 Good afternoon everyone and welcome to what the F is going on in Latin America. This is code pinks weekly webinar Wednesdays noon time eastern and which we bring you 20 minutes of hot news from Latin America and the Caribbean. So this week we are really pleased to have Latin American independent journalist Alina Duarte join us live from Mexico City. Alina is is Mexicana and so we're so pleased to have you speaking with us. Some of you may recognize her name in her work from tele store here in Washington DC. And she has recently returned home to Mexico and is able to give us 20 minutes of hot news from Mexico City. Good afternoon. So, Alina, you and I have talked. Oh, the past year or so and specifically the last month about Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez of a break door or break door, excuse me, I'm low as most of us refer to him about his first year in office he was inaugurated in December of 2018. So December of 2019 completed his first year. And we've had a number of conversations about expectations performance for his foreign policy economic policy etc. And one of the things that came out of that for our conversations was comments on the party that widely elected him to office the more in a party, and we've discussed more in a as an electoral platform versus a political movement throughout Mexico. And maybe that's a good place for us to start with the looking back over the first year, and what what Morena looks like and what other social movements look like in Mexico. Thank you very well. Hey, once again, thanks for having me. This is not the first time last time we were talking from chili. So now Mexico City. Yeah, well basically, I want to start because it's really hard to explain what's going on here in Mexico because a lot of things are going on. We have a democratically elected government that now has 70% of approval. I mean, it's something really unbelievable that after a year of his administration, he has 70% of approval between the Mexicans. Yeah, but also it's like confusing at this point because as you said morena. Now we are doubting this is a fit is still a movement. We need to remember that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, he's not part of this economical political elites in Mexico. He comes from the social movements, those social movements could put him in the presidency basically. And this last year has been really confusing for a lot of people, even when he has a lot of support to see that the same people that he used to call the mafia in power. Now it's part of his government. There are a lot of members of the only the Mexican League are actually if you go now to Twitter last night, he was having dinner with the most powerful people here in Mexico City and actually in the world, he's from Amazon Walmart had dinner last night in the presidential palace here in Mexico City. So we are still thinking that he's trying to have a police in conversation with these people who during the last 12 years made him his life like impossible. He tried to, they opposed several times for him to be the president of this country and after 14 years of being in the streets with the social movements but also, and not only as a presidential candidate you remember he was the major of Mexico City. It was an amazing work, talking about social programs about education about healthcare. Now he's trying to do the same in a national scale, but now it's, it's confusing because, as I said, part of the oligarchy that he was calling all the time the mafia in power. Now it's part of his government. And even when he has addressed a lot of issues for the working class, like increasing the minimum wage during the last two months, I mean he has implemented several several social programs. People are still thinking that we cannot see the real progress. And that's basically because of his alliances. In order to win the presidency in 2018 in July, he had to do these alliances. And now it's pretty complicated even for him to keep continuing with his agenda. And it's not a socialist, a communist or a revolutionary leftist agenda. It's a welfare state. And it's more, it's pretty similar to the agenda of Bernie Sanders. I know that for people in the U.S. Bernie Sanders sounds really radical. But in our tradition of the leftist tradition, he's not that and they're not coming if they're not anti-capitalist. They are trying just to navigate the situation. But at the same time, and now, at the same time now, people are still going back to the streets protesting for several issues. And it's the first time, I think, during the last year that now we are seeing, once again, people in the streets. And so there's a couple of things I wonder if you can comment on in your first statement mentioning that the president had dinner last night with the mafia quote unquote you mentioned to Amazon. And of course, in this morning's news is mention of this new North American trade deal with, I believe it was Amazon, some of the companies mentioned in the news this morning, Chevron, Amazon, SEMPRA. And this was organized through the America Society Council on the Americas. And so there they were having dinner with the president last night. And now people obviously are not happy with that. Are they protesting principally in Mexico City or is this movement throughout the country? Well, there are several issues. First of all, I told you it's pretty confusing for people to see now these kind of alliances in the government when he used to call them the mafia in power. And now they are going back and forth from the presidential palace. But also, I think that one of the things that really like pissed people in Mexico is his policy towards the projects, for example, the Maya train, that it's the same, extractivist, the same projects that he used to criticize with another government. This project, this mega project in the island of Yucatan, it has a lot of opposition from indigenous people. And now instead of Andrés Manuel listening to these movements, he is saying that it's about progress. The same rhetoric that we heard during the last governments, neoliberal governments, now he is still repeating the idea of progress in the indigenous communities. And also, and that's really important to see, I'm really impressed how the feminist movement that we in Latin America, I think we started seeing it in Argentina, it comes to abortion. In Mexico City during the last two or three years, we have seen the increase of this movement that now I think it's a rare, it's a weird