Claudia Sheinbaum will on June 2 become the second Jewish woman elected president in recent history. Golda Meir, former Israeli prime minister, is the only other person in the world to hold that distinction.
Sheinbaum will be the victor in Mexico’s election, one that pitted her against another woman Xochil Galvez
The media have largely ignored what is democratic revolution in favor of Mexico’s mafias and the migrant crisis.
It’s striking that here we will elect an elderly white man while our southern neighbor’s new president is a 61-year-old scientist and a progressive. Mexico is purportedly a macho-dominated nation and there is a wave of anti-Semitism in many parts of the world.
Neither Sheinbaum’s gender nor her ethnicity have been an issue. What’s happened?
In brief, Mexico has evolved into a nascent democracy. As a journalist, I began covering Mexico in the early 1970s, when it was a dictatorship artfully disguised as a democracy. The Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, had its tentacles in every aspect of Mexican life, from local politics to labor unions to the news media. The party’s corruption sucked the nation dry, and Mexico stumbled from one economic crisis to another.
The PRI’s 70-year-old stranglehold was broken in 2000 when Vicente Fox was elected. However, what followed were 18 years of inept and corrupt rule under three presidents.
Mexico’s outgoing president, commonly known as AMLO, is an unabashed populist, fairly roughhewn and detested by the white traditional ruling mafia.
Some supposed American political analysts have chosen to depict AMLO as a wannabe dictator, despite the fact that he was democratically elected and has in every poll been favorably viewed by the majority of Mexicans.
These analysts now suggest that Sheinbaum, a close AMLO ally, will be the ex-president’s puppet. While she shares some of AMLO’s views, there is no evidence that Sheinbaum. a former Mexico City mayor, will be stage managed.
For the media, constantly depicting Mexico as a place consumed by violence and hostile neighbor that floods the United States with drugs and people is a juicy narrative.
This narrative has long roots in America. Traditionally, Mexico is depicted as a deeply problematic neighbor, one whose interests too often conflict with those of the United States.
Mexico is America’s top trading partner, with total commerce totaling $798 billion last year. Media coverage ignores the fact that this trade takes place across the border.
Ricardo Chavira Chicano 