Mexico began the 21st Century with a 54 percent poverty rate and has had success in bringing it down especially during the last two administrations. Poverty of the majority in the country as well as many others in the third world appears as a principal characteristic of this sometimes intractable trend that does not seem to go away.
Mexico’s post-World War II decision to follow the United States in the adoption of an economic system more suited to wealthy and powerful nations has had some success and many failures. The Neo-liberal political and economic ideology “that favors free-market capitalism, privatization, deregulation, and a reduction in government spending” reached its peak during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. It worked better for the United States because the vast majority of the Americans were in the middle class and above.
Not so for Mexico as the majority of its people were left behind in a condition that saw the rich get richer and the poor poorer. One of the answers to their survival mode was to immigrate to America in droves to work and find economic footing for their families in the United States and Mexico.
Political movements and the creation of parties to find other ways to improve the economic well-being especially of the Mexican poor did not find enough success until the bottom fell out of the world economy during the Great Recession (2007-2008). It is during that period that a new political party with the acronym MORENA captured an overwhelming majority support of the country and in time elected Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to a 6-year term beginning in 2018.
Its electoral success at the presidential level was followed by the election of MORENA candidate Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo to the presidency in 2024. President Sheinbaum, the first woman elected to that office, has continued to concentrate on the work begun by her predecessor.
MORENA is a populist Party on the left that operates under a motto and principle “for the good of all, the poor come first.” Its priority has been to represent the economic underclass and commit to a national identity that originates in its pre-Colombian past.
Both administrations have centered on eradicating poverty by legislating major increases in the average wage, guaranteeing pensions for the old and retired workers, making health and education constitutional rights, arranging for major investments in public infrastructure and providing scholarships for its young people from preschool through university study. Although many critics said it could not be done, the leadership has been able to do this without increasing the national budget.
It appears that the funds to do the people’s business were always there but had been intervened to attend to the privileges of the powerful and the corrupt. Once everyone was made to pay all their lawfully required taxes and the government began to operate under a model of austerity the doors to economic improvement were opened.
During Obrador’s 6-year-term, the country was able to bring some thirteen and a half million people out of poverty. So far, in the two years that Sheinbaum has been in office, about eight and a half million additional people have been brought out of poverty.
The poverty rate in Mexico is now at 29 percent and continuing a downward trend. Given the economic renaissance in Mexico and the opportunities particularly for the young, individuals will be less and less inclined to think about immigrating to the United States unless it is to see their family members here.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of LaVozColorado. Comments and responses may be directed to News@lavozcolorado.com.
