If you were asked: Has the right ever governed in Mexico? What would you answer? Yes? No?
I had never considered it until recently, when I heard a speech by the elusive AMLO, in which he claimed that the right is responsible for all the country's problems. Obviously, it was the typical attack from the left that amounted to nothing more than an empty accusation, but it made me seriously reflect on that question. Has the right really governed in Mexico? Let's analyze it.
First, I will present a harsh but necessary criticism of the current Mexican "right." Then, I will offer some historical context, and finally I will present what I consider the hope for a new right in Mexico.
Let's start at the beginning.
We need to talk about PAN. The Partido Acción Nacional usually presents itself as the guardian of conservative values in Mexico. However, in recent times its members and leaders have taken actions or made statements that are somewhat... left-leaning. Their actions have caused a lot of confusion, not to say betrayal, among the right-wing electorate.
I will mention some specific cases to better understand.
For example, Jorge Romero, national leader of PAN. I had not heard of him before. I only knew that he is from PAN, but in some of his statements, instead of questioning Morena, he seems to defend it. In an interview, he repeated the official narrative about Claudia Sheinbaum and migrants in the US, adopting the government's narrative instead of confronting it. This is an attitude typical of progressivism, not of the right.
Another example is Ricardo Anaya and his strange crusade against Trump...
Ricardo Anaya, former presidential candidate and now Senator for PAN, has strongly attacked Trump. He said that "the threat is real" and accused the US president of "attacking" Mexican migrants.
His speech completely contrasts with the right-wing line and makes it seem more like a lukewarm centrist or progressive stance.
On many occasions, the phrase "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" is used to justify alliances and defeat a common enemy, but it sometimes seems that Anaya is more concerned about the US president than about Morena's banana socialists.
Even Xóchitl Gálvez, former PAN presidential candidate, declared herself center-left.
