A New Hope for Mexico: Saying No to Corruption, Violence, and Trump’s Wall by Andrés Manuel López Obrador

A New Hope for Mexico: Saying No to Corruption, Violence, and Trump’s Wall Reviews

• 
  Jeffrey Keeten

  ”As the great novelist Carlos Fuentes wrote, ‘When we exclude, we lose. When we include, we win, and we shall never recognize our own humanity without recognizing that of others.’”
  
  
  
  
  Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will take office as President of Mexico in December 2018. I can not be more excited for our neighbors to the South. While in college at the University of Arizona, I took a class on Mexican history as a summer course. It was an intense, comprehensive class that left me exhausted and with a swimming head in the desert heat as I walked home to my house just off campus. I was particularly taken with the series of revolutions that happened. The peasants would rise up and throw out a corrupt dictator, and then their leader, for whom they shed blood, sweat, and tears, would become as corrupt as the dictator they had overthrown. Reset: new revolution, more peasant blood, sweat, and tears, and another dictator replaced by yet another corrupt dictator.
  
  It was depressing.
  
  I had heard good things about Lopez Obrador, so when Alex Doherty from OR Books/Counterpoint contacted me about reviewing his book, I said, “FRILLING A!”
  
  Lopez Obrador gave a series of speeches while campaigning for the presidency titled Oye! Trump! He was running against the corrupted neoliberalism that had gripped his country for too long, but he was also running against the whole idea of what Trump stood for and the harsh rhetoric about immigrants that Trump used to bring his base to a frothing, Build a Wall chanting, Fake News believing, children separated at the border supporting mob.
  
  Trump called immigrants rapists. All of them. How many immigrants would have to be convicted rapists before you could call them all rapists? 60%, 30%, 10%, 2%?
  
  When I lived in Arizona, I worked for a bookstore chain, and we opened a store in Mesa. I was in charge of the project, and even though the labor was subcontracted to renovate an old grocery store into a bookstore, I spent a lot of time with the mostly Mexican workforce. They called me jefe and were always respectful, even though I was a young, brash, just out of college, white guy in way over his head and stressed to the max. I’ve never seen people work harder. Their work ethic is still the bar I use for myself.
  
  Lopez Obrador does not want that labor leaving Mexico. He wants them staying and helping to rebuild their country. He has a plan on how to do that. He wants to bring agriculture back to the level it was several decades ago. There is no reason for Mexico to be importing food when they have so much rich and fertile land. If he can do this, he will not only save the pueblos but keep young people in their communities instead of fleeing to the overcrowded cities, or worse immigrating to America.
  
  He also wants to replant thousands of acres of rainforest. I am a big lover of trees, and I also understand the importance of the rainforests of the world in maintaining our beautiful climates. Make it so Obrador!
  
  Corruption is the biggest issue that Mexico faces. Overpaid government officials are a disgrace to Mexico. Corruption in government has allowed the rampant crime rate to spiral out of control. To stop violent crime, Lopez Obrador has determined that the best place to start is ending the corruption at the top. Crime can not be fought at the bottom of a social pyramid if the top of the pyramid is corrupt.
  
  “The rise of neoliberalism over the last thirty years (which has entailed privatization, abandonment of our rural areas, economic stagnation, unemployment, neglect of our youth, inequality, and corruption) ushered in the crisis of violence and instability that plagues us today.
  
  This corruption and looting of the Mexican economy by the rich has left the Mexican people with three choices: attempt to survive in the informal economy; migrate to the United States; or survive through criminal activity.”
  
  Carlos Salinas was elected President of Mexico in 1988. At the start of his reign, there was one billionaire in his country, and by the end of his reign in 1994 there were 24 billionaires in Mexico. This was all due to the banks, companies, and mines, that were at one time owned by the government, being allowed to be privatized. The wealth that was taken from Mexico and given to a handful of people is staggering. Lopez Obrador does not want Mexico to be more like the United States. He wants it to be better, and one way to do that is to reclaim what belongs to all of Mexico.
  