combination of how is it going. But I think that now we are aware of the Mexicans of the levels of violence that the media tried just to black out during the last decade after the government of Felipe Calderón started war against the drugs that it was just a civil war that let us around 200,000 people disappear, 200,000 people killed in Mexico and it was massacred during the last 12 years. And that is another that those of us in North America never hear or rarely hear 200,000. And that's another US supported. Exactly, and that's not a coincidence that the media tried to black out all of this information because the US government precisely was one of the supporters of this strategy that we saw during the 90s in Colombia. And the effect is that the people are getting murdered in our countries and the drugs are still flowing to the US. So it's not a coincidence that the mass media, the corporate media are trying to do this blackout. So that's why now there are a lot of corporate media there. It's obviously that it's obvious that there are again some laws of administration that now are showing this violence. So there is this perception of a lot of people who are confused because they didn't see a lot of this violence during the last 12 or 13 years. And now they think that it's something that the reason is almost administration and not a structural violence during the last almost two decades in Mexico. So people are getting aware of this violence. And also the feminist movement is increasing every single day and now that they are in the streets because feminicides were something really common. I mean, I've been journalist for the last nine years of my life and I've been covering a lot of like really horrible episodes of violence in this country. And I remember covering feminist sites and sometimes we were just one to journalists covering the story. And now of course that the media has interest in covering now this kind of issues. I mean, if we are real leftist, I think that we don't have to be naive. The media has interest, clear interest in what they cover. And now they are trying to attack the government showing this violence, but also the feminist movement are what are they saying in the streets that we need to stop it. And I think it's the time the time is now under administration that consider itself so leftist one to stop them to find the strategy to stop this kind of violence. Seven women a day in Mexico are being killed by several reasons. So seven feminicides are occurring in this country. And so it's, it's, this is like the whole picture is not about only a handle of administration is a long story about violence in Mexico. But I think that now this is allowing to talk about violence in this country. So there are so many indigenous movements who are against these policies of the government but also the feminist movements I think those two are the principal and the only, I think the real opposition to this administration. Let me ask you about the violence there were the end of January, there were two environmentalists killed at the at the monarch butterfly reserve. And my understanding is that that was principally not over. Not unfortunately over preserving butterflies but it was about illegal logging in the reserve. And so we see. And so can we talk a little bit about what's causing some of this illegal behavior that it's being we see a lot of this illegal illegal mining, logging, grabbing a, you know, diverting of water sources, particularly in Honduras right now. We see transnational corporations grabbing these natural resources is this part of what's going on in Mexico as well. And actually now that you're saying this I'm just remembering this conversations that we usually have in Latin America about Greta Thunberg about how easy has been for her just to appear in several spaces as this white girl who is talking about climate change when our human rights defenders our environmental defenders are just being killed in our countries defending the water defending and their spaces like their communities. And this is not something new unfortunately in Mexico, Mexico for example the levels of violence this is most dangerous country and to be a journalist in Latin America I mean in the whole in the whole continent. So it was like in the personal level than Columbia actually. Yeah, more dangerous in Columbia. And I mean, and I mean it's not also a coincidence that coincidence in Mexico and in Colombia when this this is practice of the US fighting against the narcotropic and things like that are going on. This is a strategy. It's a civil war against the communities in order to get the corporations get all the benefits. That's the point and in Mexico it's something really, really sad. I mean, what's going on is the level of paramilitaries here in Mexico City in Mexico in general, that it's also another thing that it's not on the corporate media. And they are the, the, the forest arm, like they are the ones who are really operating for it in benefit of the corporations. And they are the ones who are killing these people. It's not drug or tolls fight and struggle for territory. It's about money, it's about resources, it's about defending the 1% of the population is defending the strategies of the US, the United States here in in Colombia in Honduras. That's the war in our countries we are always talking about for example migration in our borders but we don't say that it's because of a US clue in our countries like in Honduras in 2009, because they are taking our resources like in Mexico, Canada is taking our resources all the time, our minerals, gold, silver, everything. So, yeah, it's, it's like a cycle all the time this violence is not only about the narco traffic it's not about the paramilitaries. It's not about a fight between drug or tolls. It's a violence perpetrator over and over again by the US imperialism by the corporations in our countries. And that's how we can explain that the people who opposed to these projects of terror, these projects of spoiling our resources and they are being killed. So, defending the water, defending our environment and defending our territory it's good enough reason to get killed in our countries. There's a couple of violence involving environmentalists, journalists, women, drug cartels, transnational corporations, I mean it's, I mean it's, it's infiltrated all of society. And so can we take a few minutes I know you were really, you have a 1230 appointment and so I'm so pleased you were able to join us today and so I