Antonio Navalón
It was like an illumination. On the afternoon of June 4, President López Obrador saw his vision for the future of Mexico become clearer. The next step he had to take was to seek to consolidate and give continuity to what he had tried to build during the last five years of his administration. He knew inside himself that the time had come to secure the next elections and that he could not waste the advantage of starting the contest while he still held the presidential power. The plan seemed perfect since he would pretend to make the citizens believe that they had an election option when he already knew how to act to leave no chance for the alternative that would confront him and his movement. However, not everything went as planned.
Last June 4, the President dictated the conditions and rules to be followed by the so-called ‘corcholatas’ not for the people to elect who should lead the continuity of the Fourth Transformation – since, for some people, the people are not there to select – but to validate whoever was elected to succeed him. Some people choose to have a premarital relationship, which is a test of all that a married life would entail. In this type of relationship, two people commit to living together without the formality that comes with the commitment acquired after getting married. In the political elections of a country, there is no such thing as a premarital relationship. There are no pre-campaigns or previous tests on whether one or another pre-candidate may be the most suitable to govern the course of our destinies.
To set up or establish this type of space or experience is to allow those competing for the candidacy to surprise us – not for the worse since it would not be convenient for them – and to give us a false illusion of their most effective and proactive side. This invention of the Mexican pre-election figure was, is, and will be dangerous.
It may be said that in a utopian world where there is no room for selfishness, whoever is elected to run for the presidency of the country will genuinely do everything possible to look after the good of the country and that this pre-electoral exercise will serve to get to know the contenders better. However, it is written in human nature that knowledge is often not the basis on which the election is based; instead, we choose what excites us, regardless of whether or not it is the best for us.
Be that as it may, the President’s ‘corcholatas’ have already been seen in all the States of the Republic, covering as many billboards as possible throughout the country, without knowing who put them up or who is paying for them. Starting with Claudia Sheinbaum, who believes she has already won the race, followed by Marcelo Ebrard, who says he deserves the position due to his extensive experience, and concluding with the surprise candidate who is not afraid of anything, Adán Augusto López, in reality, of the six contenders for the Morena candidacy, only these three have a real chance.
With the poll that will define Morena’s candidate just around the corner, the problem is that this pre-campaign experiment has consumed much of the opportunity to get to know the contenders. Knowing what will be left for them to offer once someone is elected is also necessary. History repeats itself. The script to be followed has already been used in the past, and whoever ends up being Morena’s candidate must know that the impact that López Obrador’s speech once had is unlikely to be repeated. The corcholatas started as a competition; however, it has become an exhibition of who has the power to choose and to share the qualities and defects of each one of the aspirants and what can be expected from them.
Moreover, since there is no perfection without competition, whether intended or casual and as a consequence of one of his actions, the president created the competition. Xóchitl Gálvez emerged and formally appeared as a serious contender for the presidency after the President refused to receive her in his mañaneras. Before that, Morena’s aspirants were already decided, and the opposition’s clear disarray and lack of opportunity were evident.
When one does not have power, hope is a valuable tool that helps boost the desires and interests of those seeking it. One of the things that can be done when not in power is to provoke until the one in control makes a mistake. Here there are two mistakes: the first is to have burned before the time the capacity of mystery and seduction of the ‘corcholatas‘. The second was believing that everything was so dominated that it was impossible for any candidate capable of surprising them to emerge on the opposition’s part. And… they were surprised.
The big question to ask at this moment is: what’s next? Autumn begins, and I will stop talking about the alarming statistics on insecurity, nor about the disappearance of the government entity and the parties. I will limit myself to pointing out that we will find ourselves in a panorama of complete uncertainty, not knowing where we will go or with whom we will go on from here.
Between ‘corcholatas’ and opposition aspirants, Mexico is currently being overshadowed by an intense and blurry fog that makes it difficult to know what and how the nation’s future will be. Not even by an instinct of survival or conservation, the business leaders, intellectuals, or those labeled by the president as ‘neoliberals’, have been able to react to the abuses committed by the power towards the only viable candidate of the opposition so far.
When September arrives – and September always arrives – we will find ourselves in a situation where we will continue to celebrate the revaluation of the peso against the dollar. However, we will also be witnessing the funeral of the millions of pesos that the Treasury expected to collect with the value of oil – since it is paid in dollars – and all the effects that the so-called “super peso” will bring.
As for the political panorama, the campaign will no longer be the same since the discourse of everything by, with, and for the poor and blaming the past for the misfortunes of the present have already been used. Candidates must use their creativity and imagination to formulate a new way to impact Mexican society. As we are months away from voting for Mexico’s new president, what will be the decisive factor that will tip the balance in the upcoming elections?
In such strange and confusing conditions, seeing who will be the winner on both sides will be interesting. Which candidate is the most exciting and why? What do they offer that differs from what we have been seeing and experiencing in recent years? The time has come for Mexican citizens to analyze what and whom they choose to lead them. The chosen one will not only wear a sash and sit in the National Palace – if that place is still the one chosen to be the seat of the next government – but he/she will be the one who will set the course of the country for the next few years. It is not a game; it is about electing the person who truly has the tools to ensure development and improve the quality of life of Mexicans. This without leaving aside the transcendental fact that next year’s elections will be the first without a reliable electoral arbiter.
The final countdown begins.
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