https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/naciona ... -enfrentan -in-dos-bocas-refinery/

[29] Proceso , “The train that leaves a town”, at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/reportajes/2 ... blo-277359. html

[30] La Silla Rota , “Corruption is denounced, it is not tolerated”, at: https://lasillarota.com/opinion/columna ... era/592513

[31] “López Obrador will appoint former opposition governors to Mexican embassies”, at: https://www.swissinfo.ch/spa/méxico-gob ... ajadas-de- mexico/47027882

[32] Senate of the Republic (Coordination of Social Communication), "Importance of private investment in the energy sector during the pandemic highlighted," at: http://comunicacion.senado.gob.mx/index ... /boletines /49842-highlight-importance-of-private-investment-in-the-energy-sector-during-the-pandemic.html

[33] Proceso , “Grupo Carso de Carlos Slim, obtains a contract from Pemex for 196 million dollars to drill wells”, at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/economia/202 ... upo-carso- de-carlos-slim-obtains-pemex-contract-for-196-mdd-to-drill-wells-271655.html

[34] Julio Astillero, ““I am convincing myself to rescue those at the top”, AMLO jokes about his social policy in a pandemic (Metapolitics note)”, at: https://julioastillero.com/me-estoy-convenzando- of-rescuing-those-from-above-ironics-AMLO-on-his-social-policy-in-pandemic/

[35] BBVA , “What is the Keynes or Keynesian model?”, at: https://www.bbva.com/es/keynes-para-dum ... a-when-se- speaks-of-the-keynesian-model/

[36] Expansión , “3 benefits that Mexico obtains with the financial aid of the IMF”, in: https://expansion.mx/economia/2021/08/2 ... ico-con-la -financial-aid-from-the-imf

[37] Process, Government will “always” respect private investment; we are mixed economy: AMLO at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/202 ... 72479.html

[38] Process, AMLO warns China's global economic dominance if North America is not strengthened, at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/202 ... economico- china-world-world-if-north-america-is-not-strengthened-277870.html

[39] Think of Alemán Valdez's so-called agrarian counter-reform, the so-called "Mexican miracle during the dissimilar regimes of López Mateos and Diaz Ordaz, the subsequent oil boom, the resurgence of nationalizations in the face of the crisis of the 1980s with which banking was saved, the privatization movement under Salinas-Zedillo that gave birth to today's monopolies, and the subsequent Pact for Mexico in which what was left of the "welfare" state was cannibalized in favor of the "free market," in favor of of foreign monopolies.

[40] Proceso , "The function of companies is to pay taxes, not to do philanthropy: AMLO", at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/202 ... uncion-de- companies-is-paying-taxes-not-doing-philanthropy-AMLO-274162.html


Texto completo en: http://elcomunista.nuevaradio.org/el-ma ... -crisis-y/

http://elcomunista.nuevaradio.org/el-ma ... -crisis-y/

****************************

Image
Tye Zapatistas (By ‘A Better Hell’)

The perennial seeds of Zapata
Originally published: Science for the People on Volume 25, no. 1, The Soil and the Worker by Simon P. Tye and Eric R. Hagen (more by Science for the People) | (Posted Jul 08, 2022)

Land and Liberty

Industrial agriculture has increased global food production over the past century while accruing disproportionate economic and societal benefits for industrialized nations. Across North America, these benefits have primarily been achieved by increasing production efficiencies, issuing extravagant corporate subsidies, and engaging in widespread habitat destruction that has transformed about half of the contiguous United States into cropland and pasture.1 Since the Industrial Revolution, and especially after scientific and economic developments of the early twentieth century, the cumulative effects of industrial agriculture have rapidly transitioned land ownership to a visible handful of shareholders.

Some of those hardest hit by mass consolidation of agricultural production are Indigenous people who struggle to maintain agrarian lifestyles and subsist in modern economies. Many Indigenous resistance movements have fought agricultural colonialism across North America, however few movements have countered oppressive economic, cultural, and societal conditions mediated by agricultural colonialism as successfully as the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) of Chiapas, Mexico. Under the banner of Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata, their movement has maintained territorial control for over twenty-eight years without official recognition by the Mexican government beyond the failed San Andrés Accord.2 Their movement has also captured worldwide public attention, in part due to writers like Homero Aridjis and Gabriel García Márquez and bands like Rage Against the Machine that skillfully described the formation, momentum, and endurance of the Zapatistas to their audiences.3

We are among those who have been inspired by the Zapatistas, both as socialists of some form who wish to see their project of radical democracy and Indigenous empowerment prevail, and as biologists who believe their agricultural practices can help form sustainable alternatives to the climate-ravaging, profit-oriented pursuits of industrial agriculture. We are not affiliated with the EZLN, nor do we speak for them; instead, we wish to outline their history and agricultural practices for those who are unfamiliar. In particular, we believe that previous writing on the Zapatistas has paid insufficient attention to imminent environmental threats facing their agricultural autonomy, and we wish to partially fill that gap.

Maize and Revolution

The Mexican Revolution and ensuing constitutional reforms promised widespread land reform and redistribution, which was primarily enacted by government-mediated partitioning of foreign-owned plantations into ejidos (or small cooperative farms).4 Although these government programs substantially increased land opportunities for agrarian workers, the revolutionary momentum waned under immense pressure from estate owners and corporate influence over the twentieth century. Then, in 1992, President Carlos Salinas de Gortari amended Article 27 of Mexico’s constitution to facilitate the dismantlement of ejidos and rapid growth of industrial agriculture.5

This rapid privatization further impoverished Indigenous agrarian workers across southern Mexico, who had already struggled to grow food and build homes on their stolen land. That same year, the Mexican government signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which allowed American farmers to sell maize below the cost of production across much of Mexico due to extensive subsidies.6 In turn, many Indigenous farmers were forced to give up agrarian lifestyles, and over 100,000 would leave to work at urban factories by the year 2000.7

After the passage of NAFTA, members of Indigenous groups across southern Mexico, including the Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Tojolab’al, and Ch’ol, rejected neoliberal tyranny across North America and revolted against the federal government. Rather than kneel on Zapata’s spilt blood, the EZLN declared territorial independence and began forming autonomous communities in central and eastern Chiapas. Today, the Zapatistas maintain tenuous, semi-peaceful relations with the Mexican government, and about half of Chiapas comprises the Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities where “the people rule and the government obeys.”8 They have since expanded their territory to encompass forty-three communities, where they educate people, expand human rights of historically excluded groups, maintain agricultural independence, and peacefully persist amidst unabated globalization.9 These community-based goals are often implemented through regional schools, which, unlike state-sponsored schools, provide educational opportunities for both children and adults in native languages.10

While community education and outreach are key to the Zapatistas’ enduring persistence, another key element of their empowerment has been their focus on agroecology and sustainable community-owned farming. We believe that agricultural and other biological scientists have paid insufficient attention to how Indigenous knowledge can help form sustainable alternatives to industrial agriculture. In particular, we believe that weaving Indigenous knowledge into mainstream scientific inquiries can simultaneously increase the sustainability of food systems, reduce the use of environmentally destructive agricultural practices, and promote local food autonomy across societies. We hope this case study about the Zapatistas encourages discourse about the benefits of radical agricultural practices and growing costs of industrial agriculture.

Maize and Persistence

Maize has been a dominant crop in the Americas since it was domesticated in south-central Mexico around nine thousand years ago. The cultivation of maize also led to the development of the milpa system, a slash-and-burn farming method that is low-intensity and may even help ameliorate regional deforestation. In milpa systems, multiple crops are grown simultaneously for around two years, then left fallow for several years before subsequent use.11 This innovative system preserves topsoil and prevents excessive erosion, which are critically important in the nutrient-poor highlands of Chiapas.

Milpas include diverse compositions of crops, such as maize, beans, squash, tomatoes, and peppers, that are intentionally arranged to form intricate symbiotic relationships. Specifically, these crop arrangements allow squash leaves to shade the ground and retain moisture on rainfed farms, as beans fix nitrogen in the soil and climb sturdy corn stalks without additional structural support. Collectively, this forms a small agroecosystem that conserves resources, repels common pests without synthetic chemicals, and limits habitat destruction. These polycultures and regenerative agricultural methods are a far cry from the acres of monocultures that now dominate the once Great Plains and their fertilizer runoff that has made part of the Gulf of Mexico uninhabitable for most marine life.12

Defenders of industrial agriculture often argue that milpas produce lower yields than industrial farms, and thus they cannot be used along with other small-scale or organic practices to feed billions of people. But this is actually a matter of fierce debate: the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimates about 75 percent of farms worldwide are the size of an average city block, and small diversified farms have been estimated to produce two to ten times as much food per acre as large monocultural farms.13 Moreover, beyond being a more sustainable food system, milpas also strongly reaffirm the Zapatistas’ food autonomy. For example, if the EZLN wished to engage in monoculture-style farming, they would become economically dependent on companies like Bayer that sell highly-integrated networks of herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, and hybrid seeds. These hybrid seeds must be repurchased annually at exorbitant prices to avoid lawsuits for copyright infringement and may interfere with the use of native maize seeds due to interbreeding or gene introgression.

These worries are not unfounded, as a gene present only in genetically modified (GM) maize was found to have introgressed into native varieties of maize in Oaxaca in 2001, soon after Mexico banned imports of US maize used for human consumption.14 Indeed, despite the Zapatistas’ early victories against industrial agriculture, they have been increasingly faced with agricultural colonization through maize homogenization. These fears have been realized for other small farms across North America, with companies such as Monsanto (which has since been acquired by Bayer) having filed over ninety lawsuits and spending about ten million dollars annually to prosecute farmers that infringe on hybrid seed patents.15 Such oppressive litigation tactics and financial penalties would be insurmountable for Indigenous groups.

Merely acknowledging Indigenous knowledge is insufficient and, instead, we must include Indigenous researchers in the production of science.

In response, Schools for Chiapas—a nonprofit organization that provides educational and building assistance to remote regions of the state—and the EZLN began working with ecologist Martin Taylor to develop the Mother Seeds in Resistance Project. This program created a seed bank to protect regional agrobiodiversity, began genetic testing to preserve native maize varieties, and is part of a growing number of Indigenous seed sovereignty initiatives created to protect heirloom varieties around the world, including the Anishinaabe Seed Project and the Indigenous Seed Sovereignty Network.16 While non-Indigenous movements against GM organisms have largely focused on more controversial claims of health risks, the Mother Seeds of Resistance Project is an anti-colonial and ecological project that preserves the autonomy of agrarian farmers and rejects the environmentally destructive practices of industrial agriculture.

Climate and Nature

However, regardless of whether the Zapatistas are able to preserve native maize diversity, all maize varieties are expected to experience detrimental climate change over coming decades that will reduce crop yields. For example, both native and hybrid maize varieties that have relatively high yields over consecutive years are strongly affected by environmental stressors compared to varieties with low yield stability.17 Under an optimistic perspective, standing genetic variation within native maize could provide selective breeding opportunities for adaptations, such as increased yield stability, that may be beneficial under future climates. Even so, sustained increases in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide are expected to decrease the nutrient content of most crop plants due to energetic trade-offs. Without substantial global cooperation to mitigate future climate change, environmental degradation will exacerbate nutrient deficiencies already experienced by the global poor, including the people of Chiapas.

In southern Mexico, climate change is expected to primarily manifest in the forms of increased mean annual temperature and precipitation variability, as well as increases in the frequencies of droughts and floods during critical growing seasons.18 These increases in environmental variability may profoundly impact regional maize production and potentially result in mass crop failures during extreme years because most regional farms are rainfed rather than irrigated.19 If realized, these extreme environmental conditions may also cause a suite of less predictable negative feedbacks that additively or synergistically diminish regional maize yields. One prominent example is that heavy rainfall can cause nitrogen to leach from soils, especially in regions with limited topsoil with low nutrient content such as the highlands of Chiapas.

