The electoral fight for the presidency of Mexico has opened international trails. The Festival of Ideas, a think tank Sponsored by the influential businessman Ricardo Salinas Pliego, confronted with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, last Saturday he invited the Popular Party (PP) deputy Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo. The Spanish politician gave a passionate speech against populism and in favor of liberal democracy and business, with specific criticism of the López Obrador Government and praise for Xóchitl Gálvez, the presidential candidate of the opposition coalition, formed by the PAN, the PRI and the PRD. Álvarez, spokesperson for the PP parliamentary group in the Congress of Deputies, also expressed his support for the opposition mobilizations in defense of the National Electoral Institute (INE), and called on businessmen to “raise their voices” against “political impunity and morality that President López Obrador still enjoys.”
The president responded this Monday to Álvarez's open intervention in the Mexican electoral process. “They just brought a lady from an association in Mexico, young, I think, a Spanish representative. The conservatives gave it wide publicity. She came to talk bad about me. The truth is, it is a sign of pride, because this young woman, lady, belongs to the extreme right, to the right of Iberdrola,” López Obrador said in his daily conference from the National Palace. The president extended his criticism of the way in which the PP, which then presided over the Government, politically handled the jihadist attack in Atocha, 11-M – whose 20th anniversary is commemorated this Monday – to affect the socialist party, the PSOE. , linking the attack to the terrorist group ETA a few days before the general elections of that year were held.
“It was soon proven that they had not been ETA, that is, the conservative PP government lied to the people, but the people realized that it was a lie,” said López Obrador. “So, this lady (Álvarez de Toledo) comes. And this will continue, but we should not be surprised either, this is how it is, these are the elections, there is a lot of money involved, a lot, from those who want to return by their own rights, and I also want them to return, but what they stole” , has added.
That of Representative Álvarez de Toledo was not the only statement from abroad regarding the Mexican elections. The Socialist International, which brings together left-wing parties from dozens of countries and is currently headed by the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, issued a statement this weekend in which it expresses its concern about the climate of violence in Mexico and warns that organized crime endangers the integrity of the electoral process. He has also stated that democratic balances are in doubt, and institutions are under threat. “The opposition, government institutions and electoral bodies face systematic persecution and threats, undermining the principles of democracy,” the organization has indicated.
One of the most important points of Álvarez de Toledo's speech at the Festival of Ideas, held in the city of Puebla, was the criticism of López Obrador's security policy, which has opted to confront the causes of violence through programs for young people and to reduce direct training between security forces and criminal groups, which, however, has not managed to reduce the numbers of violent murders.
The PP deputy took as a hanger the slogan popularized by López Obrador himself of “Hugs, not bullets.” “Mexico, this formidable country, this admirable nation, this impressive economic and cultural power, is being taken over by organized crime, due to the complacency of those who should defend it. 'Hugs, not bullets', or rather hugs to those who shoot? The slogan is nice, but the result is catastrophic for democracy and especially for young people. (…) This is not only the responsibility of criminals, it is also, and mainly, of those who design and apply security policies,” she said.
The conservative parliamentarian then stood up in one of the leitmotivs of the Xóchitl Gálvez campaign: bravery. “They call hug politics what is nothing more than a lethal mixture of inability and connivance. And they also say that there is no alternative, and I want to say that there is, Mexico is not condemned to suffer more than 30,000 murders a year, it is not condemned to be the farmhouse of the cartels, to mutate into a narco-state or something similar; Organized crime can be defeated, it only takes two things: brave politicians and rebellious young people,” he said. “I take this opportunity to send from here a cordial greeting, with admiration, to a woman who is not afraid and who has a project at the antipodes of populism, a project of uniting to conquer and conquering to unite, which is Xóchitl Gálvez,” she announced. .
The audience responded with applause. Álvarez de Toledo also called Salinas Pliego brave, present at the forum where she read her half-hour speech to young people and businessmen. He asked the latter to defend themselves against “attacks on private companies” and to “invest in democracy” in Mexico. “There is no safer investment or more profitable in the medium or long term,” she summarized. A part of the audience began to show signs of dissatisfaction. “Up Claudia!” was heard, in reference to the ruling party's presidential candidate, Claudia Sheinbaum. They also shouted at the speaker, while others worked to silence the protests. “I know there are people who disagree and it's great,” said Álvarez, and then continued reading until the end.
Subscribe to the EL PAÍS Mexico newsletter and to the channel WhatsApp electoral and receive all the key information on current events in this country.