  Redistribution of wealth is one of those terms that make Republican-- you know what-- pucker. If the few end up owning everything worth owning, we will be a feudal society. Under Presidents W. Bush and Obama, the gap between the 1%ers and the rest of the country widened astronomically and has continued under President Trump. We are ruled by an oligarchy of rich, white guys. The free market economy, that we all grow up believing we can be a part of, is a myth. Trickle down economics, which has failed every time it has been attempted, including most recently in the state of Kansas where I live, is a term that makes my-- you know what-- pucker. As Lopez Obrador says, money is not water. It does not trickle down. It does seem to be very good at fluttering back up to the top.
  
  
  
  
  If Lopez Obrador can do what he says he will do in this book, Mexico could very well become a shining beacon. His plan is bold. He will have to rebuild Mexico’s policies along with the infrastructure that will lead them back to economic prosperity. The resources are there; all they have to do is be managed by someone who is wanting to make the lives of millions better, instead of allowing 24 billionaires to continue to get richer at the expense of the people. 24 billionaires only have 24 votes though their money may buy more.
  
  I will keep an eye on President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. He is going to make a lot of enemies, but if the people stick with him, he could make it so any wall on the border is more to keep Americans out of Mexico than Mexicans out of America.
  
  ***Special thanks to Alex Doherty and OR Books/Counterpoint for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.***
  
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• 
  Calzean

  It's a book containing speeches and short articles outlining the mess politicians and their cronies have placed Mexico. More importantly perhaps, it also contains what Senor Obrador plans to do when he takes over as President. There's a bit of repetition due to the inclusion of various speeches on similar topics but overall it is fascinating insight into Obrador's thinking. It'll be interesting to see what occurs internally and with Mexico's relationship to the US during the reign of Trump.
• 
  Jade

  This book arrives with perfect timing. A collection of essays/speeches written by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the newly elected Mexican president (I think he starts in office at the end of this year if I’m not mistaken). López Obrador (AMLO) provides excellent insight into the absolute mess that politicians and tycoons have made of Mexico’s economy and resources over the last century. It also provides a roadmap of the changes that he plans on making, who they will benefit, and how Mexico will grow from these changes. I particularly loved the emphasis on the importance of bringing migrants into the large embrace AMLO creates, and how he asks the people of the US to understand the importance of migration.
  
  I found the essays detailing the depths of corruption of officials and business owners incredibly telling, as well as the sheer amount of natural resources being left to rot just crazy! Mexico has so many resources and industries, but has been terribly managed for years. The divide between the few rich and the large amount of very poor people is too great for the country to grow effectively. Everything that AMLO reveals and says in his essays and speeches makes complete sense, and it feels like a breath of fresh air that he has finally been elected into office. I hope he is able to accomplish even a quarter of his manifesto as it will make so much difference to future generations.
  
  AMLO’s roadmap for the next 5 years gives me so much hope. Hope for the population of the amazing country the father of my children comes from, and hope that maybe we will be able to go (back) there and raise our children in safety and happiness within a country that is growing rather than being stifled under the boots of money-hungry politicians and violent drug lords.
  
  Thanks to Netgalley and the awesome OR Books for the copy of these essays and speeches from the last couple of years. It’s a super accessible read, and I recommend it to anyone interested in learning about Mexico, or anyone interested in politics in general.
• 
  Synful

  I got this book between AMLO's landslide election and him assuming office. I had a general idea from the Mexican press I followed at the time of his views and plans, but picked up this book to get a closer, more detailed understanding of them. Nothing here really surprised me other than outraging me anew at the rampant corruption, only now with the specific high dollar amounts attached. While he focuses on the time period during which massive inequality escalated in Mexico around the same time it did in the U.S., starting around 1982 until the time of printing, my having had family coming and going between the two countries over the last century means the corruption and poverty is neither new to the country nor to me. The Mexican Constitution has quite some amazing rights included which can't even make it through the U.S. Congress let alone make an amendment. To be fair, it's my understanding that the process to amend the Mexican Constitution is much less strenuous, so that explains the fact that it has over 200 amendments.
  