Yet, while climate change has become the focus of global change activism, habitat destruction is an oft-overlooked element of the global environmental crisis. For example, Chiapas harbors some of the richest biodiversity across Central America but experienced one of highest global rates of deforestation during the 1970s and 1980s.20 In total, about half of the Lacandon Jungle was destroyed between 1975 and 2000.21 Regional deforestation has been driven by cattle ranching, natural resource extraction (such as a ten-fold increase in land used for palm oil production since the enactment of NAFTA), and human population growth.22 These economic pursuits for regional resources extend beyond the land, with major corporations such as Coca-Cola extracting over 300,000 gallons of water daily. In the neighboring town of San Cristobal, inhabitants have greater access to soft drinks than pure water, which has eroded local health conditions.23 Collectively, these circumstances unequivocally threaten the land, water, and forests that Emiliano Zapata and other Mexican revolutionaries fought and died for.

Autonomy and Camaraderie

The case of the Zapatistas is one of many Indigenous communities that are adamantly combating environmental degradation caused by the remnants of colonialism and the rise of neoliberalism. From the Standing Rock protests and other movements for water sovereignty, to northeastern Ecuadorians filing a class action lawsuit against Chevron for poisoning their people through oil spills, to Oceanic nations that beg the international community to abandon fossil fuels so their islands don’t disappear, it is clear that some of the most powerful movements against environmental destruction are led by Indigenous people. Amplifying their voices and knowledge is imperative to combat global change and enact global reform to include diverse community members as decision-makers and shareholders.

As scientists, we can counter the erasure of Indigenous peoples and work to build more sustainable global agrosystems by removing barriers between scientists, agrarian farmers, and Indigenous people. This idea is not new, and was notably proposed by biologists and SftP veterans Richard Levins and Richard Lewontin. Indeed, Indigenous agricultural systems have been studied by anthropologists and other theorists but largely ignored by agriculturalists and biologists in favor of industrial techniques, despite a few exceptions. Moreover, such biases have materialized as the deep entrenchment of agricultural corporations across American universities.

In general, scientists across fields need to increasingly consult and attribute Indigenous knowledge, as well as other knowledge from outside academia, to facilitate scientific progress. For example, Richard Levins frequently invoked the case of Cuban meteorologist Fernando Boytel, who incorporated knowledge of wind patterns from charcoal workers to make a more accurate wind map of Cuba’s Oriente province. Beyond regional environmental conditions, Indigenous knowledge can also greatly increase biodiversity and conservation efforts across agricultural landscapes by promoting transitions toward low-intensity farming methods and reducing the use of synthetic fertilizers and other pollutants. However, without substantial funding increases for Indigenous researchers, particularly those that focus on enriching and understanding their cultures, such as the Mother Seeds for Resistance Project, calls to incorporate Indigenous knowledge will not empower autonomous research. Merely acknowledging Indigenous knowledge is insufficient and, instead, we must include Indigenous researchers in the production of science. Thankfully, there is a growing list of innovative, scientific methods and practices that include Indigenous people and share their perspectives.24

Outside of science, we can all assist the Zapatistas, in particular by donating to Schools for Chiapas, buying their native maize, and advocating against the violence they face. Soon after their revolution, militants supported by the Mexican government brutally murdered forty-five members of a Tzotzil pacifist organization Las Abejas in the village of Acteal. Also during this time, more than 115,000 people were displaced from Chiapas due to generalized violence.25 The Mexican government has inadequately addressed these conflicts about farmland, religion, and political power, while Indigenous people continue to endure rampant food insecurities. More recently, drug cartels have expanded their presence in Chiapas, which previously had relatively low narco-violence compared to greater Mexico. Last year, members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and Sinaloa Cartel fought on the streets and left several dead.26

We strongly suggest scientists across fields increasingly attribute, study, and use Indigenous knowledge while also advocating for their self-empowerment and persistence. If we do not, we would be knowingly complicit in furthering the very environmental colonialism that led to the Zapatista Revolution and oppression of Indigenous people worldwide. We also hope that scientists who read this piece will think critically about how to use their work to support Indigenous movements like that of the Zapatistas and spread word of their struggles. Future inclusion efforts across science and society must extend beyond offering short seats to tall tables and include greater considerations of radical perspectives. To start, please consider donating to Schools for Chiapas and planting your own Seeds of Resistance in solidarity with and in economic support of the Zapatistas. ¡No país sin maíz!

Notes:
Dave Merrill and Lauren Leatherby. “Here’s How America Uses its Land,” Bloomberg, July 31, 2018, www.bloomberg.com.

Nicholas P. Higgins, “Mexico’s Stalled Peace Process: Prospects and Challenges,” International Affairs 77, no. 4 (October 2001): 885–903, doi.org.

Tom Hayden, The Zapatista Reader (New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press/Nation Books, 2002); Rage Against The Machine, Evil Empire, Epic Records, 1996.

T. R. Fehrenbach, Fire & Blood: A History of Mexico (New York: Da Capo Press, 1995), 540.

James J. Kelly, “Article 27 and Mexican Land Reform: The Legacy of Zapata’s Dream,” Columbia Human Rights Law Review 25 (1993–1994): 541–570.

George A. Collier and Elizabeth Lowery Quaratiello, Basta!: Land and the Zapatista Rebellion in Chiapas (Oakland, CA: Food First Books, 2005).

James D. Plourde, Bryan C. Pijanowski, and Burak K. Pekin, “Evidence for Increased Monoculture Cropping in the Central United States,” Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment 165, no. 15, (2013): 50–59, doi.org; Nancy N. Rabalais et al., “Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia, A.K.A. ‘The Dead Zone’,” Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 33 (2002): 235–263. doi.org.

Associated Press, “Zapatista Rebels Extend Control Over Areas in South Mexico,” ABC News, August 19, 2019, abcnews.go.com.

Subcomandante Insurgente Moises. “Communique from the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee,” General Command of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation, August 17, 2019, enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx; Marisa Brandt, “Zapatista Corn: A Case Study in Biocultural Innovation,” Social Studies of Science 44, no. 6 (2014): 874–900, www.jstor.org.

Leanne Reinke, “Globalisation and Local Indigenous Education in Mexico,” International Review of Education 50 (2004): 483–496, www.jstor.org.

S. Ochoa-Gaona, “Traditional Land-Use Systems and Patterns of Forest Fragmentation in the Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico,” Environmental Management 27, no. 4 (April 2001): 571–86, doi.org.

Plourde, Pijanowski, and Pekin, “Evidence for Increased Monoculture Cropping”; Rabalais et al., “Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia.”

High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE), Investing in Smallholder Agriculture for Food Security(Rome: Committee on World Food Security, 2013), https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_uplo ... ulture.pdf; David R. Montgomery, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007), 159.

Brandt, “Zapatista Corn.”

Center for Food Safety, Monsanto vs. U.S. Farmers, January 3, 2005, www.centerforfoodsafety.org.

Tania Aguila-Way, “The Zapatista ‘Mother Seeds in Resistance’ Project: The Indigenous Community Seed Bank as a Living, Self-Organizing Archive,” Social Text 32, no. 1 (2014): 67–92, doi.org; Reinke, “Globalisation and Local Indigenous Education.”

A. T. Mastrodomenico et al. “Yield Stability Differs in Commercial Maize Hybrids in Response to Changes in Plant Density, Nitrogen Fertility, and Environment,” Crop Science 58, no. 1 (2018): 230–241, doi.org; Carolina Ureta et al, “Maize Yield in Mexico Under Climate Change,” Agricultural Systems 177 (2020): 102697, doi.org.

Götz Schroth et al., “Towards a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for Coffee Communities and Ecosystems in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, Mexico,” Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 14 (2009): 605–625, doi.org.

Rodrigo G. Trevisan et al., “Multiyear Maize Management Dataset collected in Chiapas, Mexico,” Data in Brief 40 (2022): 107837, doi.org.

Rhiannon Elms, “Mexican Coffee Production Continues to Rebound from Coffee Rust Disease,” USDA Foreign Agricultural Information System, May 31, 2019, https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/ap ... 1-2019.pdf; Eduardo Mendoza and Rodolfo Dirzo, “Deforestation in Lacandonia (Southeast Mexico): Evidence for the Declaration of the Northernmost Tropical Hot-Spot,” Biodiversity and Conservation 8 (1999): 1621–1641, doi.org.

Luis Cayuela, José María Rey Benayas, and Cristian Echeverría, “Clearance and fragmentation of tropical montane forests in the Highlights of Chiapas, Mexico (1975-2000),” Forest Ecology and Management 226 (2006): 208–218.

Richard E. Bilsborrow and David L. Carr, “Population, Agricultural Land Use and the Environment in Developing Countries,” in Tradeoffs or Synergies? Agricultural Intensification, Economic Development, and the Environment, ed. D. R. Lee and C. B. Barrett (Wallingford, UK: CAB International, 2001); Héctor B. Fletes-Ocón and Alessandro Bonanno, “Responses to the Crisis of Neo-liberal Globalization State Intervention in Palm Oil Production in Chiapas, Mexico,” International Journal of Society of Agriculture and Food 20, no. 3 (2013): 313–334; David L. Carr et al., “A multilevel analysis of population and deforestation in the Sierra de Lacandon National Park, Peten, Guatemala.” Documents D’analisi Geografica 52 (2008): 49–67.

Oscar Lopez and Andrew Jacobs, “In Town with Little Water, Coca-Cola Is Everywhere. So Is Diabetes,” The New York Times, July 14, 2018, www.nytimes.com.

Saima May Sidik, “Weaving Indigenous Knowledge into the Scientific Method,” Nature 601, no. 7892 (January 2022): 285–87, doi.org.

Redacción Yessica Morales, “Chiapas suma 37 desplazamiento forzados desde 1994; más de 115 mil personas desplazadas,” Chiapasparalelo, June 3, 2020, www.chiapasparalelo.com.

“Cartel Territorial Battles Escalate in Chiapas as CJNG Attempts to Muscle in,” Mexico News Daily, July 12, 2021, mexiconewsdaily.com.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

User avatar
blindpig
Posts: 12209
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 pm
Location: Turtle Island
Contact:

Re: Mexico

Post by blindpig » Fri Jul 15, 2022 3:41 pm

CP of Mexico, On the deterioration of the living conditions of the Mexican working class and the need to go on the offensive
7/14/22 3:16 PM

On the deterioration of the living conditions of the working class of Mexico and the need to go on the offensive

At the beginning of the year there was a strong increase in the cost of living that reached close to 7%, in such a situation the salary increase for 2022 did not have a significant effect, in addition to the fact that there are still workers who have not been made pay change in effect. This implied greater scarcity for workers, who were also affected by the loss of benefits and working conditions during the pandemic. This has forced workers to reduce consumption of some products and services, or to work even longer hours to maintain their real income. In the middle of the year, inflation is considered by specialists to be uncontrollable, since it is currently around 7.5%, but it is expected to reach 10% by the end of the year.

This situation has its origin in the capitalist system subjected to market anarchy and periodic economic crises, so it is false that it was due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic did deepen the crisis, and now a new element on the international scene has deepened the precariousness of Mexican workers: the imperialist war that is taking place in Ukraine, and which is the first of the many imperialist conflagrations that They are about to come. To give just one example, the cost of wheat doubled and with it the cost of bread and pasta that are daily on the tables of the working class and their families.

For his part, Obrador the President of Mexico, after continually denying the problem of inflation, a few weeks ago decided to propose a series of measures to try to contain the escalation of prices. This means acknowledging the problem, but it is an attempt that until now has not had a real effect on the daily situation of the workers, and that will not foreseeably be able to stop the deterioration of the life situation of the working class and the popular sectors of Mexico. . In addition, such a proposal carries the well-known formula of all previous bourgeois governments to overcome periods of crisis: national unity, class conciliation, the worker-management pact, which history tells us we must reject.

