Antonio Navalón
For a long time, the fear of the so-called “México Bronco”, where the tiger symbolized chaos, the rupture of social equilibrium, and a concrete danger for all, was a constant that frightened all Mexicans. Just six years ago, before Andrés Manuel López Obrador – or after if one considers the more than 18 years of uninterrupted campaign of the current president of the country – this figure of the tiger instilled fear and signaled imminent danger in the population. Today, however, it seems that the tiger has been tamed, even giving the impression that it is relegated and contained in the basements of the National Palace. No one fears its resentment or its actions anymore. No one takes out the tiger except for its tamer. Everyone has stopped fearing the tiger. Instead, politics, not only in Mexico but in many countries, has been transformed not into the fear of what the tiger might do but into the threat of the outbursts and fire thrown by the dragons.
These signs of destruction are manifested in attacks between politicians and election campaigns, where rhetorical explosions have replaced the claws of the tiger. It is like we are becoming dragons, breathing and living in an increasingly incendiary world. I do not pretend to emulate the analytical capacity of a professional. However, something tells me that we have gone from trying to avoid the onslaught of the tiger to conforming to and becoming accustomed to the alarming alarums and snorting full of the contained fire of the dragon we are becoming as societies.
It is true that, in our society, politics is being affected by the great empire of the north. We saw it in the past when we were belittled as a mere gang of “rapists and drug addicts” who only seek to cross the border to steal the jobs intended initially for Americans but who are unwilling to perform them. Today, a new threat is emerging. It is not only against our compatriots who devise daily how to evade the menacing border patrols, but it is a danger that is already beginning to breathe within U.S. society itself. And the most reliable proof of this is Donald Trump’s repetitive speech announcing that a “bloodbath” will be unleashed in case he does not win the elections. Although there are no direct antecedents of leaders like Hitler, Trump, who refused to accept his defeat in the 2020 elections, continues to threaten to use violence if his victory is challenged in the next elections.
Donald Trump is a character who, since 2020, has always said that he has been the victim of conspiracies plotting against him to prevent him from leading his country from the Oval Office; his political rhetoric always seems to be impregnated with bloody references and divisions. However, Trump is not an isolated event or character. Beyond the borders, political violence is also present; just look at the politicians murdered in the first weeks of the electoral campaigns in different parts of the world, but mainly in our country. In Mexico, it is no longer only a real danger to be a journalist or a defender of the truth but also to aspire to a public position to improve the lives of citizens, which has become a threat. Although it has not yet reached a critical point like the one that the U.S. candidate of the Republican Party intends to unleash, there is concern about how the defeat of the candidates will be handled and what actions their supporters will take.
In Mexico, we should not be so surprised by how things unfold. Not even a month has passed since the beginning of the campaigns, and there are already casualties among the aspirants for public office in our country. It is true that – so far – there has not yet been an attack against any of the candidates who could have a more significant impact or repercussion on society. However, it is also true that, unfortunately, the issue of assassinations of political candidates who have modestly serious aspirations is not something new, nor does it seem that it will stop happening. Without going into conspiracies or preconceived ideas, we cannot forget that this type of events have been happening for decades, just remember people like Luis Donaldo Colosio, or more recently the assassination of the Ecuadorian presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, or so many other candidates who have been victims of political violence. It is an urbi et orbi explosion not contained in a geographical delimitation or conditioned to a specific social situation.
We have reached a point where it is not a question of canceling or preventing the next elections from taking place. However, what is really at issue is what President López Obrador will do to avoid the most minor bloodshed in his already violent six-year term. It also remains to be seen how the leader of the Fourth Transformation and his most loyal followers would react in case -although unlikely- his candidate and most solid aspirants would lose the longed-for majority in Congress. The fact is that since 2006, with his total blocking of Reforma and his different reactions to a reform, modification bill, or any other type of law, it is also clear that – just like any other politician with interests and ambitions – our president does not like to lose at all.
What would happen if the partners decide to lighten the payroll of President Lopez Obrador’s problems? In any case, we face a dragon, a symbol of the danger of political destruction and the order we knew until now. It is acceptable to use various political strategies, such as rhetoric and continued persuasion, through offering everything the people need, but what is unacceptable is to resort to violence and the destruction of the established order. At this moment, in which everything revolves around the polls and the candidates, we must be very clear about what is at stake and aware that the polls and projections are only shadows that do not reflect reality. The only definitive thing is what will be announced on June 2 in the official results. Meanwhile, it has been long since the author of “The Art of War”, Sun Tzu, wrote that the first thing to do with enemies is to remove any possibility or hope of victory.
Amid this political pre-parade and within this dragon ride, today, more than ever, we need leaders capable of building, not destroying. We should not believe and be a very zealous critic of campaign promises and the true wishes of the parties involved about the future of societies. Our priority must be to prevent the dragon from succeeding, learn from history, and prevent the land from being razed to the ground, as Hitler tried to do in his time with Russia. The German leader always said that the mistake and the lesson of Napoleon’s campaign in Russian territory was not to have razed everything to the ground and leave alive an enemy who later prepared the coup de grace to the greatest army of the time, the French.
In this time when the incendiary puffs of dragons have replaced tiger claws, it is time to prepare ourselves and work together to ensure a future without destruction and unbridled political violence.
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