  And while there are some lofty and fair goals in their Constitution, the corrupt governments which have ruled for the last century haven't actually enforced or implemented them. It's a lot to cover what's in this book, but to put it in short, similar to the (poorly named) movement of Defund the Police in the U.S., his plans laid out here are called austerity while in practice it's targeted austerity at the corrupt and overpaid and redirecting funds towards assisting and uplifting the masses. It's a shame he ran for president twice with one party before ultimately having to form a whole new party (MORENA, Movimiento Regeneración Nacional) to accomplish his 2018 landslide win. A quick Google search suggests that he's making all the "wrong" people angry with his anti-corruption accomplishments. Too bad his administration was only about a year in when it got hamstrung by the pandemic. Since Mexican presidents only get one lifetime term of 6 years it's unlikely he'll accomplish as much as he might've without it. I hope that administration manages to at least get the country on the road out of corruption and the next one in 2024 isn't a rollback to the same neoliberal funneling of money to the ultrarich. But I won't hold my breath...
• 
  Michael Becerra

  Good read on the dangers of neoliberalism and his plans during his upcoming presidency. Lots of promises that I hope he can attain. I'll definitely be paying much attention to Mexico politics over the next six years because it will be in stark contrast of what is happening in US politics. He talked about his successes as mayor of Mexico City which was nice. I would have given five stars had he also talked about lessons learned during his time as mayor.
• 
  Ellen

  While AMLO is a tad idealistic in his expectations for what can be done in one 6 year term, it was good to read his ideas (he isn't the best public speaker, so the writing came across clearly). Worth taking a look at if you want to understand more about the current politics of our southern neighbor.
• 
  Tyler

  This was my favorite line: "It is essential to appeal to the good hearts of ordinary people, to make them see that our task is to build, here on earth, the kingdom of justice and fellowship for all" (p.37).
• 
  Andrew

  The book, published a few months before AMLO was elected, can be read as a manifesto for his candidacy and political platform. To this end, it was predictably heavy on ad-hominem attacks and grandiose promises and comparatively light on (though not without) substantive plans. AMLO is best known and described as a socialist and a nationalist: one might crudely say that he is the Mexican fusion of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. He is a socialist insofar as he believes that a strong, economically interventionist state will solve the problems created by corrupt and neoliberal politicians, and he is nationalist in that he seeks to defend Mexican sovereignty and dignity (from Trump) and create a strong national identity rooted in a set of moral (Christian) values. He is an outspoken critic of "neoliberalism", and the book reads like a polemic on the twin evils of globalization and unrestrained free markets. Noting how rich with natural resources (agriculture and energy) Mexican land is, AMLO proposes a classic socialist vision of economic self-sufficiency: he likens the Mexican exports of oil and imports of gasoline to the absurdity of selling lemons and buying lemonade. In this way, AMLO is another populist leader of the late 2010s, in sync with the global trend toward populism and nationalism a la Brexit and Boris Johnson, Trump, etc.
  
  While directionally I think he is right in identifying the causes of economic inequality as being those neoliberal policies and agents that prioritized financial profit above sovereign interests, AMLO's socialism seems dangerously uninformed and prone to the totalitarian nightmares of South America.
• 
  Janine Brouillette

  A timely book about Mexico’s new President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. It contains speeches and articles on topics of Mexico’s importance and the new President’s views. He recognizes and condemns the long standing corruption and violence, and also recognizes the damage that Trump has done with his Mexican bashing. The President has a long road ahead to rebuild Mexico but this book provides a light, he will definitely be someone to watch.