Mexico
The Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI, Institutional Revolutionary
Party) has controlled the government since the party was founded in 1929.
President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León was elected head of state
in 1994. Other major parties include the Partido Acción Nacional
(PAN, National Action Party) and the Partido de la Revolución Democrática
(PRD, Party of Democratic Revolution).
On 23 November, after protracted negotiations, new electoral reform was
adopted by congress. This reform includes: full autonomy for the Federal
Electoral Institute; the first-ever direct popular election of a mayor for
Mexico City; tighter financial regulation of election campaigns; and the
placing of electoral law violations under the jurisdiction of the supreme
court. It is hoped the latter will address the problem of fraud and corruption
during elections and previous failures to prosecute those accused of electoral
crimes.
Local elections were held in November in the states of Baja California Sur,
Quintana Roo, Nayarit, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Coahuila, and Mexico state. The
opposition made significant advances and the PRI lost control in Coahuila
and Mexico state. By the end of 1996, 47.5 million Mexicans were governed
by the PRI, 34.5 million by the PAN and 9 million by the PRD, marking an
increased political diversity in the country and the possibility for the
development of legislative power as the forum for the expression of citizens'
demands.
The previous governmental emphasis on economic modernization as the exclusive
drive of national transformation took a sharp turn in 1996: politics overshadowed
the economy in the national agenda. Nevertheless, these political changes
and the growing strength of Mexico's civil society have had little effect
in slowing the increase in crime, drug-related violence and corruption in
the governmental sphere. Judicial power continued to become increasingly
politicized in the year and major political crimes remained unsolved.
In December the attorney general, Antonio Lozano Gracia, was dismissed by
President Zedillo and replaced by Jorge Madrazo Cuellar, former head of
the National Human Rights Commission. Later in the month, Humberto Roque
Villanueva was elected president of the PRI, replacing Santiago Oñate
Laborde, who resigned.
Mexico's economy, which had been strained during the previous years by the
effects of crises, stabilized in 1996 and by the end of the year had registered
growth. There was a steady improvement in macroeconomic indices such as
gross domestic product, external account balance and foreign currency reserves,
and some modest recovery in employment. The microeconomic situation did
not improve significantly. Consumption, wages and employment remained low,
contributing to higher levels of crime and social tension. There are inequalities
in income distribution, with large numbers of people living in extreme poverty
in rural areas, shanty towns and urban slums.
Antisemitism in contemporary Mexico was initially prompted by debates
surrounding immigration policies during the late 1920s. Groups such as the
Anti-Chinese and Anti-Jewish National League, founded in 1930, and the Honorable
Traders, Industrialists and Professionals lobbied the government to restrict
the immigration of Jews. In May 1931, 250 Jewish pedlars were expelled from
the Lagunilla market. The National Day of Commerce was declared on 1 June
1931. On this day Mexicans protested about the Jewish presence in commercial
life.
Throughout the 1930s, Mexico experienced outbursts of antisemitism centring
on economic and racial themes. Gradually, the racial theme became dominant
among far-right groups. Among them was the Mexican Revolutionary Action,
which was founded in 1934, and operated through its paramilitary units,
the Golden Shirts.
The antisemitic Pro-Race Committee and the Middle-Class Confederation exerted
pressure on the government and waged antisemitic campaigns that reached
their peak during 1938-9. In the decades that followed, anti-semitism was
confined to fringe groups with marginal influence.
The financial crisis of 1982 and the social upheaval caused in 1985 by the
earthquakes in Mexico City led to the expression of anti-Jewish sentiment
in the media. Articles in the influential national daily Excelsior accused
Jewish factory owners of profiting from the disaster and of letting their
workers die while saving themselves and their own property.
The indigenous population has long been the object of discriminatory
treatment. Indigenous people do not live on autonomously governed land,
although some communities exercise considerable local control over economic
and social issues. They continue to remain largely outside the country's
political and economic mainstream, and in many cases they have minimal participation
in decisions affecting their land, cultural traditions and the allocation
of natural resources.
In the context of Mexico's current political transition and the effect of
the 1994 uprising by the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación
Nacional (EZLN, Zapatista National Liberation Army) in Chiapas, however,
new light has been shed on the nature of collective identity and the relevance
of the political demands of the indigenous communities.
Throughout modern Mexico's history, with the exception of the 1930s,
antisemitism has not been a central issue for political parties and movements.
Nonetheless, the far right, however marginal, has always proved to be fertile
ground for the growth of antisemitic attitudes.
