Federico Reyes Heroles
“Always take sides.
Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.
Silence strengthens the executioner, never the tormented.“
Elie Wiesel
Why do you post so much, he was asked. He turned to Wiesel, an indispensable author who refers to the Holocaust, to persecution, to death. He was rescued from Auschwitz and Buchenwald. But there, he lost half of his family. Wiesel dedicated his life to remembering that horror and talking about others: journalism, lectures, and books. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. However, in Mexico, the average age is around 30 years. Wiesel is an obligatory reference, but it is already remote. However, he is of enormous relevance in these terrible Mexican times.
Next Sunday, there will be another citizens’ march. The so-called Pink Tide, the movement that came out in defense of the National Electoral Institute (INE), of the Court, is calling for it. “Those are the institutions that help us to preserve decency. They also need our help”, wrote Timothy Snyder in his lessons On Tyranny. Now, the Tide is coming out in defense of democracy, just as simply, just as dramatically. The threats are piling up. Xóchitl Gálvez and Santiago Taboada, the most visible faces of the opposition, will attend. Immediately came the absurd disqualification: it is a partisan event, not a citizen event. Confusing is a strategy. In Mexico, party militants are a tiny minority: around 7%. Those of Morena are around 2 million 300 thousand. They are around 2% of the electoral roll. In other words, the rallies we have seen of this party -perhaps 150 thousand people to whom the authorities provide everything, carrying them around- are misleading, an act of political impressionism. The election is in the hands of the citizens, of those who do not militate in political parties. They cannot digest it. Those citizens have preferences that vary, as they do all over the world. It is called plurality, and it is only possible in democracy.
The march is a call for definition. The time has come. There is no longer any doubt. With the package of reforms announced on February 5, Morena ratifies its true intentions: to dismantle democratic institutions by trampling on individual rights. These include the seizure of pensions, limitations to the Amparo, an irregular and personalized extension of the amnesty, and the inconceivable defense of the unofficial preventive imprisonment. An example is the perversity of the Casar case. Why the desperate actions?
The recent DEA report eliminates doubts. The U.S. is experiencing the worst drug addiction crisis in its history. The Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels have a presence throughout the Union. When asked by a legislator, Hal Rogers, the director, Anne Milgram, answered that AMLO has been “inconsistent”. “We have been waiting eight months for a visa…”. The legislator reacts, “It is disturbing that the DEA director, despite her best efforts, has failed to meet with a Mexican government official since taking office.” Clearer? “We are an independent country and there are rules that have to be followed,” AMLO responded, if it can be called that.. It’s time for definitions. These are not suspicions.
The narco has penetrated the highest spheres of government, of Morena, and has corrupted members of the Armed Forces and the National Guard, and judges. According to the Risk Map elaborated by the opposition and presented by Santiago Creel, “29% of the (electoral) sections are in danger due to violence”. The National Electoral Institute harassed. The Superior Chamber of the Electoral Tribunal is incomplete for the presidential qualification by the decision of the Morenista faction. Any doubts? The great majority of citizens are nonpartisan, but we should not be apolitical. The dilemma is very clear.
What do we want for Mexico? The certainty of the authoritarianism announced, ratified, and exercised with the violation of the law from the Presidency N times, the continuity of the obvious alliance with the narco, or face our circumstance? I am a nonpartisan citizen, not apolitical. To be neutral today would be cowardly. Onward to the march.
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