The democratic regression we are experiencing constitutes the “worst threat” in Latin America, where the leaders of many governments are the classic populists who promise to solve problems with magic formulas and blame others (the past, foreigners), without recognizing their own responsibility. said former Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (1996-2000).
“Most of these populist leaderships came to power thanks to the democracy that others have built, and they take power and the first task is to start eroding, destroying the democracy that had been built with so much work in Latin America”, said the politician, a retired PRI member and now an academic at Yale University.
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Attending the Ibero-American Forum of the International Foundation for Freedom, the former president criticized the fact that many Latin American governments try to silence critics and weaken the other powers of the state, which were created to create checks and balances, “thus just that they may soon have the power and authority of despots, because this is the cycle: despotism, authoritarianism, fascism and in some cases the aspiration to dictatorship.
To get out of the pre-development trap, where there is a weakness in the rule of law, low economic growth and productivity, as well as inequality and poverty, “we need an ethic of political responsibility on the part of our leadership, parties and our citizens. . That we learn not to listen to the siren song to deliberate on the problems we have to face, to reach agreements, on the fundamental issues that have prevented us from being what we want to be, free, democratic societies, with opportunities for progress, for all citizens. “, I think.
Without naming the current president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Zedillo Ponce de León criticized that there are governments that repudiate in the rhetoric and in fact the reforms that have been undertaken in the recent past.
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In his opinion, the dissatisfaction of the citizens with these reforms promoted at the end of the last century and at the beginning of this one is due to the lack of complementary reforms in Latin America. Not only are they not made, but “they recover recipes from the past. Political attitudes and ideologies that are part of Latin America’s failure in the past is terrible.
“Unfortunately it is confirmed that Latin America will have another lost decade. […] In 2025 there is no way not to declare that between 2015 and 2025 economic growth, if anything, in Latin America was mediocre growth and that in that decade there will have been a setback in the reduction of poverty and inequality”.
He pointed out that although there have been external shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, with careful analysis we can say that it was largely the application of public policies that put us in this situation.
The mortality caused by respiratory diseases is proof of this. He reported that in November 2020, among the ten worst countries, six were Latin Americans. “A real shame, we have 8% of the population, but we contribute 30% of the people officially dead, because there were many more due to the pandemic”
He added that we are experiencing a complex environment with the global economy in a recession and with high levels of inflation that have not been seen for more than 40 years, which will have very complex consequences for Latin America.
The geopolitical sphere is “extraordinary for its gravity and malice”, for the “criminal aggression” against Ukraine. “This promises to generate a global imbalance, with dire consequences. I don’t even want to think that the button will be touched, but even before that moment there is a complex landscape due to Putin’s behavior, “said Zedillo Ponce de León, who acknowledged that there are other culprits of this disorder than in other times have decided to step aside from international law, undermining the multilateral system and failing to resolve problems diplomatically.
Former PAN president Felipe Calderón Hinojosa (2006-2012) also participated in the event of the International Foundation for Freedom, led by writer Mario Vargas Llosa (2006-2012), who spoke directly about the situation in Mexico.
In his presentation, he stressed that López Obrador has constantly attacked the National Electoral Institute (INE) and is considering the possibility of disappearing to put the authorities to be elected, “hosts, who decide the fate of the elections”.
Calderón Hinojosa accused that the climate in Mexico is that there is no right to disagree with the current president and revealed that he himself has six criminal investigation files.
He said US authorities calculate 35% of the country’s territory is already controlled by organized crime and said nearly 100 people are murderers a day in Mexico, about 3 times more than at the end of his six-year term.
He proposed that political parties open a space for citizens, or that more political parties could emerge, and that primary elections be held to elect the opposition candidate in the next presidential elections in 2024. (Julieta Aragón)
