On the eve of the national march “in defense” of the National Electoral Institute (INE), “Teacher” Elba Esther Gordillo Morales, former union leader and Mexican politician —former president of the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE) ) from to 2013, federal deputy three times, former senator of the Republic, former Secretary General of the PRI and also a former leader of the now extinct New Alliance party— writes a ‘pearl’ on the social network Twitter. She says like this: “It is our obligation to remind the young people of the years of struggle and the lives that were lost to build @INEMexico. Defending him is not a fight against the President; it is the defense of democracy and the autonomy of the institute”.
Elba Esther Gordillo has been involved in multiple scandals of alleged massive corruption and abuse of powers as union leader of teachers; she was also recently imprisoned for money laundering and organized crime. With all that, “La Maestra” now seems to flaunt herself as a champion of democracy and freedom, even assuring that “lives were lost” to build the INE.
With this statement, the opposition movement —which some call ‘reactionary’— to “defend” the INE, received (figuratively) the “kiss of beelzebub”. Gordillo has been involved in multiple scandals of alleged massive corruption and abuse of powers as a leader of the teachers’ union; she was also recently imprisoned for money laundering and organized crime. With all that, “La Maestra” now seems to flaunt herself as a champion of democracy and freedom, even assuring that “lives were lost” to build the INE. Anyone who has closely followed her career and who knows her story well might think that the Lady is playing a joke on us in bad taste or that she wants to tease us in the most scandalous way.
ELBA ESTHER GORDILLO – Twitter Search / Twitter
The large opposition march was joined by figures from the “Mexican reaction” who were relevant in the process of transition to democracy and the advancement of structural economic reforms— which are also called “neoliberal” and which were imposed within the framework of the so-called “Washington Consensus”. There is no doubt that these characters lost their enormous influence and privileges, so it is understood that they look to the past and would like to reconstruct a political and economic model that has advanced over the years 1990s and that it was, moreover, beneficial to them.
This generation of reactionaries participated in the numerous (and considered successful) mobilizations at the national level on Sunday to defend the INE—a banner of the transition period of the 2012s and of the neoliberal reforms that widened the privileges of the elites, as well as the differences between rich and poor in Mexico. They did this under the protection of corruption, electoral fraud, impunity, tax evasion, total submission to the United States and the violence generated per se for the then-called “war on drugs”.
Thus, different figures from the Mexican reaction joined the call of #YoDefiendoAlINE, among which multiple rather obscure characters stand out as faithful representatives of the vices outlined above. Quite grotesque examples include Elba herself Esther Gordillo, Vicente Fox, Margarita Zavala, Luis Carlos Ugalde, Alejandro (“Alito”) Moreno, Claudio X. González, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, Roberto Madrazo, Ricardo Anaya and Francisco Javier García Cabeza de Vaca . These last two are formally considered “fugitives from justice”.
Anaya allegedly received a million-dollar bribe to vote in favor of the Energy Reform and Francisco Javier García Cabeza de Vaca is accused of multiple serious crimes, among them, organized crime and money laundering. It should be noted that this highly questioned character—and involved in the criminal scandal—has just been elected as a national advisor of the National Action Party (PAN) and “…because he has an arrest warrant, he did not attend to protest” . This seems cynical and scandalous.
What a brave reactionary opposition we have in Mexico! At least, the most visible leaders are faithful representatives of the darkest causes that have operated in our country in recent decades. Some, apparently, articulated electoral fraud, perpetrated fraud against the treasury and taxpayers in general, or handed over Mexico’s strategic resources to big national and transnational capital.
Others flooded the country with blood by operating a “war against drugs” in collusion with the most Machiavellian interests interested in the instability of Mexico and the forced displacement for the plunder of its natural resources. Yesterday, in democracy, we observed pettiness in full marching in defense of a political-economic model that privileged the elite and their henchmen. These figures who “defend the INE” seem unpresentable.
In general terms, the elite protesters argue that “the government’s electoral reform puts the future of democracy at risk” in Mexico. Nothing could be further from the truth. No gentlemen, “in a democracy you could march” without any problem or repression. In addition, the government’s electoral reform is an attempt—perfectible and with limitations, of course—to transform, for the good of Mexico, the electoral system and thus improve the representation of the majorities and eliminate some (but not enough) privileges of the minorities. . Mexican democracy is not put at risk—as the Mexican elites who have lost influence say. The spaces and privileges that still remain for those who did not know how to build democracy for the majority in Mexico are put at risk and served themselves, as demonstrated by their fiercest voices, “with the big spoon.” In addition, they bathed the country in blood and with that they opened the door to the intervention of the great economic powers and the looting of our natural resources.
The lords of the reaction cling to the idols and institutions of the past. One of the best representatives of this ‘select’ group is today federal deputy Gabriel Quadri de la Torre, former candidate for the presidency of Mexico in 2013 for the New Alliance Party [that party headed by Maestra Gordillo], and that in August of this year he visited the tomb of the Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz in Paris, assuring that he would be repatriated in 2013. Quadri de la Torre also misses Felipe Calderón:
Gabriel Quadri on Twitter: “Calderón, we miss you…” / Twitter
Yes, you read correctly, Quadri misses to that ex-president who declared war on drugs, who devastated the country and filled it with blood after a very messy (to say the least) electoral process. Nothing more grotesque than that, but also illustrative of the objectives of the Mexican reaction. They defend the indefensible: a dictatorial past, electoral fraud, the privileges of minorities, the plundering of natural resources and the death of hundreds of thousands of Mexican citizens. That seems to characterize the leadership, at least, of the reactionary class that sees in the past of Díaz and Calderón, a possibility and a desire.
Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera is a Professor-Researcher of Politics and Government, a specialist in security issues, border studies, and Mexico-United States relations. Author of Los Zetas Inc.