The so-called package against inflation and famine serves the monopolies both with the measures that it announces and with those that it omits: prevented from any substantive determination in favor of the workers, the Social Democratic administration will allocate large sums of money to produce or reduce the cost of necessary inputs for private commodity production, to generally reduce production costs; With this, it encourages even more speculation and the growth in the profits of the monopolies at the expense of the working class, of the popular sectors.

The deterioration in living conditions does not exceptionally derive from the government of López Obrador, since the crisis has its origin in the capitalist system of exploitation, which is why the palliative measures that Morena is now taking, or those that any other bourgeois political party (PRI) would propose , PAN, PRD, MC, etc.), although they could vary, they would be equally ineffective, since both the "gasolinazo" under the Peña Nieto government and the current rise in prices under López Obrador are expressions of an anti-worker and anti-popular policy and only favorable to monopolies.

What is evident in the current situation is the inability of any bourgeois management or government to deal with the great national problems suffered by the workers. Therefore, the workers can only rely on their own strength to change the growing situation of poverty, and therefore they should not have more expectations in the current administration or in any of the previous ones.

The demobilization and lack of organization in which the current government plunged some organizations and sectors of workers will crumble in the face of the growing situation of impoverishment. Therefore, the necessary conditions are being created for the workers to make clear the growing discontent and malaise that afflicts them, and open themselves to the prospect of a political proposal that truly responds to their interests, which can be none other than workers' power. and of all the workers who put at their service all the wealth that today is in the hands of the monopolies.

For this reason, the Communist Party of Mexico considers that the failure of the current government is already a certainty, and therefore it is necessary that the working class, precarious and informal workers, the unemployed, youth, working women, poor peasants, and all workers move from passivity and expectation in the current government to its criticism and confrontation, from current passivity to the offensive against the monopolies and any form of bourgeois government.

Respond to the rise in prices by the monopolies, with the offensive of the working class!

No more confidence in the government of López Obrador!

Not one more worker in a situation of hunger and misery!



Central Committee of the Communist Party of Mexico

http://solidnet.org/article/CP-of-Mexic ... -ofensiva/

Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

User avatar
blindpig
Posts: 12209
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 pm
Location: Turtle Island
Contact:

Re: Mexico

Post by blindpig » Tue Jul 26, 2022 2:30 pm

US Government Finances Opposition to Maya Train Project - AMLO

Image
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Jul. 25, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@bmc_marcos

Published 25 July 2022 (13 hours 38 minutes ago)

"From Mexico City and different parts of the country, there are pseudo-environmentalists financed by the U.S. government," AMLO said regarding those in the country who oppose the project.

The Mexican President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has previously declared the Mayan Train a matter of national security, issuing an order to resume work on section 5 of the Mayan Train in the state of Quintana Roo on the Yucatán peninsula.

Speaking during his July 25 morning conference, López Obrador said there is no contempt of court or risk of criminal sanctions against public officials, having ordered the resumption of work on the Mayan Train project, although a judge suspended the work.

According to the President, this decision was made because "from Mexico City and different parts of the country there are pseudo-environmentalists financed by the US Government, and they are promoting these injunctions."

"So we are resorting to a procedure established by law, which is to declare this work of national security, for many reasons because a foreign government (U.S.) is intervening because money is being lost from the budget, because it is a priority work because delaying tactics are being applied, because there is no expeditious justice," AMLO said.


AMLO said that "there is an opposition political mafia group" that opposes the Mayan Train. "They feel like the owners of Mexico and they try to stop the country's transformation and want corruption and impunity to continue."

The President named businessman Claudio X. González, former Minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) José Ramón Cossío, and academic María Amparo Casar as some of the individuals promoting appeals and protests against the project above.

All this even though there are no conflicts with the inhabitants of the project's area of operation, and they have never spoken out pro-environment, according to AMLO.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/US- ... -0019.html

ALMO is in no way a leftist, what he is is a liberal economic nationalist. I was in Chiapas four years ago and what I heard was the discontent around this project is in part because the concessions and support is only beneficial to big Mexican business, that the petty bourgeois are being frozen out.
What part of capitalism and monopoly do they not understand?

There are certainly environmental considerations and US environmental outfits are involved. As for the US government I dunno, where is the 'interests'? In Mexican politics blaming the gringos is a 'go to', even on the rare occasions when the US is not to blame. There is also the matter of the Zapatistas, hunkered down in the serious jungle of central Chiapas. Foolish to think them not a consideration. This project would surround them with rail, a possible prelude to massive government aggression.

*****************

Former Mexican prosecutor charged with enforced disappearance arrested

Image
On September 3, 2019, the Permanent Commission of the Veracruz Congress temporarily removed Jorge Winckler from the Prosecutor's Office. | Photo: RT
Published 26 July 2022

Jorge Winckler Ortiz was a prosecutor for the state of Veracruz during the government of Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares (2016-2018).

The Attorney General's Office of the state of Veracruz, in eastern Mexico, notified this Monday that the former head of said entity Jorge Winckler, who is accused of the crimes of forced disappearance and kidnapping, was arrested in the entity of Oaxaca, in the south, about to serve three years as a fugitive.

"Respecting his human rights and due process, he will be presented at an initial hearing before the trial and oral criminal procedure judge of the XI judicial district of Xalapa, based in Pacho Viejo, to define his legal situation," the Prosecutor's Office announced.

After his arrest, the Veracruz prosecutor during the government of Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares (2016-2018) was transferred to the XI judicial district of the Veracruz city of Xalapa, to appear before a judge in his first hearing.


The National Defense Secretariat (Sedena), the National Intelligence Center and the National Anti-kidnapping Coordination of the Government of Mexico participated in the arrest. On the other hand, local media reported that the capture takes place 10 days after a Collegiate Court in Administrative Matters refused to grant him an injunction to reinstate him in the position from which he was dismissed in 2019.

Until September of that year Jorge Winckler held the position since on that date the Congress of Veracruz, with a majority of the ruling party Morena, ordered his suspension.

On September 3, 2019, the Permanent Commission of the Coca-Cola Congress temporarily removed Jorge Winckler from the State Attorney General's Office (FGE), for not having a certificate of trust, and six months later he was definitively separated.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/mexico-a ... -0042.html

Google Translator

*******************

The handling of the crisis and the counterrevolutionary process that social democracy sets in motion
JON ORTIZ 03.Jul.22

Based on the account and analysis of the way in which the social democracy manages the bourgeois State under its charge, which helps to extinguish the protest movements, the true face of the current government of the monopolies that seeks eliminate any organized, political and ideological expression related to or tending to social revolution

The handling of the crisis and the counterrevolutionary process that the social democracy sets in motion *


In recent months, the “social” and change agenda that the social democratic government has as a banner and the alternative to the crisis that it intends to lead in the face of the consequences of COVID-19 has been spreading and unmasking, which ranges from the rhetoric of “ new normality” to the continuation of the “fourth” transformation before the “attack” of the so-called opposition, say FRENAA or the coalition “Por México al Frente”, etc.



But let's see how, based on the recounting of some episodes on the way in which the social democracy manages the bourgeois state under its charge, the latter helps the extinction of the protest movements, how little by little it shows the true face of its management and seeks to eliminate any expression related to the social revolution.


The military issue and hidden militarism

During the years in which AMLO dedicated himself to vindicating his "victories," one of the topics he addressed was reversing the militarization that was being implemented by the other regimes, those of the right-wing social democracy, of the PAN (during the famous "transition democracy”) and the PRI (under the so-called “pact for Mexico” in which parties from the “right” to those from the “left” participated) and which is no small thing considering the measures aimed at militarization that AMLO and the new social democracy have implemented.


What seemed to be a temporary maneuver as a consequence of the failure to manage insecurity, that is, putting public security in charge of the military, and which was once constantly criticized by the social democracy of MORENA, has been imposed as the main resource that they have [1] and they have shown it by paying bills [2] , but also, in a cynical way they began to empower and de facto legitimize their presence outside the barracks [3] , and that is, in addition to being the main contractor of the AIFA project is also the main contractor of the so-called "Mayan train" to the extent that, according to the statements of AMLO and the director of FONATUR, SEDENA [4]would be the one in charge not only of building entire sections but of the "operation and administration of income and its resources through a new military company" [5] , which can only mean managing a greater flow of income by part of the military as well as a greater influence in the institutional framework and a greater weight in the economy; At the same time, another project has been launched, that of the National Guard (GN), a body whose main component is elements from the armed forces and which is also headed by a general [6] .



Incidentally, one of the first constitutional reforms that he implemented when he was in power was to incorporate the term "permanent armed force [7] " and that in recent days has revealed to be a true maneuver of cunning and treachery, since the GN passed under the control of the army in order to avoid its "decomposition" [8] , something that has little novelty since with commanders assigned from the FAP and with the training of its elements in schools that are run by the same institution [9] , given the inefficiency or plain inexistence of any other [10] , including the supposed police training to which the elements that compose it would be subjected has been ignored to the point of violating the law of the national guard itself [11]Again, social democracy demonstrates that under the bourgeois regime the laws are a cover for the illegality with which an exceptional regime acts and normalizes.



And the foregoing is not only worrying due to the increasing role played by military elements, but also due to the direction that has been imposed in the management of resources destined for security [12] , since we must remember that the institution has been founded on the defense of a political-economic order that benefits the bourgeoisie (and for such an example we can mention the new contracts with Motorola Solutions in terms of radio communication equipment [13]); and that its officers have stood out throughout its history for having the most reactionary elements, notable for the repression of the people as well as for being in collusion and working closely and in coordination with the political elite, or being part of it bourgeoisie, something radically different from the little that the head of the Navy recalled when trying to wash the face of an institution that limps on both legs and that differs little from the officials it criticizes.


To the crisis in the price of goods, more market is "recommended"

On the other hand, in recent weeks another conflict has been manifested, the increase in the price of goods as a consequence of a crisis in the world capitalist system that surpasses the government of MORENA, which, as a good administrator and firewall, proposed as an initial measure, in the face of the increase exorbitant increase in the price of gas, the creation of a supposed gas distribution company along with the establishment by the CRE of a "temporary" price control, which in particular has caused discomfort among gas workers due to that their precarious working conditions do not allow them to remain as gas carriers with the prices established by the CRE [14] . Combined with little power on the part of the executive to ensure that the established prices are respected [15]. In other words, not only were workers already precarious, and whose conditions did not depend only on them but on the chronic unemployment that exists under the capitalist regime in Mexico, updated today with the 4t, attacked, but little was done to “remedy ” the problems derived from the monopoly of the gas oligarchy [16] , which nevertheless profits in such a way from the energy sector, the head of PROFECO pointed out that the control of its price does not prevent competition [17](among monopolies). Once again, all of the above has caused gas to remain at extremely high levels compared to last year, which means that we workers now have to spend more without our purchasing power having improved, as the social democracy boasts, since inflation itself has responsible for pulverizing the vaunted "progress" regarding the "recovery" of wages.



Incidentally, social democracy promises to "tame" the consortium of oligarchs who own the monopolies with calls for ethics and simple claims that border on demagogic theater.



Another example of how MORENA bosses around the issue of the market was the so-called "energy reform", since in short it was proposed to divide the market (46% for the business community and 54% for the bourgeois state, through the CFE) arguing that it was that the business community "does not take over" the electricity market and electricity rates are "maintained" at a price "below" inflation [18] [19] , all this justified with the legend of "not delivering lithium ” to foreigners or private initiative [20]. Given which, the bourgeois objections issued in general go hand in hand with defending "competitiveness" and the "rule of law", to which the government responded that it was trying to recover the "stewardship" of the state in energy matters and without disappearing the participation of private initiative. Which, including the final result in Congress, has been further proof of the lukewarmness with which social democracy intends to control the bourgeoisie: "reorient" the market towards healthy competition, without touching any monopoly or tycoon.


