An official tribute and an uncomfortable memory
32 years have passed. Three decades since that day in Tijuana that changed everything. And the PRI, like every year, stages its ceremony. In front of the bust of Luis Donaldo Colosio in Polanco, they placed flowers and honor guards.
Alejandro Moreno, the current head of the party, led the event. His words were the same as always in these rituals: he spoke of courage, of social justice, of the politician who “understood the moment.”
“Colosio was a politician who understood the moment that Mexico was going through, while showing courage to talk about social justice and recognize the problems that affected the population,” said Moreno.
It is the official narrative, polished by time. The secure legacy, the domesticated history. But one cannot help but wonder: what really remains of the colosismo within the current PRI? Where is that courage to speak out today?
The image is powerful: the same people who govern paying tribute to the man whose project perhaps represented everything they no longer are. The irony is so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Every anniversary is this. Fresh flowers on a pedestal, carefully edited speeches and a question hanging in the air, lingering like incense smoke: who really remembers what it meant? Institutional memory is selective. Celebrate the symbol, but do you embrace its message?
Three decades later, the ritual is repeated. Photos are taken, wreaths wither and the story continues waiting for someone to read between the lines.
