Attack on the Left
Also in this edition: Latin America's largest solar power plant. The killing of journalists continues. The grassroots globalization of the décima jarocha. Tsotsil boxer makes it to the big screen.
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U.S. promotes an offensive against the left, at home and abroad
The Trump administration is calling on its allies to join the fight against what it calls "transnational far-left terrorism," not only internationally but also some fear as a first step toward justifying the persecution and detention of political opponents within the United States. The administration insists that it respects its citizens' constitutional rights and freedom of speech, but the lists of possible U.S. collaborators with the transnational left include individuals and organizations that oppose its policies.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio invited representatives from about 60 governments from around the world to a ministerial meeting in Washington, where he urged them to take public security measures against "far-left political terrorism." There he declared: "For too long, our counterterrorism doctrine has had a blind spot: extremist violence from the political left." He insisted that far-left terrorism has been "the dominant form of political violence" throughout much of the modern era.
Officials from many countries in Europe and Latin America attended the conference, but Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia were notably absent. “From our perspective, this was more of a case of a political issue than one genuinely related to combating criminal groups or other security matters, so we believed it was better not to attend," President Claudia Sheinbaum said.
The U.S. government offered no details about what took place during the closed-door meeting, although it indicated that many—but not all—participants agreed with the U.S. assessment of the far-left threat. The next summit will be held in Germany this fall, and "the invitation remains open" to Mexico, a government official told this newspaper.
Four days after that ministerial meeting, the State Department released an official report supposedly focused on Cuba, but one that is clearly part of this broader campaign against the left, both abroad and within the United States. "For more than six decades, the Cuban regime has been the leading sponsor of radical leftism and Third Worldism in the United States," Rubio said in summarizing the report.
After recounting the histories, beginning more than 50 years ago, of groups such as the Black Panthers and the Weather Underground, the report constructs a narrative about Americans who fell under Cuba's influence and/or who have been connected in some way to Havana. These include elected officials, activists, businesspeople, and artists, among them Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass; New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani; Barack Obama; Ben Cohen, the co-founder of Ben & Jerry's; Medea Benjamin of Code Pink; playwright Eve Ensler, now known as "V"; the Amazon Labor Union; the Democratic Socialists of America; and the National Lawyers Guild. Altogether, the report names 43 American organizations and individuals.
Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security during Trump's first administration, suggests that the summit on the left, along with other initiatives, is laying the groundwork for targeting American groups that have some connection to organizations designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs).
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has also argued that left-wing ideas are "foreign" and "anti-American," sometimes imported into the country by immigrants, portraying both as a "threat." They may have reason to fear them, progressives and immigrants—or both together—have helped democratize the United States throughout its history.
"Neo-McCarthyism is spreading dangerously and aggressively throughout the United States," writes Luis Hernández Navarro. In an editorial, La Jornada argues that this appears to be the "official relaunch of McCarthyism: the use of the full power of the state to identify, criminalize, harass, and bring about the civil or physical destruction of anyone who dares to dissent. And the world will be invited to participate in this new wave of right-wing totalitarianism."
The Quote:
“But then, the Devil is known to lure people into forgetting what it is vital for them to remember—how else could his endless reappearances always come as such a marvelous surprise?”
—Playwright Arthur Miller, who opposed McCarthyism
In Case You Missed It
◻️ Latin America's largest solar power plant. The Puerto Peñasco photovoltaic plant in the state of Sonora will reach a total capacity of one gigawatt once completed, making it one of the largest solar facilities in Latin America. The first two phases have already been completed, and the project will be a key component of the government's plan to meet its national goal of generating 38 percent of the country's electricity from clean energy sources by 2030.
◻️ Deaths in ICE custody: Mexico continues legal action in the U.S. Following the deaths of 17 Mexican nationals during separate Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in the United States, the Mexican government has filed 20 criminal complaints with state and county prosecutors in the jurisdictions where the deaths occurred. However, the U.S. State Department publicly announced that it had returned the Mexican government's cease-and-desist letters on the matter, arguing that they represented an attempt to "direct the actions of U.S. government personnel operating within the sovereign territory" of the United States.
◻️ Drug traffickers, Mexican politicians, and U.S. agents. The arrest of former Baja California governor Ernesto Ruffo for his alleged involvement in what authorities describe as the largest fuel-smuggling network uncovered to date followed an "exhaustive" investigation by the Mexican Attorney General's Office after the seizure of millions of liters of fuel. Morena's national leadership insisted the action "does not respond to a partisan agenda or a fabricated accusation." However, columnist Julio Hernández wrote that the broader context cannot be ignored: the growing political crisis surrounding the current Morena Governor of Baja California, Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda, her willingness to cooperate with foreign authorities, and the wider Mexican and U.S. investigations into fuel tax fraud and its deep ties to political and economic power.
◻️ The killing of journalists continues. Oaxacan journalist Alejandro Leyva Aguilar, a vocal critic of the Oaxaca state government, was killed in a gun attack on the morning of July 22 in San Pablo Etla, Oaxaca. One week earlier, Josué Martínez Contreras, director of the digital news outlet Noticias San Martín Texmelucan in Puebla, was shot and killed in a targeted attack just a short distance from his home. Civil society organizations that monitor these cases say these recent incidents are part of "a continuing pattern of attacks, disappearances, and murders" targeting journalists.
◻️ Colombia opens the door to Trump. Although he will not take office until August 7, Colombia's president-elect, Abelardo de la Espriella, thanked the U.S. president for his support during the election by announcing: "Medellín will become the headquarters of the Shield of the Americas" in the South American nation. For the opposition, the statement confirmed President Gustavo Petro's recent warning that "Colombia's government will not belong to Colombia—it will belong to Donald (Trump)."
◻️ The grassroots globalization of the décima jarocha. "The décima jarocha is one of the richest, most vibrant literary movements of this century," said Rafael Figueroa Hernández, who holds a doctorate in History and Regional Studies from the Universidad Veracruzana. According to Figueroa, one of the clearest demonstrations of its vitality can be seen at the Nezahualcóyotl Theater in Tlacotalpan, Veracruz, where hundreds of people buy tickets every weekend to attend gatherings of decimeros (poets who compose and perform décimas). He argues that the literary power of the décima lies in its use of poetic techniques and its ability to engage audiences and evoke emotion. ▶️ VIDEO and another ▶️ VIDEO
◻️ Tsotsil boxer makes it to the big screen. The Silent One, a young Tsotsil boxer, returns to her hometown to say goodbye to the ring in one final fight. During her journey and stay, her relationships with her family come to the surface. The documentary was one of 19 projects selected in the eighth funding round organized by the Mexican Institute of Cinematography.
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Edited by David Brooks and Jim Cason in the United States, Tania Molina Ramírez in Mexico City, of La Jornada, and Elizabeth Coll in Tokyo, under the direction of Carmen Lira Saade and Guillermina Álvarez. More information.
Excellent lead article. As an ex-pat living in Mexico, I applaud the president of MX for not attending the hideous gathering.