On the social question, limited reformism and the hand stretched out to the business community

It is clear that the fuel that gave vigor to the “leftist” reformist wave is running out, because in part their very poor results in the electoral consultation demonstrated how little they have managed to speed up their capacity to mobilize the masses; On the contrary, it is organizations in “rebelliousness” such as the EZLN, as well as others from the left, that have been swept away or taken to the social democratic torrent with the purpose of banal demands such as those of “carrying out the pertinent actions in accordance with the constitutional and legal framework, to undertake a process of clarifying the political decisions made in past years by political actors, aimed at guaranteeing justice and the rights of possible victims”; something that shows that the social democracy is not willing to investigate on its own the so-called crimes of the political elite, but to negotiate, for example, with the labor aristocracy by substituting them in an amicable way with their own figures, and to dupe the left, from the most bourgeois and reformist to the most naive; that the EZLN and the like spend their time demanding that MORENA “fulfill” what it promised or at least that the social democracy behave like the progressive regime that it claims to be[21] is scandalous and shows how little serious he is with his fables, as well as the null intention of politicizing and putting an end to the so-called "bad government".



On the other hand, the state governments of the "transformation" have shown themselves to be lousy in their administration and intransigent with the demands of the various sectors of society; to the point of carrying out a frontal and punitive attack against the normalist comrades in Chiapas, as the most intransigent and repressive example, or the process of evident militarization in Tabasco and Michoacán.



It should be emphasized that in the face of the supposed "fight" against corruption, everything possible has been done to dismantle the social organizations that still survived without ties to the political apparatus, through the "individualization" of government subsidies; or if not, see the case of the remaining rural Normal Schools, of which, being "guerrilla nests", the least risky option to dismantle them is to eliminate them as a fraternization center and pulverize the social ties of the students [22]. trying to sell the idea that by spending the subsidies on their own, they would achieve more without having to resort to "corrupt intermediaries", ignoring the fact that their survival to this day is the result of the resistance and organized work of the group of normalistas .



On the other hand, AMLO, when attending an event in Chiapas and being reprimanded by the CNTE teachers, said that "we don't owe anything (to the teachers)," he even detracted from the protest and made remarks with which he implied that his government has dedicated itself to materializing the regime of "freedom (to aspire to be a good bourgeois)", (that) everyone's problems will be solved automatically; but we must remember that in his government the businessmen of the once mafia "power mafia" have been guests of the first line in his morning conferences, despite the fact that many of these individuals are responsible at the head of their monopolies for disasters of epic proportions such as the spill in the Sonora River, the responsibility of Grupo México, the collapse of subway line 12, in which the construction company CICSA part of Grupo Carso[23] has full responsibility and this has not only been questioned but has been an episode to show the complicity that some characters very close to AMLO want to keep hidden by altering the results of the expert opinion as well as blocking any attempt to serious and exhaustive investigation [24] .



The work of dismantling any non-aligned movement or organization is notable, in a quite subtle way by the way, because while looking for a way to undermine its social base or livelihood, a campaign is launched to enhance the achievements of the proposal , trying to highlight that the corrupt and patronage “intermediaries” are over, despite which the treasury continues to be used discretionally, as demonstrated by the results of the Sembrando Vida program.



Another example of the tragicomedy of the 4T is the pathetic inefficiency with which the Attorney General's Office (FGR) has operated against scandalous examples of corruption, at the hands of businessmen such as Alonso Ancira of AHMSA, who was released even after having embezzled the treasury and which did not show signs of fulfilling its commitment until he was "threatened" with prison again; It would be the last straw if, like Miguel Alemán Magnani, he took an international trip to “confer” with investors and ended up moving his home abroad. We should remember the thousands of individuals who are overcrowded in the prisons of this country, victims of the immobility of the judicial system, of the arbitrariness of the police, the military and the officials of the FGR.



And it is that, in fact, one of the most recurrent messages of social democracy, in addition to "republican austerity", is that the "emblem" projects will be completed in the next 2 years and this goes hand in hand with the constant conflicts that have arisen, for example, with the construction workers of the AIFA [25] , due to the violation of their rights, and with the community members of the adjacent regions, due to the poor quality of the works that were given to them in exchange for the cession of their land for the project; In recent months, another conflict was triggered at the Dos Bocas refinery due to the protest of some 5,000 workers from ICA Fluor (a subsidiary of the same construction cartel involved in the tragedy of Metro line 12) who demand payment of overtime, and better conditions[26] of work, and before which it was sent to the Navy and "shielded" with anti-riot elements, resulting not only in its containment as if it were a mob of arsonists [27] , with several wounded in between, but also a justification-accusation that the employer complies with its labor obligations and that the dissatisfied are not workers [28] .



Social democracy, through its "neutrality" game between workers and businessmen, pretends to advocate for the former by giving sermons to the mafia of monopolies, even when MORENA constantly acts against the interests of the working people and turns a deaf ear to the constant violations of rights. rights of the residents of the “emblem” projects in the southeast; a new example of such behavior is in the case of the expansion of the train that will connect the AIFA with CDMX, which tries not to disturb the activity of the companies that are on the track by building elevated sections in their area, while destroying the life of the communities that live on the route, responding to claims that there is "no more budget" (at least for the working people) [29] .



It would suffice to see the cases of influence in which the "elite militancy of MORENA has benefited, because even with its motto of "transformation" social democracy is not different from the other bourgeois parties because there are plenty of cases of corruption [30] , as it is in the case of Senator Guadiana, the influence and nepotism of Sánchez Cordero, Monreal or Mario Delgado, or the cases of career whitewashing of former governors by giving them the opportunity to remove them from the country as ambassadors, giving them a white check to get away with any accusation, to today Quirino Ordaz, from Sinaloa, Claudia Pavlovich, from Sonora [31] , etc.



So it becomes clear that the "commitments" of the social democracy of "transformation" once again fall on deaf ears, they are nothing more than empty campaign slogans, deception for the naive who continue to defend them.


The economic task in which social democracy is an expert

Another good example of the servility of social democracy towards the monopolies is the discourse of alleged "benefactor" and "interventionist" policy in which while on the one hand it continues to appeal to recover, for "social" benefit, de facto privatized companies such as PEMEX [32] , wholesale contracts and in favor of the participation of the same monopolies as always continue to be granted [33] , demonstrating once again that the government allocating resources to PEMEX not only saves a parastatal that operates under capitalist logic but also saves and maintains the rate of profit of the capitalist monopolies, thereby avoiding the "fall of the economy".



On the other hand, the so-called "welfare policy" is not only another stratagem to save the monopolies, granting wholesale crumbs to workers, peasants and students because with the universalization of government scholarships, the profit rate of those is maintained. capitalist monsters [34] , but it is also the Keynesian way [35] of maintaining the well-being of the monopolies and thus, while the fighting spirit of the masses of workers is numbing, the future continues to be taken away from them with their programs of subsidiarization of labor for the capitalist class.



A couple of months ago a debate broke out at least in the leadership of the Bank of Mexico. The reason for the nonsense, what to do with the 12,117 million dollars received as SDR from the IMF [36] . These resources, according to AMLO, would not be used except to pay the unpayable foreign debt, to which some technocrats reacted with statements denying that possibility, but this is little news; Their disagreement is not about what will be done with it, but rather which group of the bourgeoisie will benefit most: the cartels of the former "mafia of power" or those who are supporting the "transformation" by putting their capital to "enlarge" his Mexico. Social democracy gives another kick to leftist organizations whose struggle is "national liberation."



Finally, even when the most reactionary sectors of the business leadership or the social elite denounce the supposed "communism" or "socialism" that the MORENA regime would "try" to establish, through its assistance programs or the fight against tax evasion, the Reality surpasses the fiction of those oracles, since social democracy is perfectly clear that its task is in accordance with the search for the well-being of the bourgeoisie through respect for its private property [37] "always" and, even, to serve as a containment for the Chinese bourgeoisie through greater economic integration with the US monopolies [38] , in the purest style of the reactionary White House lobbyists.


Final considerations on the "social" emblem with which social democracy is promoted

Lastly, it is worth mentioning that recently some "nationalist" sectors, anchored in the figures of Mexican reformism, try once again to bring back the shadow of the "oil expropriation", recycling the legend that, just as "the Mexicans" recovered the oil, it is time to recover a resource such as lithium, electricity, banks, etc. And it is enough just to see how was the development of the “Mexicanized” economy after Cárdenas, that is, of the so-called national bourgeoisie and the capitalist Mexican State, to notice that the beneficiaries were the capitalist class, the political elite, their well-connected families. and his cronies; the same ones who today cackle support for the 4T or boast of "having accepted" the increase in the minimum wage in favor of the "well-being" of Mexican families,



One of the great transformations that have occurred in this renewal of the bourgeois cabinet is the popularization of the "social" character of it and of all its work, that is, each one is bathed in the mantra that the well-being of society I demanded it and, therefore, it is the most convenient. And it would be more or less credible with all the hype with which the "universalization" of scholarships and pensions is celebrated, if it weren't for the fact that news about corruption, nepotism, diversion of resources, collusion with drug trafficking or with monopolies help to show the true character of the regime, anti-worker, militarist, anti-immigrant, enemy of popular struggles and servile to the bourgeoisie.



As for the construction of the pharaonic infrastructure works of the regime, each criticism is answered with the indication of being part of the conservatives, reactionaries or the opposition. But one would have to ask if in the successive reforms through the previous social democratic regimes the benefit of the monopolies [39] and the bourgeoisie have prevailed, then what is the purpose of insisting on the search for “social” benefit by the the social democracy of MORENA [40] ?



It seems clear to me that those calls for the wisdom of the people, those applause in depoliticized commemorations, those vain celebrations such as the anniversary of AMLO's election or support for "progressive" or leftist regimes in Latin America have more to do with dumbing down of all vanguard political organization and therefore of the people and workers, since, being a government and claiming as a product of all the combative organizations of the past, all indication that there has been and will not be any progress for the people is silenced and domesticated with MORENA, but on the contrary a strengthening of the State and a weakened people without experience in political struggle; an exclusion of all the means of struggle won during the previous regimes; and therefore,



So it is worth reflecting on whether all the paraphernalia of the "transformation" is just another strategy to hide the favoritism that the "left" has for the capitalist order or its biased vision that the people are made up of a bourgeoisie that holds dominance. political and economic and a people formed by the proletariat that must settle for the crumbs that its “government” deems convenient; if that "concern" for the poor is not really another ruse to reduce the tendency to rebellion and outbreaks of violence of the working people or if all that call to get involved with the transformation is nothing more than one more trick to bring the weak “revolutionaries” with their arms down, from those anti-establishment movements of yesteryear, at the tail end of their servile bureaucracy.



Ultimately, MORENA represents the dam against the social revolution that is required, and with each call to “refound” their party and their work, they seek to justify their unlimited and counterrevolutionary reformism.


* Unpublished text.

[1] Julio Astillero, “Armed Forces, my main support: AMLO (Metapolitics note)”, at: https://julioastillero.com/ Fuerzas-armadas-mi-principal-apoyo-AMLO/

[2] La Jornada , “National security spending grew twice as much as resources for health”, at: https://www.jornada.com.mx/notas/2021/0 ... -seguridad -national-growth-twice-than-resources-for-health/

[3] Contralinea , “Military deployment increases to 318 thousand 889 troops”, at: https://contralinea.com.mx/despleg-mili ... efectivos/

[4] In recent days it has been revealed that the company that will manage the assets that have been granted to the FF. AA. It will be called “ Olmec Maya Mexica”.

[5] El País , "López Obrador gives more power to the Army: the Mayan Train will be a military heritage", in: https://elpais.com/mexico/2021-03-18/lo ... le-otorga- more-power-to-the-army-the-mayan-train-will-be-military-heritage.html

[6] As an anecdote of the validity of the military career in our country, Plascencia de la Parra mentions in HOFA 1917-1937, p. 259 that "The military career in Mexico has the characteristic of something permanent, which is never lost."

