Ricardo Pascoe Pierce
The Rocha Moya case and Morena’s close ties to drug trafficking strike the party right below the line of flotation. Its entire legitimacy is in question, and its viability as a ruling party is in crisis. Revealing its lack of a coherent agenda, it governs on a whim. It flouts law and order, preferring to improvise as events unfold. It pretends to profess an ideology, but acts without principles and makes no secret of its ultimate goal: clinging to power, at any cost.
When did the events unfold that now have the ruling party fearing it will lose the upcoming elections? It is difficult to know precisely when López Obrador formed his partnership with drug trafficking, because it could be concealed in various ways. But when it could no longer be hidden—and has recently come to light—it was during the 2021 midterm elections.
It was during those elections, with Morena holding the presidency, that the powerful engine of a comprehensive strategic partnership was forged between Morena and drug cartels. This occurred comprehensively in the gubernatorial elections and, to a lesser extent, in the federal congressional races. For that reason, there was a divergence in vote counts between governors and congressional representatives. While Morena swept the opposition in gubernatorial races (winning 11 of 15), it lost significant numbers of seats to the opposition in congressional and mayoral races.
Today, five years after those elections, it is more than evident what happened then. The ruling party, led by President López Obrador, built a structural and permanent governing partnership with drug cartels, whose purpose was to win elections in states critical to both Morena and the drug cartels themselves. This was particularly, though not exclusively, true along the entire Mexican Pacific coast.
That governing partnership endures to this day, and it was crucial for Morena to win the presidency in 2024 and secure a qualified majority in the Congress of the Union. What has changed is that this partnership, in its dirty, criminal nature, can no longer be hidden.
What is the immediate source of controversy? It was the U.S. government that exposed the seedy underbelly of this criminal partnership. That fact alone allows the Mexican government to demand respect for national sovereignty. But it is undeniable that behind the nationalist outcry lies the defense of Morena’s criminal partnership with drug trafficking.
Today, the biggest political game in Mexico revolves around guessing which other Morena politicians are on U.S. watchlists and who is about to face indictment by a U.S. court. Morena’s leadership structure is creaking under this threat. From López Obrador on down, everyone is worried. Almost all governors, legislators, and other government officials have had their visas revoked, preventing them from entering the United States.
This is relevant now that Morena is about to name its candidates for the governorships of Sinaloa, Michoacán, Guerrero, Sonora, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Nayarit, Colima, San Luis Potosí, and Zacatecas. At least in all those states, Morena governors have lost their visas. Mario Delgado, cited as a central link in the flow of drug money to Morena, is now Secretary of Education; more anxious about his own future than about education, he announced the cancellation of classes nationwide—all for soccer!
Following Rocha Moya’s model in Sinaloa, all current Morena governors established a structured partnership with drug cartels by appointing their members to strategic areas of their administrations—in justice, security, and the economy. This means that future Morena candidates for governor will inherit government structures already functionally co-opted by drug cartels.
That accursed partnership that López Obrador inherits has the country by the throat. Criminality is growing in strength, possessing not only territories and weapons but also significant swaths of the Mexican state itself, handed over by Morena.
Now that it has been publicly exposed, Morena has no way to free itself from its partnership with drug trafficking. It is a structural and strategic relationship. The only way out of this predicament is the destruction of both components of the partnership: Morena and drug trafficking.
This is the existential dilemma Mexico faces to break free from the perverse Morena-drug trafficking partnership imposed by López Obrador.
@rpascoep
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