want to make sure we stick to our 20 minutes of hot news before I let you go. Let's talk about how all of this is really this violence and and the causes of it the purpose is leading to it are root causes of migration, which many of us in the United States do not really understand in the, in the detail that we should why people flee. Yeah, it's, it's even like me, I've been living in the US for the last three years of my life, and I'm really privileged to have a visa passport, and just doing what I do. Actually now talking about journalism it was really hard for me to feel safer in the US, even when there's a lot of discrimination harassment even if I'm a Latina on my rock and it's all really privileged. Instead of being in Mexico reporting on the ground where where it's really dangerous to do our job every single day, more as a woman as a leftist reporter I consider myself who are showing all the time this kind of stories. It's really sad and I want to start by saying this because now that I experienced of this discrimination harassment for whatever in the US. Now it's really sad for me to see that the Mexican government is doing exactly the same again Central Americans in my country. It's not something new. It's a policy that I understand that it's because of the pressures of the US, but there's not like a big solidarity movement with the people in Central America why are they fleeing their fleeing because of the coup and the destabilization of Honduras in 2009 against President Manuel Manuel Celaya and now and it's proved that the that the broader of the president when Orlando Hernandez was attained a year ago in Miami and he's accused of being part of drug cartels and our traffic. I mean it's a big mafia now in Honduras who are in power deciding what to do with the people and instead of really looking further like this for social justice. It's a drug. There are members of drug cartels in government and no one's saying that because they are allies of the US and the media, the corporate media once again is trying to to to have a blackout, a total blackout, especially in Honduras because the interest of the US is like to be there like physically or just to have an alliance in Central America. Also in El Salvador now it's really sad to see that the corporate media once again and the international community whatever that means because when it comes about something in the US everyone lose their mind but when it's something about the rest of the world, the international community never appears. So they're not talking about what's going on in El Salvador, in El Salvador after the war, the Civil War in the 1980s. And they tried to start a new democratic life that now are being destroyed. It has been destroyed during the last less than a year with a new president, Najib Bukele, who is a fascist, a total fascist. So two weeks ago militaries in the National Assembly that it's something really hard for the people in us, especially in El Salvador, who had just a war, a Civil War in the 80s. And he did exactly the same as a government in Honduras when it comes about Palestine, moving their embassy to Jerusalem, and they are caught in relationships with Venezuela. And they are just another colonial state of the US in Central America. And of course, there are a lot of people looking for a better life. And also there's still this idea that they're going to find this new life or a better conditions for living in the US because once again of the corporate media that is spreading this idea of American dream. Yeah, that's why I need to, that's why I insist in being a journalist sometimes I'm really tired but it's like we need to do that. Yeah, for people like me to come see you in Mexico and bring your stories back to the north and it's important for you to come north and bring your story back to Mexico you know I will mention to our listeners. Last week you mentioned El Salvador, and the military move at the National Assembly with the president we did have a great conversation last Wednesday on our webinar with Yacinia Portillo from CISPIS who I'm sure you know Elina and she did a great talk on what actually happened in El Salvador. And I think you know if there's one thing that you can briefly talk about before I need to let you go is your, you know, all this economic and political destabilization in Guatemala, Honduras El Salvador south of the Mexico border. What is the Mexican government's role at the southern Mexico border that I would actually say has extended to be, you know the de facto US southern border. What is the is Mexico's vision and role now under President Amlo for the, I guess, Mexico Guatemala border, Hondurans and El Salvador El Salvadorans as well. And actually that's a promise that President Donald Trump really he was, he was, he's true when he said that Mexico was going to pay for the wall wasn't true at all but Mexico now is the wall. And I must say it's so sad that, yeah, we are the wall and that's absolutely true and I understand I must insist that these kind of policies that Amlos administrations took during the last month, especially during the last three months. It was because of the threats of President Trump that we know how Trump rules everything like threatening the rest of the world, and Mexico wasn't the exception. And he tried us with possible tariffs that obviously would affect our economy so that's why Amlos administration started this new in migrant migration policy that we are seeing, but it's so sad because we are seeing exactly the same as as I saw with my eyes. You know, when I was in the border and in the US south border Tijuana and I was there and I was seeing how desperate are thousands of families that are once again just looking for American dream this false idea of American dream. And we're seeing how Mexican government are doing exactly the same there are the new CBP in in in Mexico, they are detaining migrants in centers that now human rights center cannot get into those centers of the tension. And there are a lot of violations of human rights and their rhetoric is just making people in Mexico to be xenophobic now the same things that I listened to it for last three years of my life in the US. And when it comes about migrants that they are dangerous that they're the invasion, and now people are repeating these things here in Mexico, and in order to support Mexican president so that's why it's really important to speak from the left. And I know that the right wing opposition here in Mexico are have a really specific interest