[7] FAP onwards.

[8] Process , "The National Guard: A tricky conversion by Sedena", at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/reportajes/2 ... ional-una- tricky-conversion-charge-of-sedena-269357.html

[9] That is, from the FAP.

[10] Article 39 of the GN Law, sections I. Police training institutions of the Federation, duly certified; and II. Public institutions, national or foreign.

[11] Animal Politico , “Only 5 of the 32 generals who lead the National Guard are trained as policemen”, at: https://www.animalpolitico.com/2021/09/ ... -policias/

[12] Animal Politico , “Military police take over from civilians in road surveillance”, at: https://www.animalpolitico.com/2021/08/ ... ras-relevo

[13] Process , "Military and public security communications: The 4T removes a monopoly... but creates another", at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/reportajes/2 ... militares- of-public-security-the-4t-removes-a-monopoly-but-creates-another-272273.html

[14] Energy Regulatory Commission, federal institution in charge of the general regulation of fuels and energy.

[15] La Jornada , “LP Gas Price Will Increase in Some States”, at: https://www.jornada.com.mx/notas/2021/0 ... -aumentara -in-some-states/

[16] El Horizonte , “Artemio Garza company monopolizes the LP gas market”, at: https://www.elhorizonte.mx/finanzas/aca ... mio-garza- /4054219 and Common Sense , “Cofece detects lack of competition in LP gas distribution”, at: https://www.sentidocomun.com.mx/articul ... ?id=102899

[17] Milenio , “Only five families distribute more than 50% of domestic gas”, at: https://www.milenio.com/businesses/solo ... 50-del-gas -domestic

[18] In short, increase energy subsidies.

[19] AMLO, “Present report on reform initiative in electrical matters; “it suits the people”, affirms the president”, at: https://lopezobrador.org.mx/2021/10/11/ ... nvenir-al- people-says-president/

[20] La Jornada , “Lithium does not enter into negotiations on electricity reform: AMLO”, at https://www.jornada.com.mx/notas/2021/1 ... un-arreglo -on-the-electric-industry-AMLO/

[21] Proceso , “EZLN condemns operations against migrants: “it is shameful””, at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/est ... os-contra- migrants-dare-271316.html

[22] Process , “AMLO criticizes self-government in rural normal schools; proposes direct delivery of resources”, at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/202 ... os-directa -269089.html

[23] El Financiero , “Carso, ICA and Alstom, the consortium behind the failed Metro Line 12”, at: https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/cdmx/20 ... /carso-ica -and-alstom-the-consortium-behind-the-failed-subway-line-12/

[24] Proceso , “MORENA blocks the creation of a commission on the collapse of Line 12”, at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/202 ... a-creacion -of-a-commission-on-the-collapse-of-the-line-12-271941.html

[25] Milenio , “Santa Lucía airport construction workers protest”, at: https://www.milenio.com/politica/comuni ... anta-lucia

[26] Chiapas Paralelo , “State riot police repress workers protest in Dos Bocas”: https://www.chiapasparalelo.com/noticia ... de-obreros -in-two-mouths

[27] El Universal , “”I'm going to lose my eye!”; video shows wounded in Dos Bocas protest”, at: https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/estados/ ... sta-de-dos -mouths

[28] El Financiero , “Workers and riot police clash at the Dos Bocas refinery”, at: https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/naciona ... -enfrentan -in-dos-bocas-refinery/

[29] Proceso , “The train that leaves a town”, at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/reportajes/2 ... blo-277359. html

[30] La Silla Rota , “Corruption is denounced, it is not tolerated”, at: https://lasillarota.com/opinion/columna ... era/592513

[31] “López Obrador will appoint former opposition governors to Mexican embassies”, at: https://www.swissinfo.ch/spa/méxico-gob ... ajadas-de- mexico/47027882

[32] Senate of the Republic (Coordination of Social Communication), "Importance of private investment in the energy sector during the pandemic highlighted," at: http://comunicacion.senado.gob.mx/index ... /boletines /49842-highlight-importance-of-private-investment-in-the-energy-sector-during-the-pandemic.html

[33] Proceso , “Grupo Carso de Carlos Slim, obtains a contract from Pemex for 196 million dollars to drill wells”, at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/economia/202 ... upo-carso- de-carlos-slim-obtains-pemex-contract-for-196-mdd-to-drill-wells-271655.html

[34] Julio Astillero, ““I am convincing myself to rescue those at the top”, AMLO jokes about his social policy in a pandemic (Metapolitics note)”, at: https://julioastillero.com/me-estoy-convenzando- of-rescuing-those-from-above-ironics-AMLO-on-his-social-policy-in-pandemic/

[35] BBVA , “What is the Keynes or Keynesian model?”, at: https://www.bbva.com/es/keynes-para-dum ... a-when-se- speaks-of-the-keynesian-model/

[36] Expansión , “3 benefits that Mexico obtains with the financial aid of the IMF”, in: https://expansion.mx/economia/2021/08/2 ... ico-con-la -financial-aid-from-the-imf

[37] Process, Government will “always” respect private investment; we are mixed economy: AMLO at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/202 ... 72479.html

[38] Process, AMLO warns China's global economic dominance if North America is not strengthened, at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/202 ... economico- china-world-world-if-north-america-is-not-strengthened-277870.html

[39] Think of Alemán Valdez's so-called agrarian counter-reform, the so-called "Mexican miracle during the dissimilar regimes of López Mateos and Diaz Ordaz, the subsequent oil boom, the resurgence of nationalizations in the face of the crisis of the 1980s with which banking was saved, the privatization movement under Salinas-Zedillo that gave birth to today's monopolies, and the subsequent Pact for Mexico in which what was left of the "welfare" state was cannibalized in favor of the "free market," in favor of of foreign monopolies.

[40] Proceso , "The function of companies is to pay taxes, not to do philanthropy: AMLO", at: https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/202 ... uncion-de- companies-is-paying-taxes-not-doing-philanthropy-AMLO-274162.html


Texto completo en: http://elcomunista.nuevaradio.org/el-ma ... -crisis-y/

http://elcomunista.nuevaradio.org/el-ma ... -crisis-y/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

User avatar
blindpig
Posts: 12209
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 pm
Location: Turtle Island
Contact:

Re: Mexico

Post by blindpig » Mon Aug 22, 2022 2:05 pm

They order the arrest of 20 Mexican soldiers for the Ayotzinapa Case

Image
Relatives, students and activists demand the punishment of those responsible for the disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa students. | Photo: EFE
Published August 20, 2022 (8 hours 9 minutes ago)

The FGR reported the arrest of the former prosecutor, Jesús Murillo Karam for the acts of forced disappearance, torture and crimes against the administration of justice.

The Ayotzinapa case, the forced disappearance of 43 Mexican students in 2014, experienced its strongest shake on Friday, with the issuance of arrest warrants against 64 military and police officers allegedly involved in the crime and the arrest of former attorney Jesús Murillo Karam for the same criminal act.

The Attorney General of Mexico (FGR) reported that a federal judge from the State of Mexico issued 83 arrest warrants against 20 military commanders and troop personnel from the 27th and 41st battalions in the city of Iguala for the Ayotzinapa Case.

The Mexican entity pointed out that the judge also ordered the arrest of five administrative and judicial authorities of the state of Guerrero; 26 police officers from Huitzuco; six from Iguala and one from Cocula; plus 11 state police officers from Guerrero and 14 members of the Guerreros Unidos criminal group.


The crimes for which the arrest warrants were issued are for organized crime, forced disappearance, torture, homicide and crimes against the administration of justice.

Hours before, the FGR announced the arrest of former Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam at his home for the acts of forced disappearance, torture and crimes against the administration of justice.



The lawyer for the relatives of the 43 disappeared students, Vidulfo Rosales, considered the arrest of Murillo Karam "an important step", however he was skeptical about possible revelations by the former prosecutor.

The capture of Murillo Karam occurred hours after President López Obrador called for "truth" and punishment for those responsible for the disappearance of the Ayotzinapa students, after the publication on Thursday of the report of the government commission that has been investigating the case since 2019 and considers it a "state crime".


The report maintains that the military and officials, due to their "actions, omissions or participation," allowed the kidnapping and death of the students of the Ayotzinapa normal school and six other people at the hands of the Guerreros Unidos drug cartel.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/mexico-o ... -0003.html

Google Translator

******************

Mexico: Former Prosecutor General Arrested for Role in Ayotzinapa Case, Arrest Warrants Issued Against Military and Police Personnel
AUGUST 22, 2022

Image
Demonstration with protesters holding human size portraits of each of the Ayotzinapa victims, at Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City. Photo: El Universal/Zuma/Picture Alliance.

August 21, 2022 (OrinocoTribune.com)—Former prosecutor general of Mexico, Jesús Murillo Karam, was arrested on Friday, August 19, for alleged involvement in the Ayotzinapa forced disappearance case, in which 43 teaching trainee students of Guerrero state were forcibly taken and later executed during the midnight hours of September 26-27, 2014. Murillo Karam, who headed the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Republic during the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018), was the mastermind behind the deceiving “historical truth” narrative of the case.

The news of the detention was reported by the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) through an official statement, which explained that the former prosecutor general was arrested “for the crimes of forced disappearance, torture, and obstructing the administration of justice in the Ayotzinapa case.”


The statement added that Murillo Karam had submitted to arrest “without any resistance.” The FGR also publicly acknowledged “the tactical and operational support” that it received from “specialized personnel of the Mexican Navy.”

On Saturday, August 20, Murillo Karam was placed in preventive detention in order to ensure his appearance at the hearing scheduled for next Wednesday, August 24, where it will be determined whether he will be tried on charges related to the Ayotzinapa case. The preventive detention order was requested by the FGR due to Murillo Karam’s high risk of flight from the country to avoid justice. This is the first time that a former prosecutor general of Mexico has been sent to prison.

In addition to Murillo Karam’s arrest, the FGR reported that it has obtained arrest warrants against 20 military personnel, 44 police officers and five state officials who were also linked to the forced disappearance of the 43 students. It is also investigating the chains of command that acted before, during and after the Ayotzinapa operation, to determine responsibilities of the crime. Among those being investigated are former Secretary of National Defense General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, former Secretary of the Interior Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, and former Secretary of the Mexican Navy Admiral Vidal Francisco Soberón Sanz, as well as former attorney of Guerrero state, Iñaki Blanco.


Murillo Karam is accused of deliberately concealing the truth of the Ayotzinapa case, using state institutions in criminal acts, having responsibility in serious human rights violations (forced disappearance and torture), and obstructing investigations into the whereabouts of the 43 students.

On January 27, 2015, Murillo Karam, together with then head of the Criminal Investigation Agency, Tomás Zerón de Lucio—who is now hiding in Israel, presented the so-called historical truth of the incident. Over the years investigations have proved that version of events to be a lie orchestrated at the highest levels of government in order to ensure impunity for the perpetrators of this crime against humanity, as the Ayotzinapa case has been designated by the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)-appointed team of independent experts.

Among the evidence against Murillo Karam is a video recorded by a Mexican Navy drone at the Cocula landfill. The video shows the former attorney general arriving at the site on the morning of October 27, 2014, minutes after 12 personnel of the Navy had manipulated the scene where the bodies of the 43 students were supposedly incinerated, and three months before releasing his so-called historical truth.

The FGR’s actions came after the Commission for Truth and Access to Justice in the Ayotzinapa Case presented a report stating that the disappearance of the 43 students was a state crime. Last Thursday, August 18, Alejandro Encinas, president of the commission and Mexican under-secretary for human rights, submitted the report to the parents of the disappeared students.


“The disappearance of the 43 students from the Isidro Burgos Normal School in Ayotzinapa on the night of September 26-27, 2014, constituted a state crime in which members of the criminal group Guerreros Unidos and agents of various Mexican state institutions participated together,” Encinas declared while presenting the report.

