Mexico

La manifestación que recordaba la represión contra el movimiento estudiantil en 1971 -cuando fueron asesinados decenas de estudiantes y trabajadores- terminó con una nueva represión. De una forma muy similar a los acontecimientos del 1° de diciembre, cuando tomó posesión Peña Nieto, una vez más fueron apresados compañeros de forma arbitraria.

The first national congress of Morena, the Movement for National Regeneration, was held on November 19^th. This is the new left-wing political formation promoted by Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), formerly the leader of the left wing of the PRD [the Democratic Revolutionary Party]. Here we provide a report by the Marxists of the Izquierda Socialista who took part in the congress.

The humble headquarters of a Mexican student organisation, CLEP-CEDEP, “accidentally” burned down on the morning of the 26th of October. As expected, no one has claimed responsibility and the police, as well as the authorities of the Instituto Politecnico Nacional (National Polytechnic Institute - IPN), have given up pursuing the investigation and have decided that a short-circuit caused the fire (a “short-circuit” in a building where power is turned off every night). Once again, what is clearly a politically motivated attack – possibly conducted by the police itself – against a left wing organisation, will be filed for all eternity as a simple accident.

Mass street protests have erupted against electoral fraud in Mexico. The official version of the results of the presidential election on 1 July gave Enrique Peña Nieto, the candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) 38.21% of the vote, with 31.59% for leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), and 25.41% for Josefina Vázquez Mota of the conservative National Action Party (PAN). The small New Alliance party got 2.29%.

For them, it was over very soon. Less than a couple of hours after the polling stations were closed, the night of July 1, the main monopoly television stations were already declaring the victory of bourgeois candidate, Pena Nieto, of the hated Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The newspaper “El Universal” had already printed in advance its morning edition with Pena Nieto on the cover as the “winner” in the country’s presidential elections. They had in fact planned this months and years ahead and just couldn’t wait a few more hours for such niceties as an official declaration of results!

“It will be the biggest march of your life” a comrade of La Izquierda Socialista (Marxist wing of Morena) told me before Wednesday, 27th of June, when leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), like other candidates in the coming Mexican presidential elections, was to hold his final election rally or ‘cierre de campaña’ (campaign closing) as it is called here.