in attacking and most administration, but that's true. It's true that there are a lot of violations of human rights and I think this is only going to stop. If the government get conscious of changing these narratives that I must insist it's the same narratives that the Republicans are using for getting votes with these white supremacist population. So what I can see is that there are just few senators congressmen who are really speaking out and saying that it's wrong strategy, and it's hard. I understand that there are a lot of pressures from the US, but they are not trying to to create this movement of solidarity in the borders to prioritize. I mean, it's, it's so hard for people to stay one day with their children in the border without eating without having anything. People are, and the government is just saying like, yeah, please wait, you need to wait and it's like, no, it's not about weight. It's not about waiting it's about they're, they're seeking for a better life they don't have food they don't have anything. So yeah, it's it's really hard to see that they are repeating exactly the same strategies that the US administration and are doing in is doing in in the border with Mexico. Well, I will just like to add in closing because I it's 1229 and I know I have to let you go. It's ironic and sad to hear you saying this because I remember in Omelos one speech that I believe that was January of 2019 or December of 18. One of the things he said was that neoliberalism had completely failed in Mexico, and also, and, and that is like that, that failure of neoliberalism neoliberal capitalism is one of the root causes of migration and not just from Mexico but from much of the hemisphere, but he also mentioned creating an environment where migration was by choice, rather than need and it looks like that we've got a long way to go before that's actually created if ever. It's really interesting for example that there is one of the congressman actually in morena and he's from morena that he's saying that the strategy is really wrong and it's it's where because he was part of the another he's not precisely the most leftist congressman in morena, but he went to these attention camps to come from a dad. The strategy is going back that people who are seeking asylum in Mexico and or in the United States are and their human rights are getting violated and it's it's it's it's really sad so. And yeah, I have to say also that I do really believe that Mexico is one of his like. And it's part of these progressive governments that we saw during the 2000s with the memorial is Rafael Correa in Ecuador, Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. So, what I'm trying to say is that we are late, we, we arrived late to these progressive governments, but we already saw the mistakes of these governments. I don't think Amlo is aware that he needs to change a lot of the policies like extractivism and like migration policies. And so I think something something's going on during the last weeks here in Mexico, that I've seen for a long time, a lot of people who now are in the government saying, this is not okay, we need to change. And because it took 14 years to put Amlos in the presidential palace. We're not going to let the right wing opposition to concentrate this indignation. So something is going on and I really hope that it changed for good for the benefit of migrants of people here in Mexico, and for the feminist movement in the streets. So, I do really hope so. Mexico could be the game changer for the entire hemisphere, given its geographical size, its size and population. And, and I think it's a really good point you brought up that Mexico is late to the more progressive leftist governments but perhaps the vanguard for it. And we, you know, it could be a potential game changer. It's really important to understand that the US can do whatever they want in any moment. They're not going to let Mexican government to do whatever they want them to start another progressive government in the region to do as as you go Chavez did it started in your organizations regional organizations to change the idea that another world's possible. So that's why we need to be aware of all of the intentions of the US in Mexico. And there are still there are now operating that there are a lot of possibilities of a coup. In any moment, they have in their favor. The paramilitaries, the drug cartels. I mean, they don't need to arm the opposition, they don't need to put people in the streets as they have did in a Livia in Venezuela. In Nicaragua, they just can arm they can pay all the drug cartels who are operating in the whole country to start this revelation movement in this region. So yeah, let's see, let's see what happens. I understand that the Mexican government has a lot of pressure from the US. It's not easy being neighbor for of the empire. Definitely it is not. We have a very famous phrase here in Mexico that we that we are really far from God but really near to the US. It's something like it really explains that it's not that easy for Andrés Manuel just to go to became anti imperialist and anti capitalist with all of the dependence that has a structurally from the US. So let's see what happens. I must insist I'm really hopeful that something can can happen for next month, especially when a lot of people inside the government now are speaking out and saying we to do this better or the right wing opposition can take advantage of it. Well that is actually encouraging news and so with that I'm going to let you go. It's like, I know I promise you I'd have you offer it. I'm so happy to share this half hour with you Alina just so our viewers know she Alina has been a neighbor and good friend of mine. Since moving here to DC and I so value your knowledge your experience and your friendship. And I look forward to you coming back on our program. Perfect. Yeah, let's do that. And well yeah in three weeks I'm gonna be speaking actually about migration in Maryland and the International Day of Women. So I'm gonna I'm gonna post it on my social networks Alina Duarte you can find me everywhere in Twitter Facebook or Instagram. And so yeah, I would love to see all of you. Perfect Terry. Thank you so much. Bye bye. Thank you. You can join us next week Wednesday at 12pm Eastern for what the F is going on in Latin America and don't forget tomorrow morning 11am Eastern, you can join us on code pink radio WPFW Washington DC WBAI New York City. Okay everyone will see you next week. Thanks so much. Bye bye.