He added that so far “there is no indication that the students are alive; on the contrary, all the testimonies and evidence prove that they were killed and disappeared,” a tragic conclusion that had already been deduced by most.



Orinoco Tribune special by Saheli Chowdhury

https://orinocotribune.com/mexico-forme ... personnel/

*******

Image

Bourgeois fantasies: "the revolution can be achieved by peaceful means"
EMILIANO ZEPEDA 19.Aug.22 Ideology

One of the discourses that the bourgeoisie uses to distance the working class from the communists is to ensure that they are violent by nature, that they only seek to achieve their objectives through organized violence because they reject legal and parliamentary channels from the outset. But as in all anticommunist propaganda, it is enough to make a brief analysis to discover the falsity of these assertions.

Bourgeois fantasies: "the revolution can be achieved by peaceful means" *

One of the discourses that the bourgeoisie uses to distance the working class from the communists is to ensure that they are violent by nature, that they only seek to achieve their objectives through organized violence because they reject legal and parliamentary channels from the outset. But as in all anticommunist propaganda, it is enough to make a brief analysis to discover the falsity of these assertions.

We communists fight for the overthrow of capitalism and the construction of socialism as a way to reach a communist society, this through the abolition of private ownership of the means of production, making these, instead of being the private property of a handful of capitalists, are the social property of the workers and therefore, the wealth created by work will not end up in the pockets of the capitalists but in the welfare and continuous improvement of the quality of life of the working class. This, in short, is what we fight for.

Now, it is a historical law that the big capitalists are not going to allow this just like that, knowing that they will no longer be able to enrich themselves with the exploitation of the working class. Placing the example of Mexico, can you think that big capitalists like Carlos Slim, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, Germán Larrea, etc., are going to hand over their means of production peacefully to the working class? Obviously not, they are going to cling to their privileges, to defend to the death their private property and their class position that allows them to exploit the working class and enrich themselves with it.

However, many may say that it is not about them handing over their means of production on their own, but that it can be "taken away using legal channels", such as elections, parliament, etc., so that, once that power be reached by these means, that the means of production be expropriated and that they be socialized. In other words, the old formula of Eurocommunism. With this conception, some opportunists in our country try to deceive the working class and, as one thing leads to another, they seek to position our class as a sidekick of the ruling social democracy today.

However, another question comes in here. It is necessary to remember that the State and all its organs and institutions constitute a tool of repression of one class against another. In capitalism, the state is the instrument of the bourgeoisie to repress the proletariat. Therefore, it is an illusion to think that through any of its organs it is possible for the proletariat to seize power. The bourgeois state has its defense mechanisms to cut off that possibility.

Let's take the example of parliamentarism and elections, since it is the preferred fetish, both of the bourgeoisie and of the opportunists under its command, with which they seek to discredit the communists. In our country, the Communist Party of Mexico has tried to obtain its registration with the current electoral body, the National Electoral Institute (INE), because although it is aware that elections under capitalism are an illusion, it cannot refuse to use the combination of all forms of struggle according to the specific moment, in addition to the fact that the electoral representation of the working class with its party is a right that was achieved after years of struggle, a right that is not annulled even if its registration has been given to a bourgeois party like the PRD by the traitors who liquidated the historic Mexican Communist Party.

However, as we have mentioned, the bourgeois state has defense mechanisms in all its institutions to prevent the slightest possibility of the working class remotely approaching electoral representation, since our party soon ran into legal obstacles to obtain its registration, conditions that any bourgeois party would not have hesitated to accept, but that a revolutionary party like ours cannot consent to, such as handing over the list with password of our militants, renouncing proletarian internationalism or allowing the INE to interfere in the internal affairs of the Party. On the contrary, together with other requirements such as carrying out massive assemblies that would imply enormous financial costs,

But even supposing that a communist or workers' party could participate without conditions in the elections and even win, that does not guarantee anything. The clearest example of this we have right in Latin America, specifically in Chile, where Salvador Allende and the Popular Unity came to government through popular vote and not by armed means. The Allende government constituted a threat to the interests of the Chilean bourgeoisie, which is why the latter, in coordination with the US bourgeoisie, carried out a coup d'état, which led to the assassination of Allende, the establishment of a bloody military dictatorship and the outlawing of and persecution of the Communist Party and the Popular Unity coalition.

Therefore, we return to the same thing, the bourgeoisie is not going to surrender its power or its means of production in a peaceful manner, nor is it going to respect legality or the supposed democracy to allow parties that confront it and its interests. On the contrary, he will defend his power with blood and fire. Therefore, even if we communists can participate in elections and win by voting, nothing will be achieved by peaceful means, and the same applies to carrying out a "reform of the State", in which supposedly, gradually, the working class will be able to promote changes.

Now, as we already mentioned, it would be a mistake not to take advantage of all the forms of fighting as the conditions of the moment allow it. Participating in parliament, for example, and even in elections, can become a very useful tool, especially for agitation and propaganda, since it would broaden the range of diffusion of our Program and our proposals towards the working class and popular sectors of our country, but we do not hope for anything in this exclusive form of struggle since the bourgeoisie cannot afford to lose at its own game.

With what has been said so far, it can already be made clear that it is an idealist and bourgeois fantasy to dream that the working class can come to power by peaceful, reformist and non-revolutionary means or, to put it another way, that by making exclusive use of bourgeois institutionality opens that possibility. But it is precisely here that the accusations that we communists are "violent by nature" or that we are "thirsty for blood" jump out. Worse yet, that “bloodlust” is not quenched once power is conquered, because being “violent by nature” we will continue to exercise unrestrained and indiscriminate repression and violence.

Anticommunist propaganda at its best, but let's go by parts. Let's start by unmasking the hypocrisy of these assertions, since those who spit them out deliberately omit mentioning the brutal use of violence that the bourgeoisie uses in capitalism to perpetuate its class domination. When workers fight for better wages, better working conditions, rights, benefits, etc., the bourgeois state responds by imprisoning or directly murdering those who dare to confront their interests. Capitalism is nothing other than the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie , that is, the use of organized violence by one class over another.

Since the organized violence of one class against another is something that will continue to exist as long as social classes exist (because to deny it would be to fall into idealistic and anti-scientific conceptions), it is natural to think that when the working class comes to power, it will lead that violence against the remnants of the exploiting classes, because we are aware that they will do everything possible to regain power, and not through peaceful means as today the bourgeoisie itself demands that we fight. That workers' power will be known as the dictatorship of the proletariat .

In conclusion, we communists are not "violent by nature", but we know the revolutionary and scientific role of violence in history. The bourgeoisie will never surrender peacefully. If so, there would be no need for us to use violence. But since thinking that this is going to happen is a bourgeois fantasy, the working class has no choice but to resort to revolutionary violence, both to overthrow the bourgeoisie and to prevent it from regaining power. We communists are not violent by nature, but if the bourgeoisie wants war, it will have war!

Texto completo en: http://elcomunista.nuevaradio.org/fanta ... -se-puede/

http://elcomunista.nuevaradio.org/fanta ... -se-puede/

Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

User avatar
blindpig
Posts: 12209
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 pm
Location: Turtle Island
Contact:

Re: Mexico

Post by blindpig » Mon Feb 13, 2023 2:37 pm

CIA Spied on Mexican Revolutionary Workers Party, Interfered in Union Elections and Collaborated With Anti-Union Thugs Who Broke Up Strike at Ford Cuautitlán Assembly Plant Thirty-Three Years Ago
By Rob McKenzie - February 11, 2023 2

Image
A 1990 rally after the shooting at the Cuautitlán plant. [Source: indybay.org]

Growing strength of independent Mexican labor movement today draws on legacy of striking Ford workers.

In the pre-dawn darkness outside Mexico City, in the dim light created by streetlamps, a group of about 300 thugs and tough guys prepare to enter the Ford Cuautitlán Assembly Plant. They are men willing to commit acts of violence for the right price and are armed with clubs and firearms.

Many have been drinking or have strengthened their resolve with drugs. They are wearing ill-fitting Ford uniforms with company ID badges displayed on their chests. The government union officials and gangsters who have hurriedly pulled the group together wait for the final OK to enter the plant.

It is January 8, 1990. The events of the next few hours will shape the lives of workers at the plant irreversibly. Within a few days, one worker will be dead. The attack will lead to a plant occupation and prolonged strike over wages, firings and democratic reforms to CTM, the government-aligned union federation. Within a few months, hundreds will have lost their jobs and the hope for a workers’ challenge to the low-wage export economy of Mexico would be dimmed.

Image
At one-year commemoration of massacre. [Source: robmckenzie.org]

During the 1970s, Mexico experienced good economic growth and wage gains because of its oil reserves and the likelihood of more oil being discovered.

The country borrowed heavily to finance infrastructure improvements and government spending on social programs. Due to an economic crash and falling oil prices in the early 1980s, the Mexican economy fell into significant decline.

In response the government, which the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) had controlled since the 1920s, began adopting neo-liberal economic policies, which were unpopular with the Mexican people. In 1984 the CIA published an analysis for the intelligence community saying, “The Mexican political system is under greater stress today than at any time in the last 30 years.” And it was only going to get worse for the PRI.

At 7:19 a.m. on September 19, 1985, Mexico suffered an earthquake which measured a magnitude of 8.1 on the Richter scale and was followed two days later by a major aftershock. It resulted in between 5,000 and 20,000 deaths, and the collapse of more than 400 buildings, as well as major damage to another 3,000. The devastation to so many buildings laid bare the failure of the government to enforce building codes. Corruption was suspected as the primary cause.

Image
[Source: historiadelciudadmexico.blogspot.com]

The PRI government was paralyzed. Citizens were left to cope with rescue and relief on their own. The people of Mexico City formed organizations and began making decisions themselves. They formulated demands calling on the government to rescue all survivors, to prosecute officials responsible for structural weaknesses, and to rebuild instead of relocating people. Within days, a grassroots movement began to spread across the city.

The following April, the CIA disseminated a secret paper assessing the political impact of the quake. The document was entitled “Mexico: Political Implications of the 1985 Earthquakes—A Comparison with Nicaragua and Guatemala.” The Agency believed the PRI government’s performance was good enough that it would not affect the political stability of the country.

The assessment noted as somewhat of an afterthought that high-ranking Mexican officials had become increasingly worried due to the spontaneous organization of the new groups in the quake’s aftermath. These groups filled a vacuum created by the failure of traditional political institutions to respond to the disaster, and officials believed they posed a threat to political stability. The CIA and the U.S. Embassy dismissed these concerns as premature and an overreaction. In actuality, these groups would be the catalyst for a nationwide political upheaval that would challenge the PRI’s 60-year history of political dominance.

The July 6, 1988, election developed into the biggest challenge to the Mexican ruling elite since the 1910 revolution. Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, who was the son of a revered former president of Mexico, Lázaro Cárdenas, defied the PRI dictatorship in 1988 and ran for President. His coalition which included communists and socialists, probably won the election but the government shut down the computer system counting the votes and had the military seize the ballot boxes.

Image
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas on right during 1988 campaign. [Source: sinembargo.mx]

It was a PRI election catastrophe without precedent in Mexican history. There were fraudulent practices all over the country and the opposition parties refused to accept the results. In October the Congress voted to certify PRI candidate Carlos Salinas’s victory with a margin of 260 deputies to 240 for the opposition.

Image
El fraude electoral de 1988. [Source: regeneracion.mx]

This near victory of the left in Mexico catapulted the State Department and CIA into action. John D. Negroponte was appointed as Mexican ambassador within weeks of the election certification. Negroponte had been ambassador in Honduras and was tasked with the congressionally prohibited task of supporting the CIA-funded Contras. (He would later become the first Director of National Intelligence.)

