Continuing Mexico’s Fourth Transformation (Interview)
Mexico is heading to elections on June 2. Ahead of these, United World International’s Yunus Soner spoke to Pedro Vázquez González, member of the National Coordination Committee of the Labor Party (Partido del Trabajo) and federal deputy in the Mexican Congress.
YS: Thanks for taking the time. Elections are coming up in Mexico…
Vázquez: Indeed, we have the largest election in the history of Mexico because not only will the presidency of the republic or the Federal Legislative Branch, which is the Chamber of Deputies and the Chamber of Senators, be at stake, but we will also have elections for nine governorships and 31 local congresses, local deputies, municipal presidencies, mayors’ offices and municipal boards. We are talking about more than 20,000 posts that will be contested this year.
YS: And what do you think, who will win? The Labor Party (PT) goes together with Morena and the Green Party, right?
Vázquez: Indeed, the three parties have already agreed to maintain the coalition now with the Green Party. Before, it was only PT, Morena party, and another party that was the Party of Social Gathering.
Now in this new type of coalition, Morena, the Green Party, and the Labor Party are going in the presidential election. It is undoubtedly the most representative left-wing bloc. The right is pulverized. The National Action Party, which is the right-wing party, is in decline. And so is the Institutional Revolution Party, since it has lost most of its positions. They have a small group in the Chamber of Deputies and the Chamber of Senators.
And well, the PRD is a dying party, unfortunately. It attached itself to that right-wing block, and we don’t see they have any perspective. They could even lose their registration.
So the only party that is loose is the Citizen Movement party, but the left bloc is defined, and I believe that without a doubt at this moment the electoral preference, the preference of the Mexican people in relation to the president’s exercise of government is in the 78%, in such a way that there is no doubt that he has governed, and he has governed well and the people of Mexico know it.
Hence, the continuity of the fourth transformation will undoubtedly be the challenge to overcome, and we have a great prospect of victory because the right is practically non-existent, is minimized.
In the latest opinion polls, our candidate, Claudia Sheinbaum, was at 68 points, 62 in other surveys, 60—the one with the least electoral preference, while 24% for the right-wing candidate Xóchitl Gálvez.
So there is a lot of optimism, but undoubtedly the campaign forces us to go to the territory, to get the vote from each home, speaking with each citizen, because it would be the only way to guarantee that the Fourth Transformation has continuity, has greater development, and that the preference of the Mexican people translates into a favorable vote for the Together We Will Make History coalition.
YS: There is a new candidate Claudia Sheinbaum who presents a different image compared to the current president. The current president comes from established Mexican patriotism, from the patriotic nationalist left. The new candidate seems a little different. What will change and what will follow?
Vázquez: Well, she has a leftist profile, undoubtedly. It is true that her first political participation was in the student movements, progressive movements in favor of the university not being made into an elitist institution, that it is not expensive, that there be opportunities for all Mexicans who want to study and that the economic issue is not a limitation.
It was also, of course, to substantially improve all the programs and study plans. This is a demand from the students that she supports, along with other colleagues, as was the case of our pre-candidate, PT Congressman Fernández Noroña. They come from a current that in our opinion is left-wing and progressive and that, though it is a different track than López Obrador’s, has all the information, is clearly aware of what the president’s transformative project is, and guarantees continuity.
YS: President López Obrador also insisted a lot on the issue of energy sovereignty.
Vázquez: Exactly. Mexican sovereignty. Sovereignty, independence are issues that the president has handled since his first campaign back in 2006. And of course, the Labor Party maintains the position that we are a free, independent people, that we must govern ourselves, that we do not need of the interference of the United States, which has always been hand in hand with the presidents, except for López Obrador.
Sovereignty is not only the defense of the territory and our form of government, but above all we need energy, oil, food, production, and I believe that the Fourth Transformation and Claudia Sheinbaum undoubtedly guarantee that there will be more development, greater opportunities for employment, more jobs and better salaries, and development of manufacturing production. There is an entire project to transform the country that has to go through these aspects, and she guarantees it. As the Labor Party, we dedicate ourselves to the left of the Fourth Transformation.
We are the only party that has declared its socialist character since our foundation, and we are going to push hard so that the next government led by Claudia Sheinbaum moves further to the left, goes more towards the most progressive positions and greater social development.
YS: What challenges do you see for Sheinbaum in relations with the United States? Now that the US Congress is debating an intervention…
Vázquez: Well, if Mexico maintains the firm position of being an independent, free, sovereign country, the United States will have to understand that position, that it does not lend itself to ambiguities, and that they know that the relationship with the Mexican people and their government will have to be of respect within the framework of international law, and that they do not try to get involved in the political, economic and social affairs of Mexico, because there will be rejection, not only from the one who heads the government of the republic but also from all the forces and the people in general due to the very harmful historical experiences that we have had in military interventions of the United States. We will reject that, and this anti-imperialism is very solid and very strong among the Mexican people.
So, we do have concern about the temptation of the US government and the power elites in the United States to try to change the course of our country by force. We are not going to allow it.
Yunus Soner is a political scientist, and former deputy chairman of Vatan Party (Türkiye). He has participated in diplomatic visits to China, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Russia, Venezuela, Cuba, and Mexico, among others. He has conducted meetings with President Bashar Al Assad (Syria), President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Iran), President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (Mexico), Manuel Zelaya (Honduras), and ministers representatives of parliament from various countries. He has worked on Turkish-Russian, Turkish-Syrian, Turkish-Chinese and Turkish-Egyptian relations as well as on Latin America. Soner has had media participation in various international media channels, including Russia Today, Sputnik (Russia), CGTN (China), PressTV (Iran), Syrian TV, Al-Mayadeen (Lebanon), Telesur (Venezuela), and Turkish media. He has been a columnist for Turkish daily newspaper Aydınlık.