Hey Guys,

Today I was reading an article about how the recently appointed Mexican president is basically dismantling the Mexican democracy… and that is something dangerous. Throughout Mexican history we can see that people and political groups that are in power want to stay in power. This can be seen with the first Mexican dictator, Porfirio Diaz, or the 70+ years straight that the presidents elected are from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Presidents in Mexico can almost literally do anything they want. There are several checks and balances that the legislative and judiciary system has in place, however, no Mexican president has left their position of power unless they are killed (Im like 80% sure about his statement). Still, its pretty common that the party the President belongs to also controls the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Bloomberg´s article talked about how the President of Mexico pretty much has a lot of power, and how the new President is changing the whole democracy so he can have, basically, unlimited power. He has cut salaries from judges, appointed a long-lasting friend of his to the highest court in Mexico, he makes policy from referendums where only biased groups answer; he even stopped the construction of the new airport in Mexico City so the military can construct their own and obtain revenue from the constriction and operations. He has also cut salaries, budgets to Mexican cities, among other unimaginable activities. However, the only good news I got out of the article is that any President can do whatever they want, as long as they have funds. It doesn’t matter how popular the President is with the public, if he/she doesn’t have any money, he/she cant to anything.

So basically, Im just waiting for this populist old guy to deplete the funds, and all the projects he is currently funding to not work out so Mexico can go back to normal. Money = Power, but Power =/= Money, and that is never going to change.

O´Niel, Shannon. (2019, March 11). Lopez Obrador is Dismantling Democracy in Mexico. Retrieved March 12, 2019, from https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-03-11/lopez-obrador-is-dismantling-democracy-in-mexico?fbclid=IwAR39h5PPyb-5u3YfjkZD8sZdpo7kZ8bP1VuoRqSRLEpxizpPDSa-w_G19S4