Image
John D. Negroponte defending U.S. policy in Central America to reporters in the 1980s. [Source: foxnews.com]

Vincent Shields was simultaneously assigned to Mexico as CIA station chief. Shields was later accused of training a counter-insurgency battalion in Honduras that became a “Death Squad” during his assignment there.

In 1987, amid the turbulence of the decade, Ford Motor Company began negotiations with the CTM over a new contract at its Cuautitlán Assembly Plant (CAP) located just outside of Mexico City. Inflation was rampant, auto sales had fallen precipitously, and a layoff was needed.

Image
Ford’s Cuautitlán Assembly Plant. [Source: automotorpad.com]

Ford worked out an agreement with the CTM. The Company would not meet the government-recommended wage increase; the union would call a strike, but Ford would pay half of the worker’s wage while they were out. The Ford CTM local went on strike but under Mexican labor law an employer can terminate a contract after three months of a strike which Ford did. When the workers returned to work under the new contract, they learned that this agreement had contained what amounted to a 40% wage and benefit cut to the bargaining unit.

The workers were irate, and leadership of the local union was solidified by a reformist faction of the work force who were members or supporters of the Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT).

This was a Trotskyist group that arose from the 1968 student movement which was crushed in a massacre of hundreds of students that year. The new leadership embarked on a series of aggressive reforms that included filing grievances and holding regular meetings where workers could give voice to their problems and concerns. When they thought it appropriate, they organized unauthorized work stoppages.

The CAP local union was part of a national CTM Ford union that also included two new Ford plants recently built on the U.S. border. A new Secretary General of the Ford union, Hector Uriarte, had been appointed by the CTM leadership.

The Cuautitlán dissidents planned on running a candidate against Uriarte in the July 1988 union election and, because of the relative sizes of the locals, believed they would easily win this contest. But Ford stepped in and fired four of the top leaders of the Executive Committee, preventing them from challenging Uriarte.

We recently have learned that Uriarte was in Washington, D.C., in November 1988, meeting with the director of the AFL-CIO’s American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), William Doherty, and perhaps others in the CIA.

Image
William Doherty [Source: cubacenter.org]

AIFLD had a long history of destabilizing Latin American governments the U.S. found unreliable allies in the Cold War. We now know that AIFLD was 98% government-funded, managed by CIA agents, and provided a labor cover by the AFL-CIO leadership. AIFLD had located their Mexico headquarters inside the CTM office building in Mexico City. They kept close tabs on what was going on at Ford Cuautitlán.

With the discharge of the local leadership the struggle at Ford went to a new level. The workers in the plant rejected the national Executive Committee’s attempts to direct the local, as it was clear that they had gained office through the firings of their potential opponents.

The activists formed the Ford Workers Democratic Movement (FWDM). The FWDM started a rank-and-file newsletter called En La Linea (On the Line). Two of the fired Executive Committee members began a hunger strike that was positioned in front of the Ford Motor general offices. The strike lasted 38 days and gained media attention.

Image
[Source: colinville.blogspot.com]

The fired Executive Committee continued to act as the leadership of the local union throughout 1989. In December, a major problem developed in the plant. In the spring of that year, Ford had made profit-sharing payments to the workers but had not withhold the taxes, in an effort to benefit the election of Uriarte.

In December, Ford de Mexico finally withheld those taxes from paychecks. It resulted in tiny paychecks. As a result, some workers received nothing; most suspected Uriarte of corruption.

On December 21, 1989, the workers walked off their jobs and blocked a highway in front of the plant, demanding restoration of their salaries, reinstatement of the fired Executive Committee members and a new democratic congress of the CTM. After CTM Secretary-General Velázquez met with the workers and agreed to do so again on January 8, 1990, the workers went on the annual Christmas week shutdown.

On January 3, work resumed at the CAP. On Friday, January 5, local leaders came to the plant to hand out a leaflet calling on workers to attend the scheduled meeting with CTM Secretary-General Velázquez.

Image
Ford workers occupying plant on January 22. [Source: robmckenzie.org]


Soon, about 30 thugs attacked the six workers handing out the leaflets in the vicinity of the plant. These leaders were then taken away. When the workers in the plant learned of the disappearances, they stopped work and halted production but remained in the plant. They conducted a sit-down strike and barricaded themselves in the Ford complex. By 6:00 p.m. the kidnappers, who did not identify themselves, released the six leaders.

On Monday, January 8, production was scheduled to resume. Ford had planned on firing the ten workers who led the January 5th work stoppage, and had called police in to take them out of the plant. Along with the police 300 armed thugs wearing Ford jackets and under the command of a notorious gangster entered the plant complex. They planned to prevent another work stoppage and break the FWDM. A violent confrontation ensued, and the workers drove out the attackers. Nine Ford workers were shot; Cleto Nigmo Urbina later died from his wounds.

The workers began an occupation of the Ford facility that lasted two weeks. After the police forced them out, a prolonged strike followed, concluding with 600 workers being fired. It meant the end of the rebellion. A court convicted ten of the January 8 attackers for manslaughter and assault. They were sentenced to three years in prison but served only six months.

Ford Motor management went to the U.S. Embassy and met with officials two days after the attack and subsequent occupation of the plant. The embassy reported in a cable to the Department of State that Ford claimed the attackers were PRT members who entered the plant to intimidate their work force. This showed Ford was totally confused by what had happened on January 8.

Image
[Source: robmckenzie.org]

The Ford managers told officials that they had called in police to remove “non-Ford employees” and did not understand why police had done nothing to stop the intruders. Ford has only once commented publicly—at a stockholders’ meeting—about the event. The Company CEO categorically denied paying the attackers or providing them with company uniforms asking the questioner, “Why would we pay someone to come into our plant and attack our workers?”

The Department of State adopted the position that this had been just an internal union conflict, in effect accusing the CTM of orchestrating the violence. The problem with this is that the CTM never accepted any responsibility for the event. When finally questioned four years after January 8, Uriarte denied participating in the violence at the Ford plant and claimed to have no role in the killing of Cleto Nigmo Urbina.

Blas Chumacero, the second highest official in the CTM, blamed Ford, telling the Mexican Congress, “The events were provoked by people from outside the union. Let us speak with clarity: The company is responsible and can always find people at its service for these kinds of illegal acts.”

Image
Blas Chumacero [Source: ceteme.org]

On January 17, Silvestre González Portillo, the head of the National Union of Automobile Workers, CTM (the Ford union was an affiliate of this organization), held a press conference. He called on the Interior Minister to prosecute Wallace de la Mancha for criminal attacks on workers on several occasions, the Cuautitlán attack being the latest.

Wallace de la Mancha was a well-known gangster with a murky past who the press widely reported to be in command of the January 8 assault on the workers. De la Mancha is never mentioned in the 11 U.S. Embassy cables on the events and died under suspicious circumstances, probably assassinated, a few months later.

Classified CIA documents show the CIA was watching the PRT closely and was concerned they might be establishing a base in the working class. Victor Marchetti, who was executive assistant to the deputy director of the CIA in the late 1960s, describes Mancha’s likely fate in a documentary film broadcast in 1980:

“In the setup, the agency has where the dirty work is done by contract people or one-time hires and so forth, obviously if
anything goes wrong they can be disavowed. If the person turns bad, turns sour and may want to speak out, and may possibly have some credibility and/or evidence well then, stronger action is called for, the ultimate termination of the agent.”

Image
Victor Marchetti [Source: nytimes.com]

On February 3, 2022, workers at the General Motors (GM) facility in Silao, Mexico, voted resoundingly to be represented by the National Independent Union for Workers in the Automotive Industry (SINTTIA), a newly formed automotive industry union recently organized by workers at the assembly plant.

Image
[Source: eleconomista.com]

SINTTIA, which was widely recognized as the only independent union on the ballot, won in a landslide victory and garnered more than 4,100 votes. The leaders of the new union credited a veteran of the struggle at Ford Cuautitlán for helping make their victory possible. SINTTIA is one of several new independent unions that have recently formed.

It took 30 years after the defeat of the FWDM before an independent union movement reorganized and challenged auto employers in Mexico, but today hope is real that the union movement will make a big impact.

https://covertactionmagazine.com/2023/0 ... years-ago/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

User avatar
blindpig
Posts: 12209
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 pm
Location: Turtle Island
Contact:

Re: Mexico

Post by blindpig » Fri Mar 10, 2023 3:48 pm

Image

AMLO says Mexico is more democratic than oligarch-run USA, condemns State Dep’t ‘meddling’ against electoral reform
By Ben Norton (Posted Mar 10, 2023)

Originally published: Geopolitical Economy Report on March 8, 2023 (more by Geopolitical Economy Report) |

Mexico’s leftist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) gave a fiery speech condemning the U.S. State Department’s “bad habit” of “meddling” in other country’s “internal affairs”.

“There is more democracy today in Mexico than in the United States”, López Obrador said, “because here the people govern, and there the oligarchy govern”.

AMLO lamented that politicians in Washington “still will not abandon the two-century-old policy, the Monroe Doctrine, of thinking of themselves as the world’s government”, calling it a “centuries-old habit of the U.S. government and U.S. elites”.

As an example, López Obrador pointed to Peru, where he said “the U.S. ambassador is the advisor of the coup-mongers, who trampled on the liberties and democracy in that country, unjustly overthrowing the President [Pedro Castillo] and imprisoning him”.

AMLO also denounced U.S. corporate media outlets for spreading propaganda against his government, supporting Mexico’s right-wing opposition, and “protecting the mafias of economic power in the world”.


U.S. State Department and media back opposition protests against Mexico’s very popular electoral reforms
López Obrador is Mexico’s first left-wing president in decades. When he came to power in 2018, he broke a decades-long cycle of bipartisan rule, which he blasted as the “neoliberal period” in which the “oligarchy” ruled the country.

In addition to expanding social programs, a key part of AMLO’s political agenda has been electoral reform.

For decades, Mexico has faced rampant corruption and very reputable accusations of electoral fraud. López Obrador has vowed to change that.

His government proposed legislation to reform Mexico’s National Electoral Institute (INE). The plan is to simplify the country’s voting system, cutting funding to highly overpaid executives, while making it easier to vote for people living in rural areas, those with disabilities, and Mexicans abroad.

Numerous INE executives already get paid more than the president himself, and the huge sums of money in and around the institution has made corruption a systemic problem.

A survey from late 2022, which was conducted by the INE itself, found that the vast majority of Mexicans support electoral reforms, with 74% to 93% of people agreeing with proposed reforms, such as cutting funding and creating elections for electoral magistrates.

In fact, the poll found that 52% of Mexicans support replacing the INE with an entirely new institution called the National Institute of Elections and Consultations (INEC), while just 40% of people oppose this.

Although electoral reform is widely popular among the Mexican people, it has angered the country’s political and economic elites, as well as their backers in Washington.

On February 26, Mexico’s right-wing opposition parties—many of which are closely linked to drug cartels and have benefited from decades of systemic corruption—held a march against the Mexican government’s proposed electoral reforms, calling for the INE to be left alone.

Major U.S. media outlets showered the protests with support. The U.S. State Department expressed its approval as well, criticizing the electoral reforms.

CIA official turned State Department spokesman Ned Price applauded the demonstrations as part of a “great debate” to “support healthy democracy” in Mexico.


AMLO denounces U.S. “meddling” and the Monroe Doctrine
López Obrador denounced the U.S. government’s “meddling” in a press conference on February 28.

“The U.S. State Department [has] the bad habit, always, they meddle in affairs that don’t involve them”, he said.

This contradicts the attitude of “President Biden, who always talks about equality, rhetorically”, AMLO added.

Condemning this “bad habit” of the United States, the Mexican president lamented,

They still will not abandon the two-century-old policy, the Monroe Doctrine, of thinking of themselves as the world’s government.

He continued:

What do I say, with all due respect, to Mr. Blinken of the State Department? That there is more democracy today in Mexico than in the United States.

“Instead of meddling, acting in an interfering way in our internal affairs, if they want to continue with the same policy, they should take care of what is happening in Peru”, AMLO said.