During 1996 the diversified organizational pattern within the far right
diminished, as did the previous intensity of far-right activities. Organizations
such as LaRouche-inspired (United States of America) Partido Laboral Mexicano
(Mexi-can Labour Party), Federación Mexicana Anti-comunista (Anti-Communist
Federation) and Los Tecos were rarely heard of during the year.
The exception to the low-key approach was the Partido de las Aguilas Mexicanas
(PAM, Party of the Mexican Eagles), which changed its name to Consejo del
Pueblo de las Aguilas Mexicanas (The People's Council of Mexican Eagles)
in 1996. The party's ideology, dubbed as "neo-Mexicanism", promotes
an idealized image of Mexico's indigenous past and scorns Europe's perceived
role in forgeing contemporary Mexican national identity. From 1995 until
May 1996, this group has regu-larly covered the outer walls of Mexico City's
cathedral with anti-Jewish graffiti, claiming that Mexican Jewry controls
the politics and finances of the country.
The PAM tried to register as a political party in May, but its application
was denied by the Tribunal Federal Electoral (Federal Electoral Tribunal).
Subsequently the Instituto Federal Electoral (Federal Electoral Institute)
issued an open letter condemning the group's antisemitic, racist and intolerant
views.
Later in the year, in December, the leader of the PAM, Alfredo Perez Mata,
put in another bid to register as a party. During this campaign he declared
that the party "dislike[s] the Jews because they control the finances
and politics of the country, thus promoting corrruption".
Despite the continuing political and economic changes in Mexico, antisemitism
remained at a record low and anti-Jewish manifestations remained as isolated
incidents. As was the case in 1995, expressions of aggression tended to
be channelled towards the former Salinas administration, especially his
inner circle and family. This might account for the absence of antisemitic
diatribes in the media, which traditionally have been the outlet through
which antisemitism has been directed in the country.
Anti-Jewish graffiti, in particular swastikas, seldom appeared. A few Jewish
institutions received threatening calls or bomb threats during the year,
all of which turned out to be false alarms.
In contrast to the last decade, the mainstream media were almost devoid
of anti-Jewish prejudice during 1996.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and The International Jew
continued to be available in some bookshops, particularly where radical
literature is sold (see LEGAL MATTERS). However, works such as Hanna Gossler's
Heroes o Traldores (Heroes or Traitors) and La Farsa Judia
(The Jewish Hoax), and David Irving's Hitler's War, were apparently
no longer for sale.
Periodicals published by LaRouche's Ibero-American Solidarity Movement (EIR,
Resunen Ejecutivo) and by far-right groups from Guadalajara, such as the
magazine Surge, published several articles on "international
Zionism", "British-Zionist conspiracy", and the relationship
between the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro
and "Israeli terrorism".
Although a Holocaust-denial movement has not developed in Mexico, during
1996 the books of Salvador Borrego, the country's most prolific antisemitic
writer, could be found in many bookshops. They were also publicized in Salvador
Abascal's La Hoja del Combate (Combat Newsletter).
No other regular periodicals were published by the far right in 1996, and
no antisemitic articles appeared in the Catholic press.
Mexico has laws protecting the fundamental rights of citizens regardless
of their gender, creed or race, and has signed various international human
rights treaties such as the International Convention on the Elimination
of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. However, Mexico lacks specific legislation
on this issue. During 1996, the Jewish dialogue organization Tribuna Israelita
and the National Commission of Human Rights both continued to promote legislation
to define racism and antisemitism as crimes punishable by law.
In May a case brought against Editorial Epoca, a publishing house and major
Mexican purveyor of antisemitic literature, by the German government was
successfully concluded with an out-of-court settlement. Editorial Epoca
undertook no longer to publish or advertise Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.
It also offered to cease publication of two other antisemitic works, The
International Jew and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (see
PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA). The case has its roots in successful action taken
in 1989 by Tribuna Israelita and the German government to prevent the publication
and circulation of Mein Kampf in Mexico. However, it became apparent
during 1996 that the ban was being ignored by Editorial Epoca and the work
was once again being published and sold (sometimes in bulk) around the country.
During 1996 Mexican society continued its genuine attempt to change its
profile and build a diversified, pluralistic and more tolerant civic culture
and national image.
The effect of the political and economic transformations and the ongoing
profound changes that have taken place in the relationship between church
and state did not generate an increase in antisemitic expressions in the
year. Where they do occur, antisemitic incidents should be seen in the context
of the conservative forces' opposition to change.
© JPR 1997