Reading your email has been quite an experience. It feels like you’re describing what we’ve been living in Mexico over the past few years with an authoritarian government that hides behind “the people” who elected them. We have been watching the destruction of all institutions of transparency, science, education, and cooperation; the destruction of the Justice System by passing laws that only benefit the group in power; and above all, the terrible polarization that cuts across social classes and ideologies — it has all been heartbreaking.
Every morning, since 2018, the President — the “Mexican Messiah” and now the President Claudia Sheinbaum— sets the media and public discourse agenda from her pulpit (a three-hour-long program we call “las mañaneras”). There, it is dictated whom to follow, whom to accuse, and whom to denigrate, all in the name of the Mexican poor people who often understand very little of politics and simply thank them for the few coins handed out in exchange for their votes.
We had hoped the country would change with a leftist option. The problem is, it wasn’t truly leftist. Instead, we’ve ended up with an authoritarian populism with power concentrated in one man: Andrés Manuel López Obrador — the man behind the new President — and soon to be inherited by his biological sons, who are already involved in politics.
The problem is, we’re paralyzed. No one says anything. No one does anything. When I see the protests in Barcelona for any issue — lack of housing for the youth, electricity prices, the war in Ukraine — at least thousands take to the streets, or hundreds of thousands when it’s about feminism or public policies. We feel citizenship here, and that feeling is incredibly empowering. It’s very sad to see that in our country people don’t take the streets, whether out of indifference, fear, or complacency. I think we’re already a lost cause.
In the end, we burned our ships and returned to Barcelona. We’ll apply for citizenship to avoid all the migration paperwork, but we’re already beneficiaries of the public health system, which is a luxury. I just had surgery on an eye I could barely see with — and I didn’t pay a cent.
As the years go by and health deteriorates, it’s very reassuring to live in a country that guarantees a good level of free, high-quality healthcare. Plus, Barcelona is a beautiful, multicultural city with great food, walkability, a manageable size, and a fairly mild climate… Above all, we live without fear — and that’s priceless, something you can no longer say in Mexico.
Trump — what can I say to you about Trump? Just that things will go very badly for Mexico, worse than for other countries, and that will spark more violence and greater recruitment of youth into drug trafficking as thousands of jobs disappear due to U.S. pressure to companies to leave the country. We bet everything on the trade agreement with the U.S. and Canada, which makes up over 90% of our exports. It’s predicted that our GDP could fall by up to 7%. A national disaster.
Anyway, dear cousin , we can only wish that you take the best from life and leave behind the worst. Dogs, cats, and love is the prescription for these days. We send you our love and we’ll stay in touch.
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