In Peru, he warned,

the US ambassador is the advisor of the coup-mongers, who trampled on the liberties and democracy in that country, unjustly overthrowing the president [Pedro Castillo] and imprisoning him.

“But this is nothing more than the State Department. It is its nature”, AMLO argued, denouncing the “centuries-old habit of the U.S. government and U.S. elites”.

“When I say that we have more democracy than they do, it is because here the people govern, and there the oligarchy govern, nothing more”, AMLO added.

The Mexican president also criticized the Wall Street Journal, which had a front-page story praising the right-wing opposition protest against his government.

AMLO said the newspaper was promoting “the march of the corrupt”. He said the Wall Street Journal “and other newspapers in the United States protect the mafias of economic power in the world”.

The leaders of the march were “corrupt” and “hypocritical”, López Obrador argued. He noted that it featured many of the same politicians who voted against his proposed policies to support pensions for elderly Mexicans and scholarships for students.

“That is their mentality. They are very conservative and very hypocritical”, he said.

AMLO likewise made fun of the hyperbolic media outlets and opposition activists who “say that we are dictators”.

He lampooned right-wing politicians who say “You are either with me or against me”. Instead, AMLO countered, you are “either with the people or with the oligarchy”.

Ignoring documented history of recent fraud, U.S. media demonizes Mexico’s electoral reform
López Obrador is one of the most popular heads of state in the world. He has consistently enjoyed an approval rating of between 60% and 70% since he came to power in 2018.

His proposed electoral reform is very popular as well.

The main goal of the reform is to simplify Mexico’s electoral system, and trim down the National Electoral Institute (INE), which is notorious for its massive bureaucratic bloat, and which provides a lot of room and money for corruption.

President AMLO has often pointed out that some high-level INE officials make more money than he does.

By simplifying the system, López Obrador hopes to make it much more difficult for Mexican elites to steal elections.

Through his career, going back decades, AMLO has campaigned against the rampant corruption in Mexico’s political and electoral system.

A progressive outsider, López Obrador ran against the two parties that dominated Mexican politics: the center-right neoliberal PRI and the hard-right conservative PAN. Both are infamous for their documented involvement in corruption.

The PRI governed the country (under various names) from 1929 until 2000, and then returned in 2012. The PAN reigned from 2000 to 2012.

AMLO came very close to winning the 2006 presidential election, losing by a fraction of a percentage point. He accused his right-wing opponent Felipe Calderón of stealing the election through fraud.

Calderón, who served as president from 2006 to 2012, is well known to have close links to drug trafficking and corruption. The former chief of security in Calderón’s government, Genaro García Luna, was found guilty in a U.S. federal court in February of having collaborated with the bloody Sinaloa Cartel and protected drug lord El Chapo Guzmán.

In the 2012 presidential elections, the neoliberal PRI returned to power. López Obrador once again came in second place.

AMLO accused the PRI of buying 5 million votes. And there was ample evidence for his accusations—these are not at all like Donald Trump’s baseless allegations.

In the wake of the 2012 elections, numerous videos went viral on social media showing long lines of Mexicans who received payment cards to vote for the PRI.

A diehard right-wing Colombian hacker who is currently in prison, Andrés Sepúlveda, told Bloomberg in 2016 that he helped PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto rig the 2012 elections, by stealing data, hacking phones, installing spyware, manipulating social media, spreading fake news, and more.

Bloomberg wrote (emphasis added):

When Peña Nieto won [in 2012], Sepúlveda began destroying evidence. He drilled holes in flash drives, hard drives, and cell phones, fried their circuits in a microwave, then broke them to shards with a hammer. He shredded documents and flushed them down the toilet and erased servers in Russia and Ukraine rented anonymously with Bitcoins. He was dismantling what he says was a secret history of one of the dirtiest Latin American campaigns in recent memory.

For eight years, Sepúlveda, now 31, says he traveled the continent rigging major political campaigns. With a budget of $600,000, the Peña Nieto job was by far his most complex. He led a team of hackers that stole campaign strategies, manipulated social media to create false waves of enthusiasm and derision, and installed spyware in opposition offices, all to help Peña Nieto, a right-of-center candidate, eke out a victory.



Sepúlveda’s team installed malware in routers in the headquarters of the PRD candidate [AMLO], which let him tap the phones and computers of anyone using the network, including the candidate. He took similar steps against PAN’s Vázquez Mota. When the candidates’ teams prepared policy speeches, Sepúlveda had the details as soon as a speechwriter’s fingers hit the keyboard. Sepúlveda saw the opponents’ upcoming meetings and campaign schedules before their own teams did.

Money was no problem. At one point, Sepúlveda spent $50,000 on high-end Russian software that made quick work of tapping Apple, BlackBerry, and Android phones. He also splurged on the very best fake Twitter profiles; they’d been maintained for at least a year, giving them a patina of believability.

Sepúlveda managed thousands of such fake profiles and used the accounts to shape discussion around topics such as Peña Nieto’s plan to end drug violence, priming the social media pump with views that real users would mimic. For less nuanced work, he had a larger army of 30,000 Twitter bots, automatic posters that could create trends. One conversation he started stoked fear that the more López Obrador rose in the polls, the lower the peso would sink. Sepúlveda knew the currency issue was a major vulnerability; he’d read it in the candidate’s own internal staff memos.

Just about anything the digital dark arts could offer to Peña Nieto’s campaign or important local allies, Sepúlveda and his team provided. On election night, he had computers call tens of thousands of voters with prerecorded phone messages at 3 a.m. in the critical swing state of Jalisco.

As an alleged victim of voter fraud, AMLO has insisted on the importance of electoral reform, to make the country’s corruption-ridden system more equitable.

In February, Mexico’s Senate approved “Plan B” of the proposed electoral reform. This version is much less ambitious than the overhaul that was proposed in 2022 (Plan A), but which did not get enough votes to pass.

Despite the law being watered down, Mexico’s right-wing opposition—which is notoriously corrupt and unpopular—has capitalized on it to try to portray AMLO as a would-be “autocrat”.

This is despite the fact that López Obrador is only going to be in power for one term, and has made no efforts to change Mexico’s law restricting presidencies to a single term.

Mexico’s conservative opposition has powerful friends in Washington, and particularly in the U.S. press corps.

The editorial board of the Washington Post, which is owned by billionaire oligarch Jeff Bezos, blasted AMLO’s electoral reform as “a knife stabbing at the heart of Mexico’s democracy”.

Reuters cited anonymous “critics” who “warn it will weaken democracy“, while the Los Angeles Times did the same to portray it as a “threat to democracy“.

Neoconservative activist David Frum, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush and accomplice in the illegal U.S. invasion of Iraq, claimed in The Atlantic that “liberal democracy in Mexico is under assault“, demonizing democratically elected President AMLO as “erratic and authoritarian”.

Not one of these media outlets mentioned the 2022 INE survey that found that 74% to 93% of Mexicans support AMLO’s proposed electoral reforms, or that the president has consistently had an approval rating of between 60% and 80%.

https://mronline.org/2023/03/10/amlo-sa ... al-reform/

Nice broadside, but don't ever think ALMO is any sort of leftist. He is a liberal, economic nationalist whose real base is the Mexican home-grown bourgeoisie. Considering Mexico's historic relationship with the USA any sort of criticism of the northern predator is bound to be wildly popular and boost his support.

***********

UNACCEPTABLE CONDUCT OF THE ARMY IN NUEVO LAREDO IS NOT AN EXCEPTION, BUT THE CONSTANT OF ITS PRESENCE IN THE STREETS

Published: 01 March 2023

The militarization of the country, begun during the Calderón government, continued by Peña Nieto's, and reinforced by the current government of President López Obrador is unacceptable, and we must persist more firmly in the fight for the return of the Army to the barracks.

During this government, which obtained many votes with which it won the elections in 2018 based on the broken promise to end militarization, the presence on the streets and in public life of the armed forces increased and was legalized. , both from the Army and the Navy, as well as from its new façade: the National Guard. In addition to assuming previously civil functions such as el control of customs and airports, distribution of textbooks and vaccines, the Army has been assigned economic functions in the construction and real estate industries, and important infrastructure projects such as the Isthmus Train, hotels, transportation of passengers and merchandise of the Mayan Train, ensuring that the high command will increase not only their political but economic power. As if that were not enough, since the first day of his government, President López Obrador has consistently used a speech to launder the Army, which he calls "good uniformed people", and exempt it from its crimes throughout the 20th century: the atrocious murder of Rubén Jaramillo, his partner Epifania Zúñiga García, who was pregnant, and their children, in 1962; in 1965 in Chihuahua, in 1968 in Tlatelolco, during theDirty War that liquidated a generation of young revolutionaries in the cities of the country and in the mountains of Guerrero, as well as proven massacres such as the one that occurred in Tlatlaya, and constant murders and violations of human rights. Without forgetting the shocking case of Ayotzinapa, which the current government no longer wanted to resolve so as not to further incriminate the Army. Ayotzinapa is clear proof that the Army and crime maintain close coordination in their functional role in the repression of the social movement. It has been a total slap in the face to the history of our people's struggle to want to equate the revolutionaries of our country with the military. No Mr. President, they were not the same, some were victims and others perpetrators. Some fought for justice and others to preserve injustice.

After almost two decades of using the Armed Forces for public security tasks, the balance sheet is that the drug-trafficking industry and crime have not weakened or diminished, but have now expanded and their intertwining with the State is close to symbiosis

Let us also bear in mind that, during the governments of Lázaro Cárdenas and Ávila Camacho, due to social demands and the growing union and political organization of the working class and peasantry, the conclusion was reached that the military should restrict its role to a force defense of sovereignty in the face of any probable aggression from abroad, and limit its hitherto predominant role as a political factor in public life. Riots, barracks, conspiracies had to come to an end. Today, from the National Palace, the serpent's egg is dangerously incubated by granting the Army a leading role in political decisions.

There is enough data to ensure that there is a historical intertwining between the drug trafficking industry and the military and police commands in our country. The role of generals such as Quirós Hermosillo, Gutiérrez Rebollo or Acosta Chaparro, or of structures such as the extinct Federal Security Directorate and the Army Special Forces groups, in strengthening drug cartels in our country cannot be hidden. This connection continues, as shown by the most recent scandals involving García Luna and General Cienfuegos.

At checkpoints, raids, and operations, the military presence is detrimental to the rights and freedoms won by the people in their struggle. There are many "errors" and therefore too many casualties of the civilian population at the hands of the Army: innocents murdered, women raped, tortured and disappeared. Now it is also a task force against our migrant brothers to comply with the agreements of the Federal Executive with the Trump and Biden administrations.

Now we are witnessing the behavior of the Army in the streets of Nuevo Laredo. Once again, as in the governments of Calderón and Peña Nieto, they seek to justify extrajudicial executions, this time under the cloak of hope for change. From the government and its ideological transmission channels, the alleged association with crime is repeated identically, so that it is tacitly accepted that shooting into the air or at the feet of the civilian population and that new military protocols are applied with impunity, such as snatching cell phones and destroy any evidence that can be gathered in recordings by witnesses about the unconstitutional actions of the soldiers and their commanders. There is no possible justification for the detention, torture or extrajudicial execution of any person by the military.

Nor should it be forgotten that while with Calderón and Peña Nieto the military presence in the streets was illegal, today it is legalized by the constitutional reforms promoted by Obrador and all the parties represented in the Union Congress both in 2019, unanimously, and in 2022 by majority.

We cannot accept it. The Armed Forces must return to the barracks.

Immediate return of the Army to the Barracks!

Stop military brutality against the civilian and working population!

Down with militarization, immediate return of the Army to its barracks!

No more economic power, no more impunity, to the Armed Forces!



Proletarians of all countries, unite!



The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Mexico

http://www.comunistas-mexicanos.org/par ... las-calles

Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

Post Reply