A Presentation for the Global Solidarity Movement with the Zapatista Communities:
Friends, family, and sisters and brothers of the Americanas Zapatistas:
The Sacrifice of the Base
Imagine a pyramid. For centuries, it has been the shape of power in Mexico. It is grand, it is imposing, but it is also truncated. Its very design requires a sacrifice at the top to maintain the structure below. From the days of the Mexica to the modern presidency, this verticality has defined our reality. But today, a new architect has taken the stage, promising to dismantle the pyramid while secretly reinforcing its stones with the cold cement of global capital.
The Illusion of the "Left"
We are often told that Mexico is undergoing a "Fourth Transformation," a progressive revolution for the poor. But Arturo Anguiano, a voice of profound critical thought speaking from the heart of Zapatista territory, invites us to look closer. He suggests that what we are witnessing is not a shift to the left, but the emergence of "The Other Right." In this video, recorded in December 2025 [09:51],
Anguiano pulls back the curtain on the "progressive" mask. He argues that the current regime is not a nostalgic return to revolutionary nationalism, but a modern, neoliberal administration of capitalism. It is a "mercantilism of politics" where social programs are not tools of liberation, but mechanisms of clientelism—buying loyalty while the fundamental structures of inequality remain untouched [51:05].
The Personalist Machine
One of the most striking revelations in Anguiano’s analysis is the nature of the ruling party, Morena. He describes it not as a social movement, but as a "personalist party" [32:32].
It is an organization with no collective direction, no internal debate, and no real volunteers—only a payroll of "Servants of the Nation" who operate as a semi-state machinery [36:58].
This centralization has led to what he calls a despotic regime [59:43].
The separation of powers is becoming a myth. The judiciary is under siege. The "imaginary republic" is being replaced by a reality where the president’s word is the only law that matters, justified by a "blank check" from the voters that is used to ignore the very people who provided it [38:39].
The Neo-Colonial Scalpel
For those of us in global solidarity, the most alarming part of this presentation is the discussion of "neo-colonial" infrastructure [01:18:46].
Projects like the Tren Maya and the Interoceanic Corridor are presented as national triumphs, but Anguiano exposes them as "dry canals of Panama"—arteries designed to move global merchandise from China to the U.S. East Coast [01:19:07].
These are not projects for the people; they are concessions to global finance, carving through indigenous territories and "razing the land" under the watchful eye of a newly militarized state [58:27].
So, where is the hope?
The Mountain’s Response: Autonomy from Below
It lies in the metaphor of the mountain. While the pyramid represents the state and its sacrifices, the mountain represents the assembly of original peoples—the "assembly of pyramids" that Octavio Paz once spoke of, reimagined through Zapatista resistance [03:35].
Anguiano reminds us that "the state will not fall on its own; it must be dismantled from below" [01:13:34].
The Zapatista movement provides the blueprint: not seeking the power of the pyramid, but building a different kind of power—one that is rooted in autonomy, self-governance, and a refusal to be assimilated into the "logic of the serpent" [05:46].
The Call to Action
To our sisters and brothers in the Americanas Zapatistas: this video is more than a political lecture. It is a warning. It is a call to recognize that "progressivism" can often be the most effective mask for "capitalism in its extreme form" [29:00].
Watch this presentation. Listen to the breakdown of how the military has been integrated into the very fabric of the economy [58:53].
Understand how "austerity" is being used as a tool to shrink the state’s responsibility to the people while expanding its capacity for accumulation [44:41].
Mexico, as Anguiano says, is a country that has "lost its soul" and requires a new one [00:27].
That soul will not be found in the National Palace; it will be found in the mountains, in the communities, and in the global solidarity of those who refuse to be sacrificed for the top of the pyramid.
Watch the full presentation here:
Participación de Arturo Anguiano, 29 de Diciembre de 2025
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