Ricardo Pascoe Pierce
AMLO ignores the law, tramples it underfoot, and sets out to destroy the country’s institutions. That is the inevitable conclusion from his conduct as head of State. He considers himself above the commandments that legally constrain the rest of the citizens. He puts it this way: “my moral authority is above the law”. However, the driving force behind the construction of his dreamed banana republic is corruption, not national projects, democratic respectability, or the stability offered by the rule of law. The destruction of institutions, corruption as the cement of his movement, and disrespect for the constitutional order are what define a banana republic.
Its authority is obviously not above the law and certainly does not have a drop of morality. What happens is that he has a political party with a simple majority in both Houses, a majority of state governorships headed by Morena militants, and institutional Armed Forces that still obey the mandate of their Supreme Commander. That force is submissive to him and his political pretensions, allowing him to conduct himself as an authoritarian ruler who spends the public budget as he wishes, with total irresponsibility and without the slightest accountability. Moreover, that conduct is applauded by his own.
We must ask ourselves how it is possible that, after blocks of legislators from all parties have worked for years to build democratic state institutions with laws that require transparency and accountability, we have fallen into the arms of such outlaws who think only of themselves, and never of the common good. It is one thing to strive to improve institutions to promote transparency, respect for human rights, and equity. However, it is quite another thing to do what AMLO is doing: completely demolish the institutions so that he does not have to be accountable or respect the rights of third parties. He achieves this by receiving the applause and congratulations of the defenseless morenista masses who lack the slightest capacity for self-criticism.
The absolute caricature of the banana republic that AMLO has in his head as the political model he aspires to implement is reflected in his conflict with businessman Ricardo Salinas Pliego. AMLO hates it when his authority is mocked because he has convinced himself that he is the State and not the head of the Executive Branch that shares the power of the State with two other branches of the same State: the Judicial and the Legislative.
His obsession with the presidential “Investiture” has turned him into Shakespeare’s mad king. King Lear was obfuscated by power to such a degree that he sometimes forgot his own name. AMLO refers to himself in the third person plural when he gets excited and fascinated by his “exploits” as a ruler.
He does not tolerate mockery, but he allows himself to mock others, protected from the presidential nest where he governs: the press conference every morning. And he talks incessantly, distilling anger, rage, resentment, hatred, lack of empathy, derision, contempt, and revenge—always revenge. He is so vengeful that he has to invent the phrase “revenge is not my thing” to try to calm and cover up his desire for revenge. Against whomever and for whatever reason, he wants revenge.
” Investiture” is his supposed armor that he wears as presidential protection. When someone like Ricardo Salinas Pliego perceives AMLO as a character without armor or shield, AMLO’s desire for revenge becomes uncontrollable. He screams hysterical, like the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, ” Cut off his head”. He no longer tolerates anyone who calmly assumes to be his peer, his equal. He is convinced, now and with the end of his reign in sight, that he is a subject endowed with special powers. All his servile environment says so and confirms it. And he caresses his power: he can imprison whoever he wants, snatch his wealth from whoever he wants, and offend the entire middle class, and no one defends himself. According to him, these are proofs of unlimited power.
Ricardo Salinas Pliego challenges him and claims that he is extorting him. In response, the SAT says he must pay 30 billion pesos in taxes. But Salinas continues to criticize his government’s corruption and the country’s insecurity. Oh yeah?! I told you yesterday that you owed 30 billion pesos? Well, it turns out that today it is 60 billion. We all know that these are lies, games, outbursts. But what is relevant in this case is that the President of the banana republic, over which he presides, believes that the best way to conduct public affairs is by breaking the law and publicly and illegally disclosing third parties’ private information to discredit them and thus seek to undermine their credibility. It is the exercise of using all the power of the State against individuals.
That is not the conduct of a law-abiding democrat. It is the conduct of an authoritarian, but a banana, not to say trivial one, who has a party bent on his personal interests and who has corrupted the commanders of the Armed Forces so that they obey him in case acts of force are required to make those who refuse to understand who is in charge here. This is how a banana republic is governed, with its frenzied autocrat in charge.
The key to AMLO’s power ultimately lies in his indiscriminate use of corruption. Corruption is the central cement that binds and maintains the loyalty of his own, his legislators, and governors. Corruption is his thing, and it is the central strategy that sustains his power. According to his governance thesis, money must be handed out hand over fist to maintain control, even if it is overflowing cynicism.
Morena’s most profound and intimate ideological conviction is that it will win the elections because it has bought the votes of millions of Mexicans through social programs. This is where the corrupting cynicism begins: the Morenistas think they can buy power and consider that people are easy enough to coax with money that the election has already been purchased.
Then, among themselves, they distribute budgets, programs, and benefits. In Mexico City, they have dedicated themselves to distributing real estate among themselves, with expropriated or disused properties. All of them have been owners since the times when they were all PRD members (sorry, PRD members, but you know what I mean).
Today, the banana republic requires more corrupting inputs, as incredible as it may seem. Despite approving the country’s largest budget for this electoral year, they need more. The voracity of the corrupting effect does not cease: it demands more and more resources because now there is the fear that they could lose all or an important part of the elected positions and, therefore, they will lose unlimited access to the public budget, which has been their practice during the last six years. That is why he wants to squeeze more productive agents in the country. He would expropriate them if he could, but there is no more time for that. He simply has to squeeze whoever he wants to: Salinas Pliego, López Dóriga, Ciro Gómez Leyva.
Fear does not ride on a donkey. Just as Salinas Pliego may think that the days of the 4T are numbered, and that is why he is resisting the barrage against him, the most intelligent among the morenistas know that June 2 will not be a picnic.
Fear within AMLO’s banana republic is growing daily, and with it, so is corruption.
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