The desire for reaction

On the eve of the national march “in defense” of the National Electoral Institute (INE), “maestra” Elba Esther Gordillo Morales, former Mexican trade union leader and politician – former president of the National Union of Educational Workers (SNTE) from 1989 to 2013, three times deputy of the federal government , former senator of the republic, former general secretary of the PRI and former leader of the now defunct Nueva Alianza party, writes the “pearl” on the social network Twitter. It goes like this: “Our responsibility is to remind young people of the years of struggle and the lives lost to create @INEMexico. His defense is not a fight with the president; it is the defense of democracy and the autonomy of the institution.”

Elba Esther Gordillo has been implicated in numerous scandals involving alleged massive corruption and abuse of power as leader of a teachers’ union; She was also recently imprisoned for money laundering and organized crime. For all that, “La Maestra” now seems to flaunt a fighter for democracy and freedom, even assuring that “lives were lost” during the construction of INE.

With this announcement, the opposition movement, described by some as “reactionary” for “defending” the INE, received (figuratively) the “Kiss of Beelzebub”. Gordillo has been implicated in numerous scandals involving alleged massive corruption and abuse of power as the leader of a teachers’ union; She was also recently imprisoned for money laundering and organized crime. For all that, “La Maestra” now seems to flaunt a fighter for democracy and freedom, even assuring that “lives were lost” during the construction of INE. Anyone who has closely followed her career and knows her history well might think that the Mistress is playing a trick on us out of bad taste or that she wants to tease us in the most scandalous way.

ELBA ESTER GORDILLO – Twitter Search / Twitter

Joining the big opposition march are figures of “Mexican reaction” who were important in the process of transition to democracy and the promotion of structural economic reforms – also called “neoliberal” and which were imposed under the so-called “Washington Consensus”. There is not the slightest doubt that these characters have lost their great influence and their privileges, which is to say that they look to the past and would like to, apparently, rebuild the political and economic model that they have promoted since the 1990s and which has been, besides, profitable.

This generation of reactionaries participated in massive (and considered successful) mobilizations at the national level on Sunday in defense of the INE, the banner of the 1990s transition and neoliberal reforms that expanded the privileges of the elites, as well as the distinction between rich and poor in Mexico. They did so under the guise of corruption, electoral fraud, impunity, tax evasion, total obedience to the United States, and violence generated. as such the so-called “War on Drugs”.

Thus, various figures of the Mexican reaction joined the call for #YoDefiendoALINE, among which many rather little-known characters stand out, who have shown themselves to be true representatives of the vices outlined above. Rather grotesque examples are Elba herself Esther Gordillo, Vicente Fox, Margarita Zavala, Luis Carlos Ugalde, Alejandro (“Alito”) Moreno, Claudio X. Gonzalez, Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, Roberto Madrazo, Ricardo Anaya and Francisco Javier Garcia Cabeza de Vaca. The last two are formally considered “fugitives from justice.”

Anaya allegedly received a millionaire’s bribe to vote for energy reform, and Francisco Javier Garcia Cabeza de Vaca is accused of several serious crimes, including organized crime and money laundering. It should be noted that this highly dubious figure – and implicated in a criminal scandal – had just been elected national adviser to the National Action Party (NAP) and “…because he has an arrest warrant, he was not present at the protest.” . It looks cynical and outrageous.

What a brave reactionary opposition we have in Mexico! At the very least, the most prominent leaders are faithful representatives of the darkest deeds that have been operating in our country in recent decades. Some apparently exposed electoral fraud, committed fraud against the treasury and taxpayers in general, or transferred Mexico’s strategic resources to major national and transnational capital.

Others bled the country, waging a “war on drugs” in cahoots with the most Machiavellian interests in Mexico’s instability and forced displacement to plunder its natural resources. Yesterday in a democracy, we saw pettiness marching with might and main in defense of a politico-economic model that favors the elite and its henchmen. These figures who “defend INE” seem unpresentable.

In broad terms, protesting elites argue that “the government’s electoral reform endangers the future of democracy” in Mexico. Nothing is further from the truth. No, gentlemen, “under democracy it was possible to march” without any problems and repressions. In addition, the government’s electoral reform is an attempt – accomplished and limited, though – to transform the electoral system for the benefit of Mexico and thus improve the representation of the majority and remove some (but not enough) privileges for minorities. . Mexican democracy is not at risk, as the declining Mexican elites claim. The space and privileges that still remain for those who did not know how to build a democracy for the majority in Mexico and served themselves, as their fiercest voices show, with the “big spoon”, are at risk. In addition, they have drenched the country in blood and thereby opened the door for the intervention of the great economic powers and the plunder of our natural resources.

The masters of reaction cling to the idols and institutions of the past. One of the best representatives of this “select” group is the current federal deputy Gabriel Cuadri de la Torre, the former candidate for the Mexican presidency in 2012 from the New Alliance party. [ese partido encabezado por la Maestra Gordillo]and that in August this year he visited the grave of Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz in Paris, assuring him that he would be repatriated in 2024. Quadri de la Torre also misses Felipe Calderon:

Gabriel Quadri on Twitter: “We miss you…” / Twitter

Yes, you read that right, Quadri misses that former president who declared war on drugs, who devastated the country and covered it with blood after a very dirty (to put it mildly) electoral process. Nothing more grotesque, but also illustrative of the aims of the Mexican reaction. They defend the unjustified: a dictatorial past, electoral fraud, minority privileges, the looting of natural resources, and hundreds of thousands of deaths of Mexican citizens. This seems to characterize the leadership of at least the reactionary class, which sees in the past of Diaz and Calderón an opportunity and an aspiration.