Although the media reports daily on the terrible executions, kidnappings, extortions and now terrorist attacks carried out by the mafias in our country, a large part of the population continues to live in a state of blissful ignorance.
Of course, this doesn’t mean people are stupid or don’t watch the news, but simply that the fact that criminal violence has been a constant since the beginning of Calderón’s term in 2006 leads most people to believe that the current situation is a continuation or escalation of what we have already experienced in the last 20 years. Economic stagnation, the loss of purchasing power, unemployment, corruption, and other problems seem, on paper, to follow similar patterns to what we are already accustomed to.
However, there is a substantial difference between the phenomena observed in recent years and those of today, because unlike what happened during Calderón’s six-year term, the battered institutional instruments that made the continuity of daily life possible have practically disappeared.
So far, the majority of housewives, young people, and senior citizens, who make up a significant part of our population, are not experiencing any disruption to their daily lives. However, those who must shoulder the burden of work, commerce, social relationships, and daily contact with institutions and businesses are inevitably beginning to experience a vulnerability that is no longer limited to farmers extorted in rural areas or owners of illicit businesses.
Today, the problem of cybercrime, extortion, and the inability to defend citizens’ rights against their flagrant violation by banks, telecommunications service providers, private companies, and various levels of government, is beginning to affect significant segments of the Mexican middle class and workers.
In Mexico under the current administration, for example, the elimination of the Federal Telecommunications Institute, which at one time was a very useful tool for citizens affected by the monopolistic abuses of Telcel, for example, has left us almost completely defenseless.
Today, anyone forced by circumstances to go to PROFECO to report irregularities by the CFE, an internet provider, or an airline will realize that it is virtually impossible to win any case.
CONDUSEF, for its part, is inaccessible to the average citizen whose rights are violated by banks or online financial institutions, many of which are not even regulated. In those cases where it is possible to appeal to this agency, one can assume that the bank or financial corporation will ultimately get away with it. Furthermore, the waiting times for a favorable or unfavorable response are enormous, and more and more citizens are realizing how these institutions have become accomplices of the monopolistic capitalists who massively exploit the population.
Some supporters of the regime will say that at least the Sheinbaum administration and the new Supreme Court (controlled by it) “are doing something about Salinas Pliego’s abuses.” However, this argument falls apart spectacularly, because eventually, any money Salinas Pliego might pay to the tax authorities will not benefit the average citizen in any way. Far from it, it will end up in the coffers of the government and the inept bureaucrats who languish at their desks and service windows while Elektra and similar businesses continue their usurious activities to the detriment of everyone.
In Mexico under the 4T (Fourth Transformation), the number of citizens who have managed to reverse some economic abuse by Salinas Pliego or any other banking institution is negligible compared to the millions of account holders who are harmed daily by the usury of lenders.
The 4T, despite its rhetoric in favor of the poor and the marginalized, has abandoned the popular majorities who today find themselves defenseless against banks, criminals and national and foreign companies that enjoy a privileged position thanks to their closeness with the new owners of national politics.
Day by day, the arbitrary actions not only by legislators, judges, or the government, but by everyone who has a share of power in the Obradorista welfare paradise, increase in number and severity.
Today, the average citizen is being induced to exchange any kind of personal, collective, or national ambition for a monthly cash handout, and we should not underestimate the long-term effects this may have.
Unfortunately, when the time comes that women, young people, or the elderly—who on paper have benefited from the regime’s perks—are affected in their daily lives, it will surely be too late. And that’s because when we hit rock bottom, the mental health of a significant portion of our population will be so damaged by complacency that it will prevent any conscious reaction to the grim outlook ahead.