Mexico

BY EVE OTTENBERG Photograph Source: (Jose Villa) at VillaPhotography – CC BY-SA 3.0 The Zapatista revolution has survived in Chiapas, southern Mexico, since 1914, and that is a miracle. Zapatistas endured the assaults of government paramilitaries, the betrayals of Mexican presidents and crushing poverty. “They don’t care that we have nothing,” the Zapatistas said of Mexico’s elite at the start of their first uprising, “absolutely nothing, not even a roof over our heads, no land, no work, no healthcare, no food, no education, not the right to freely and democratically elect our political representatives nor independence from foreigners.” This specter of destitution loomed over the Zapatistas, and indeed millions of indigenous people because of NAFTA. After a 12-day war ag...

BY LAURA CARLSEN Photograph Source: ProtoplasmaKid – CC BY-SA 4.0 Militarization, now institutionalized in the Constitution and in practice, extended for the next six years and quite possibly forever, is not just the latest bone of contention between political parties. It is an issue that has profound implications for Mexican society, democracy, security, gender equality and human rights. It has to be analyzed within the framework of these considerations, beyond the false and hypocritical positions of the political parties. On September 9, the Senate approved the president’s proposal for the National Guard to move from civilian command (nominally) in the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection, to form part of the Ministry of Defense (SEDENA). SEDENA is now responsib...

Roughly 60 percent of people employed in Mexico are informal workers with no safety net. By: Tamara Pearson , TRUTHOUT A roaming vendor and street stalls in Cuetzalan, Puebla state. “You don’t think about the future.… There’s no future to think about. Future is arriving home to sleep,” Nemir said. “It’s stressful. Sometimes you feel like you won’t get anywhere. You can’t plan anything. You feel defeated.” Nemir (who requested his last name not be used due to fear of reprisal), worked for years delivering food via apps like Rappi, and now cleans and delivers 20-liter bottles of water. He is part of the majority of workers (at least 60 percent) in Mexico who have informal jobs. That typically means seven-day work weeks and no rights like social security or retirement. ...

BY W. T. WHITNEY Photograph Source: Eneas De Troya – CC BY 2.0 “Sometimes there are revolutions but people keep on thinking the same way. But now we are seeing a peacetime transformation process and there is a change of mentality … I said yesterday that we are winning the battle against racism, classism, discrimination. This is not about material things, not about welfare programs. There’s been a change of mentality”. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) was commenting on events of November 27, which was the fourth anniversary of his taking office. AMLO and his Moreno Party administration had staged a march and then a rally in the Zócalo plaza in Mexico City. They sought to demonstrate the Mexican people’s support for what AMLO calls Mexico’s ...

BY EVE OTTENBERG Photograph Source: (Jose Villa) at VillaPhotography – CC BY-SA 3.0 The Zapatista revolution has survived in Chiapas, southern Mexico, since 1914, and that is a miracle. Zapatistas endured the assaults of government paramilitaries, the betrayals of Mexican presidents and crushing poverty. “They don’t care that we have nothing,” the Zapatistas said of Mexico’s elite at the start of their first uprising, “absolutely nothing, not even a roof over our heads, no land, no work, no healthcare, no food, no education, not the right to freely and democratically elect our political representatives nor independence from foreigners.” This specter of destitution loomed over the Zapatistas, and indeed millions of indigenous people because of NAFTA. After a 12-day war ag...