The Bonsai Parties

The Bonsai Parties

Diego Martín Velázquez Caballero

Small parties have historically played a key role as intermediaries for diverse interests within the Mexican political system.

They have often been considered mercenary actors implementing strategies aimed at perpetuating the status quo.

Prominent examples include the Green Party of Mexico and the Labor Party: the former with a deeply questionable track record, while the latter illustrates the serious contradictions between social liberalism and Maoist ideologies.

Paradoxically, these actors represent part of the commitment to building democracy that drives the second phase of the Fourth Transformation.

In the complex Mexican political landscape, it is difficult to escape the veto power that small parties have acquired.

Their influence, though discreet, has become considerable.

During the years of the hegemonic party, they were mere satellites at the service of centralized presidentialism.

But in the neoliberal era, they acquired disproportionate power, becoming arbiters that facilitated the executive branch's ability to govern at a considerable cost.

The big question now is: what will their role and political price be in the face of challenges posed by phenomena such as imperialist Trumpism?

There is no doubt that these political forces have perfected a form of blackmail that could be harmful to society and even to the political systems of Mexico and its northern neighbor, the United States.

The virtual tie in the struggle for hegemony and the inability to reconcile the country's main socioeconomic currents reveal a serious problem of factionalism and a lack of political understanding.

It is crucial to find ways to overcome the gridlock represented by these empowered small parties.

One necessary alternative would be the implementation of a runoff election for the main public offices in Mexico.

While the phenomenon known as ephebocracy highlights one of the current ills of politics; However, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that "political dwarfism" is even more damaging, as it fuels private interests at the expense of the common good.

Both the Green Party and the Labor Party have demonstrated a remarkable ability to capitalize on their manipulative capacity, thus becoming decisive vehicles for shaping the country's public agenda.

This raises a troubling question: could these small parties be the force that, as General Porfirio Díaz feared, would ultimately weaken not only Mexico but also the United States? History teaches us that the greatest cataclysms often stem from a lack of attention to detail.

Perhaps, after all, the great transformation lies in the seemingly modest interests of those who see themselves as small-time reformers.

Another Stripe on the Tiger

 Another Stripe on the Tiger

Diego Martín Velázquez Caballero

Mexico is at a breaking point institutionally. The most recent report from the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg, one of the most respected global authorities in measuring political systems, has reclassified our country. Mexico is no longer considered a democracy, but an electoral autocracy. This diagnosis coincides with the warnings that political scientist José Antonio Aguilar Rivera has issued regarding the erosion of Mexican liberalism. The decline is not an isolated event, but a seven-year process.

According to the assessment, the deterioration began after the 2018 elections and has accelerated under the current administration. The data is conclusive: Mexico now ranks below nations like India, Peru, and Senegal in its democratic standards. The world, in general, has regressed to levels of freedom comparable to 1978, but the Mexican case stands out for the speed of its transformation.

An electoral autocracy is a regime where elections are still held, but the playing field is so skewed that competition is artificial. Recent reforms are blamed for this regression. The reform of the judiciary to elect judges by popular vote is seen by experts as the capture of the last independent check on power.

By politicizing the courts, the balance of power disappears.The report details that freedom of expression is the first domino to fall.

Harassment of the press and attempts at censorship place the government among the top global offenders of the last decade. Differences and conflicts with civil society are also included in this category of curtailment of freedoms. The absolute control that Morena exercises over the executive and legislative branches has allowed it to dismantle the institutional framework that took decades to build.

In the words of experts like Aguilar Rivera, we are not returning to the hegemonic party system of the last century, but rather facing a new model that uses the legitimacy of the ballot box to suppress pluralism.V-Dem's warning is clear: when a democracy begins to autocratize, it is far more likely to collapse completely than to survive.

Democratic political culture and the INE

 Democratic political culture and the INE

Diego Martín Velázquez Caballero

As in every election, the ways and means in which political actors conduct themselves to monopolize public representation positions are surprising. Processes of usurpation of indigenous and gender identity now abound so that chiefs and oligarchies maintain their power at the expense of the public treasury. Exhibiting the phenomenon is of little use.

Other political and legal analyzes affirm the need for greater bureaucracy to micro-spatially monitor the process. The application of the law is, however, not a valid option in contemporary Mexico.

To obey the law it is necessary to educate in reason and, in weak states like Mexico, due to procedural economy, certain actions that would have a high significant value are abandoned.

Common sense indicates that the INE never had the strength to impose laws and corresponding sanctions. However, the large fines that were imposed on certain occasions and that, however, also ended in waste, also remain for history.

The INE never wanted to promote the effort to apply the draconian system represented by the electoral rules. Not even the national budget would have served to sanction the patrimonialist political leadership. The IFE/INE was complicit in an authoritarian regression that was slowly built. In the end, the imbalance between ideals and means led to succumbing to a form of democratic transition that turned out to be onerous and unproductive. Mexican politics abounds in surrealism and with it an authoritarian populism that has always been a hindrance and atavism is hidden.

Democratic civic culture was an obligation in the development of the IFE/INE, it was never fulfilled. The Electoral Councils sought to be protagonists of the narrative of power and forgot about democratic civility, neutrality and ethics. As referees, they were always biased and subject to political cliques.

Politicians do everything to achieve power and stay there. The electoral process that corresponds to the current six-year term violated all regulations; Strictly speaking, no one should be a candidate and, therefore, all the local horror stories regarding the registration of candidates are peccata minuta.

The reconversion of Morena into the tortilla row pointed out by Weldon and Smith causes the middle class and civil society to lose. The IFE-INE did not and will not comply with the formation of a democratic civic culture.

Impersonating indigenous people, transgender people, women, and even constituencies, is something more than common in the country.

The INE will disappear along with the neoliberal model and we will all once again be colleagues in the sector and party. In the future, the lack of liberal democratic culture in the country will be paid dearly. The middle class and marginalized minorities – such as true indigenous people and non-Mexicans – always lose. It is illogical that the subjects attached to these sectors are referred to as the heroes that the moment requires to safeguard the transition. Liberal democracy has failed miserably in Mexico and the approaching political Darwinism causes orphanhood and absence. The failure of the IFE/INE is followed by the collapse of a legal-political-social approach that developed the electoral system of the last thirty years. Neighborhood and plebeian democracy is what can be seen on the horizon.