Crisis, Populist Neoliberalism and the Limits to Democracy in Mexico


by Hepzibah Muñoz-MartĂ*nez
Global Research
2009-12-15


Forbes magazine recently placed two Mexicans, Carlos Slim and JoaquĂ*n Guzmán, high on their list of the most powerful people in the world. Carlos Slim is the world’s third-richest man and CEO of a telecommunications company and JoaquĂ*n Guzmán is the leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel. While the purpose and the methodology of this list is problematic, the inclusion of these two names in Forbes' list tells us a lot about the long night of neoliberal rule in Mexico as well as the current administration of Felipe CalderĂłn, who belongs to the centre-right Action National Party (PAN).

The neoliberal policies that squeeze wages and working conditions downward while promoting private investment help explain Mexico's combination of incredible wealth on the one hand and sharply rising poverty on the other. Global banks such as Citigroup now consider their Mexican subsidiaries as their main source of profit. While accumulation and impoverishment continue hand in hand, the increasing violence, insecurity and impunity caused by the rising power of drug cartels and the indifference, if not collaboration, of local authorities, particularly in some Northern states, have put a double-burden on the Mexican population, who do not only see their economic security but also their physical safety continuously threatened.

This is the context where both the PAN and the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) – the party that monopolized the three branches of government for almost 70 years – compete with a strategy of populist neoliberalism, each claiming that they can do a better job at fighting organized crime than the other. This has great popular appeal as the constantly escalating crime and insecurity affect all sectors of the population. At the same time, both parties are committed to the neoliberal model that has allowed Slim and other companies to obtain and sustain their wealth. The commonalities and differences in the PRI’s and PAN’s populist neoliberalism can be seen in the policies undertaken to fight organized crime and the 2010 Budget negotiations in the Mexican Congress in the context of the global crisis.



“This is better than having a narco president!â€