The spectacle of containment (or how to put out a fire with gasoline)
It seems that the official Morena bloc has achieved the feat of containing what they themselves helped incubate: the monumental anger of the peasant organizations that, for 72 glorious hours, turned the country’s main communication routes into a gigantic open-air parking lot. Yes, those same roads that are supposedly the backbone of national commerce and mobility. What better way to demand improvements than paralyzing the lives of thousands of people and the movement of goods, isn’t it a brilliantly counterproductive strategy?
The intermittent closures on highways, customs and border bridges, such an original protest tactic that we had never seen before, were the calling card of the National Front for the Rescue of the Mexican Countryside and its transport allies. Their demands, it must be said, are overwhelmingly logical: they want better prices for their crops, that the rules of the game do not change with the new water law and, paying attention to this detail, greater safety on the roads. Ironic, considering that they were the ones who made them noticeably unsafe for everyone else.
The comedy of intermediation: Monreal to the rescue
In this three-ring circus, the farmers, in a Machiavellian movement, obtained the intermediation of Ricardo Monreal, the leader of Morena in Congress. Because, clearly, when there is a problem with the government, the ideal solution is to bring another politician from the same party to the table. The appointment with the Secretary of the Interior, Rosa Icela Rodríguez, was, according to the chronicles, “riffic.” Come on, a journalistic euphemism to describe what was probably an exchange of dirty looks and forced smiles that could cut steel.
“We are going to promote communication with Segob, but with the intervention of the deputies and the consent of Monreal: they are going to be mediators,” declared Eraclio Rodríguez, leader of the Front and, surprise, former PT deputy, with total seriousness. Because nothing generates more trust than a former colleague mediating between you and the government. As the first “advance” in this farce, the dissidents managed to set up work tables to analyze possible adjustments to the water law. That is, they managed to get legislators to sit down and talk about what they should be legislating. A complete success.
The “conflicting” points and the dance of statements
One of the thorniest points, and here things get really juicy, is the proposal to eliminate the transmission of water concessions between individuals. The idea is that these rights return to the State so that Conagua can reassign them. Farmers, with a logic that even a child would understand, complain that this would prevent them from inheriting or selling their land, because without a water use permit, a piece of land becomes little more than a dusty lot. Come on, they are asking you to grow crops in the desert with a bucket of sand.
But the climax of this tragicomedy came with the statements of Rosa Icela Rodríguez, who, in a burst of sincerity… or political clumsiness, disqualified the protests, assuring that they had “political overtones” and that there were “investigation folders” against the leaders. Because, obviously, threatening legal action is the most effective way to calm things down in a negotiation. The accusation, as expected, caused such annoyance that it forced the president Claudia Sheinbaum to come forward. The next day, the president clarified that her words were “misinterpreted” and denied the existence of investigations. Classic: “I said it, but I didn’t say it, and if I said it, it wasn’t like that.”
This back-and-forth of messages, worthy of a tennis match, increased distrust towards the Government to stratospheric levels. “We trust the legislators more than the secretary,” declared Eraclio Rodríguez, marking a negotiation route that basically ignores the executive branch. Meanwhile, in the Cobián Palace a long night is anticipated, with the hope of reaching agreements that will allow unblocking a country that has already been stuck for three days. The pressure now falls on legislators, who must unblock the negotiating tables while accelerating the approval of the same law that caused the problem. A tightrope walker’s move that, without a doubt, deserves applause. Or a whistle.
The final result? It remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: the spectacle of Mexican politics, with its contradictions, its mediators who are part of the problem and its solutions that seem more like problems, is priceless. Or maybe yes, and we are all paying for it with every minute of stopped traffic.
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