A highly publicized protest in Mexico City has sparked much international controversy, leading some news outlets and pundits on the right to suggest that Mexico could be seeing the start of a revolution similar to those seen in other countries during protests dubbed Gen Z. The reality in Mexico is much different, with the results of the protest expected to fizzle out. At the same time, political undercurrents shift between the country’s ruling party and its rivals as they prepare for future elections.
Talks of the protests began shortly after the November 1 murder of Uruapan Mayos Carlos Manzo in the cartel-controlled state of Michoacan. The politician died at the hands of an underage cartel gunman who had the help of three other men during the targeted killing at a public Day of the Dead event. In the aftermath of the murder, protesters took to the streets in Uruapan, the state capital of Morelia, and other municipalities where they demanded the resignation of politicians with Mexico’s ruling party MORENA.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, some of the protests turned violent with rioters setting fire to parts of the governor’s palace and some city halls. Breitbart Texas has previously focused on exposing the governor of Michoacan, Alfredo Ramirez Bedolla, who hails from MORENA and is the nephew and cousin of two cartel bosses serving time in the U.S. While Bedolla has tried to dismiss those claims, as part of the exposé, Breitbart Texas published birth certificates showing the familial relation by marriage.
After those smaller protests, social media began to spread plans for a large-scale protest in Mexico City on November 15, calling out the refusal of the country’s government to fight drug cartels and the complicity of key members of the MORENA party with organized crime. In preparation for the protests, Mexico City’s government installed steel barriers at the country’s presidential palace, and its president, Claudia Sheinbaum, began a work tour visiting various cities.
On November 15, thousands of protesters took to the streets, voicing their discontent with the country’s direction. While most of the day’s protests were peaceful in nature, by Saturday afternoon, some protesters began to riot and fought to tear down the barriers outside the presidential palace. Mexico City police forces responded by deploying riot squads and using tear gas.
The rioters and police clashed, leading to local reports of approximately 100 police officers injured and an unknown number of rioters injured or arrested.
In addition to the riots, social media went ablaze with allegations of police brutality, with one particular case of a young child having been tear-gassed during the protests.
Mexican politicians with the MORENA party quickly took to social media to dismiss the claims as lies and to try to push the narrative that the protest was a small one.
Various right-leaning news outlets and social media activists in the U.S. began to embellish the protests as the start of an uprising. The reality is that while the protest numbered in the thousands, as various powerful labor unions and political parties, who felt betrayed by MORENA politicians, joined in, by Sunday morning, life had resumed normality in Mexico City, where protests are, in fact, a regular occurrence.
Similar protests are expected to take place in the coming months as opposition political parties not only continue to call out the country’s ruling political elite, but also position themselves for the next elections.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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