Antonio Navalón
The year 2023 came to an end more as a relief than as a sigh of satisfaction. It was a year that, at times, was agonizing and controversial. However, as history has shown on many occasions, a cycle of radical changes ushered in a new era that was not precisely the one we longed for. In Mexico, this cycle that began its end with this new year was marked by the presence and leadership of a man convinced and determined in his ideals and plans for the country. President López Obrador has shown that there are no limits or obstacles to imposing the vision – even if it was not precisely what the country needed – that a ruler can achieve anything he wants.
One of the undeniable facts in this new historical cycle that is beginning is the present and throbbing democratic crisis that afflicts the entire world. This is not a particular point of view or a personal analysis; it is a fact that can be verified by looking at the current state of societies and political and democratic structures around the planet. We are witnessing the confabulation of elements that have produced a fateful cocktail that, on the one hand, eliminates the possibility of having any proposal or approach that would allow us to yearn for a better future. On the other hand, both the governors and the governed are suffering the exhaustion of the structures and seeing how the repeated non-fulfillment of promises brings us to the brink of complete uncertainty.
Enigmatically, we characterize ourselves as a society dominated and controlled by emotions. While in previous periods of history, conflicts, and wars marked the global context, emotions played a fundamental role; nowadays – and with the revolution in technology and communications – human beings are prisoners of what our feelings and emotions dictate. However, people’s desire to wake up is becoming more and more noticeable.
Today, the world is waking up from the lethargy that has allowed us to reach this point, where there may still be something that will enable us to get back on track; it will be enough to see if we have enough determination to bring about the desired change. Today, societies are no longer satisfied with the unfulfilled promises of those who govern them. However, I am not sure that this radicalism of moving from one ideology to another without knowing exactly what is wanted is the real solution to our ills.
Despite what was expressed in the communiqué issued after the December 28 meeting between President López Obrador and Secretary Blinken, I disagree that democracy deteriorates. The reality is that democracy is in a deep crisis and is not only a palpable situation in our territory but is also present in most states.
Of the pearls that the year 2023 gave us, one of the most important is the pitiful complaint and absence of authority of the judge handling one of the many cases against Donald Trump in New York asking the lawyer of the former U.S. president to talk to his client so that he does not mistreat the judicial institution. The principle of authority has either turned into a slaughter like the war in Ukraine, or it has disappeared for the simple reason that, since no one feels safe where they are, no one applies the weight of the Law either.
In Mexico, the law is neither there nor expected. We have formulated the best laws, convinced that we would never have to comply with them. However, now there is nothing in the government’s legal framework where the Law has any weight or space, except for the threat – fortunately not often carried out – that enemies will be treated and prosecuted with the total weight of the Law. And so, with this situation and experience, we enter the election year.
There is an advantage that is the cumulative effect of all political activity done by Morena, and that is that, from what has been seen up to this moment, it seems that they are looking to have an election like the one that José López Portillo had. To explain myself, seeing the movements and positions adopted by the prominent leaders and actors of the party led by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, it seems that Morena wants to reach such a point of predominance over the political and electoral preference that it looks practically unnecessary to hold the next elections. The fact is that if the entire political class – regardless of their crimes, their spending, or their political background – today comes to the aid and in need of Dr. Sheinbaum, even though she acts and behaves as if she does not need any support other than that of President López Obrador. This situation produces the effect of accumulation and assumption that by this way, there will not even be individual responsibilities to be demanded; it will simply be possible to create a general cause in Morena since there are practically all those involved. Within the National Regeneration Movement, there are almost all those who, to a great extent, have played a leading role in the country’s political history in the last 25 years.
There are two ways to win wars, either because one prevails or takes away from the adversary any possibility or reasonable doubt that it could win. Undoubtedly, the second scenario better identifies what is currently happening in Mexico. In the meantime, I recommend they begin to make an objective and accurate balance of what they have done and carried out so far. The fact is that just as it has been effortless to approve budgets and allocate resources to carry out pharaonic works and fulfill the dreams of grandeur of the current presidency, tomorrow, they may be judged and demanded to render accounts with the same ease.
The accounts are in deficit. The balance sheet is negative. It is to be applauded that something has been done, although it would have been better if what has been done could be truly measured in terms of development, welfare, and prosperity for the country. What has been done so far has put the present in trouble and compromised the country’s future. However, as I have said on other occasions, it is not that people get the governments they deserve but that they get the ones they resemble. And, in some cases, the blessed and sacred ignorance has caused collective ruin, leading to a situation in which, whether we want it or not, inevitably, this year will come the time to show the accounts and the proper balance sheet.
Among other things, 2023 was a year in which the work of the Attorney General’s Office, the Electoral Tribunal of the Judiciary of the Federation, and the fight against corruption were greatly simplified. It is no longer necessary to investigate several political parties simultaneously; now, it is enough for them to look at one and start studying what those in charge consider not the right thing to do or that goes against what they want for the country. The political situation of the country has left a curious phenomenon in which -beyond questioning all those PRI supporters who overnight became loyal followers of López Obrador and his movement- we are still not clear about what the so-proclaimed Fourth Transformation consisted of or will continue to consist of. Beyond putting the poor first in any situation or circumstance, who can say precisely what Morena is and what the supposedly promising change brought about by this administration has consisted of?
We have said it and seen it on other occasions, and now we will sustain and prove it: messianic mandates are not inherited. No one inherits a messianic leader since it starts and ends with him. And therefore, we must be cautious since there is nothing easier than to become a despicable human being in front of the messianic leader’s vision. At the beginning of the year, which will be characterized by changes and decisions, it remains to be seen who Andrés Manuel López Obrador will want as his or her successor.
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