Mexican Silver Lining Coming Right Up
On July 1st, Mexican civilians across the Mexican nation are going to vote on their next president and a dramatic change seems to come their way. For the past decades, the Mexican government was under the rule of PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) uninterruptedly in the country for 71 years from 1929 to 2000 and then again in 2012 under the presidency of Enrique Pena Nieto. The party is under socialist idealistics but highly corrupt. Corruption in the Mexican government is no surprise since stratification is known between the common Mexican working class and the elite or the highly successful drug lords. But for this upcoming election, a well-known political figure against PRI seems to take the lead at the polls. Andres Lopez Obrador, a populist, is running on his third attempt under the left-wing political party, Morena (National Regeneration Movement). According to Obrador, he wants to achieve justice and happiness within the country or as he stated: “We’ll invite Pope Francis, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, representatives of international organizations … so that, with local experts, and with the victims and families of the victims, we elaborate a joint plan to attain peace in this country,” In other words, there has to be assimilation in order to be able to start change for the ones in need. With that help, no one has to run away from the injustice or feel the need to cross the U.S. border. He also wants to no longer have innocent lives lost due to drug cartel conflicts. That is why he plans on claiming amnesty with the drug cartels. That way he can remove military from public security operations and there can be no conflict within the communities. His words for equality and better change is making him highly popular and puts him in the lead. People are in the fear of no change and his mindset seems like the most likely to start what the people wanted for many years — better leadership and contentment in their own country.
His political agenda can also change the U.S’s politics and their international relation with them. Mexico is an important emerging and developing nation. World Bank ranks it as the 15th largest economy. For the U.S, this means trading with them is significant. Mexico is also the U.S’s first and possibly most critical point in contact with Latin America. This means that for international relations, Mexico is key to have as an ally. But there has been some tensions lately due to immigration policies. Over the past weeks, reports have been made that the U.S. federal government lost track of 1,500 immigrant children but say they are not legally responsible. Citizens from both countries were devastated over the news. There were also the radical public statements made by the U.S. President Trump about the Mexican people coming to the country and his plan on building the wall. This brings it back to one of Obrador’s points: alleviate the burden of many working class people in order to not make them feel like they have to cross the border for a better life. By not being fooled by the money and the corruption that other politicians are, Obrador can make changes, at least that’s what many Mexican citizens believe.
This set of trust towards political change can be seen internationally. Back in the 1980s, there was a gas leak that caused major travesty in Bhopal, India. The aftermath involved respiratory problems, eye irritation or blindness, and other diseases resulting from exposure to the toxic gas. Regardless of the drastic effects, there was no jurisdiction against the company at fault. Still, in the novel Animal’s People by Indra Sinha, he demonstrates the consequences that happened after the gas leak through the eyes of a young male victim named Animal. Animal’s friend, Zafar, is preparing to present at court regarding to the gas leak and someone asks him if there has been progress in the case. Zafar responds with: “‘Who can tell?… One day something must surely happen, why not today?’” (Sinha 50). Trust towards justice is also shown through the character Pandit Somraj, Animal’s love interest’s father. Animal’s love interest talks about her dad as having: “Such a faith in the law” (Sinha 51). To them, despite the vast amount of corruption seen in their country especially when dealing with international companies, Zafar and Somraj still believe that there are politicians or judges that will make a change and a bigger impact. And I feel like that is how the Mexican people feel with this upcoming presidential election. They have gone through many disappointments with their administration, but the reason why there is such high popularity with Andres Lopez Obrador is because they still have hope that the right choice will be made for them.
As a Mexican-American, it makes me feel hopeful that my nation is actually in a optimistic state. I know there is a lot of potential they have as a country but opportunities have been thrown away due to their reputation as incapable of keeping their citizens or just rich in drugs. Still, I truly feel that changes can be made with the right candidate and I feel like that will actually happen in July 1st.
