Mexico riots to protest out of control crime and corruption.

 

Rioters confront police in Mexico City. Politico/AP.

Riots have broken out in Mexico to protest out of control crime and corruption. Politico. Though some protesters were peaceful, violence broke out with 120 people injured and 20 arrests in Mexico City. The protests have been dubbed "Gen Z" protests but participation has been mixed in terms of age. Healthcare, security and corruption are the main focus, but there is anger at Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. Despite the protests her approval ratings remain high. However, she has been criticized for not doing enough against the cartels, who recently murdered a popular Mayor in Michoacan. 

My Comment:

This is less of a "Gen Z" protest and more of a general protest against the status quo. The protests are non-partisan but some prominent Mexican right-wingers support it and the Mexican government is trying to paint it is right wing. But they are also protesting for healthcare, so it's hard to pin down the political affiliation of this movement. 

I've got mixed feelings about this. I am never favor of actual riots. If you do that you lose a ton of sympathy for me. Getting into a fist fight with the cops isn't going to change anything of note. It's just going to turn the police against you and anyone that values law and order. There is obviously something incredibly hypocritical about these people protesting against crime when they are behaving like criminals themselves. 

With that being said, I am in general support of these protests. I absolutely think that Mexico has not done enough to fight the Cartels and it's embarrassing that Claudia Sheinbaum campaigned on "hugs not bullets" as some kind of solution to Cartel violence. That kind of weakness has emboldened the Cartels because they know military force won't be used against them. 

There is some evidence that Sheinbaum might be growing a bit of spine. The murder of the mayor in Michoacan, Carlos Manzo, has resulted in a major military deployment to the state. 10,000 troops and federal police are being sent to the state to hopefully avenge the mayor and arrest/kill the people responsible. 

She's also coming under pressure from President Trump to do something. Trump wanted to drone strike these Cartels and the reason that didn't happen is because Sheinbaum promised to do something. She has helped control the numbers of drugs coming out of Mexico, but she might have t do more if she wants to keep Trump happy. Trump is regularly bombing drug boats in both Oceans now, so if Sheinbaum wants to keep Trump out of Mexico she needs to step up. 

Still, the Cartels have been a generational problem. The Mexican Drug War has lasted almost 20 years now, if you consider the start-date to be 2006. Nothing the Mexican government has done has been able to end the war or crush the cartels. I think the general weakness of the left wing governments and corruption of both right and left wing governments in Mexico has made this an impossible problem to win, without a whole lot of violence.