IF YOU rely on the mainstream media you will learn that Mexico is in chaos and that many thousands protested on November 15 in the capital and other cities against the prevalence of criminal violence, and against President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government.

There was indeed a much-publicised protest march in the Zocalo square with extreme violence against police by a “black bloc” contingent, many of them masked, who came equipped with hammers, metal bars, cutting equipment and incendiary devices to breach metal barriers and assault police with intent to cause grievous harm and even death.

With chants of “You are going to die” and “We are armed,” they were heading for the presidential palace, but having broken down the barriers, they aimed their violence mainly at the police who initially responded in purely defensive fashion, using only protective gear.  

This march was promoted by an array of allegedly non-partisan social media accounts. It played on the issue of crime and insecurity and its one specific demand was for a recall vote on President Sheinbaum, a futility since the right of recall already exists, it was introduced by Sheinbaum’s predecessor Amlo and she has already declared her intention of holding such a vote half way through her term.

Many of those promoting the march were well-known politicians from the opposition parties PAN (the traditional right) and PRI (the former dominant party) and their intellectual and media associates. By late October a growing chorus of new social media accounts were backing it, and critical examination revealed that many of them were bots and originated abroad, in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Spain and the US.

In fact it was an international operation associated with the extreme right and organisations such as Atlas Network. Also, the right-wing politicians were more open than before in advocating violence: PAN party leader Jorge Romero declared in a TV interview that “what the Mexican right needs is violence.”

The march was initially promoted by a Mexican branch of “Generation Z” and used the image of One Piece. However, in the final fortnight the (relatively small) Mexican branch of Generation Z disowned it, saying they had been misled and didn’t want to be linked to the extreme right.

In the event the march was not very big: it was nowhere near filling the Zocalo, estimates are of about 17,000 participants, and most of them were old or middle-aged, far from “Generation Z.” Many of them expressed admiration for PAN and PRI politicians and for billionaires like Ricardo Salinas Pliego, owner of TV Azteca and retail chain Elektra who owes some $4 billion to the Mexican treasury (a debt dating back 15 years) and also faces legal action for debts of hundred of millions in the US, and he also promoted the march.

The march was similar to previous opposition rallies in Mexico during the seven years since Amlo first took office, rallies which mobilise the wealthy and conservative sectors who resent losing their privileges. The difference this time was the massive scale and international scope of the social media campaign.

Previous opposition rallies — exploiting apparently non-partisan issues such as feminism, electoral reform and defence of the corrupt judiciary as previously existed — were much bigger. They also invariably included a “black bloc” contingent of violent saboteurs.

Both Amlo and Sheinbaum have insisted that protest is a democratic right which will always be respected, and that they will not engage in repression of any kind. They have refused to respond to provocation, with police adopting purely defensive tactics; this may account for the brazen behaviour of the “black bloc.”

But this time the police did eventually take action and arrest a number of violent offenders, 18 of whom are now on remand in jail; five are to be charged with attempted murder and the rest with other offences such as assault and robbery with violence.

The November 15 protest was also associated with an unusual and complex event, the assassination on November 1 of Carlos Manzo, mayor of Uruapan in the central-western state of Michoacan. Manzo was extremely popular in Uruapan (a town of some 300,000) for his stand against organised crime; ostensibly he supported President Sheinbaum and the Fourth Transformation, but having been a member of the Morena party he had later stood as an independent.

Indeed, Manzo had his own movement in Uruapan, the “Movement of the Sombrero” (hat), and after his murder local people immediately elected his widow, Grecia Quiroz, as mayor.

While Sheinbaum and her security team have been extremely successful in the fight against organised crime — nationally the homicide rate has fallen by 37 per cent in one year and violent crime in general has fallen by 45 per cent — Michoacan and the neighbouring state of Jalisco have remained an area of serious cartel activity and hence discontent with the federal government.

Organisers of the November 15 protest immediately seized on Manzo’s murder as an issue they could use against the government; but Sheinbaum responded with sympathy for the widow and the people of Uruapan, and in consultation with local people, announced a detailed Peace and Justice Plan for Michoacan.

The poor and neglected coastal region of Michoacan and Jalisco has seen cartel activity involving serious clashes with the Mexican military; in one incident some six months ago a land mine blew up, killing eight members of the military, and cartel members who were then captured included nine Colombians, several of them former Colombian army officers. Venezuelans have also been involved.

All of this has been taking place when the Trump administration is actively trying to reassert its hegemony in Latin America and the Caribbean. While Mexico under Amlo and now Sheinbaum has been remarkably successful in maintaining good relations with the US and in defending its sovereignty despite repeated threats by Trump and his associates, there can be little doubt that Washington is not at all pleased with Mexico’s independent stance on a whole host of issues including energy sovereignty, public welfare programmes, support for Cuba, criticism of right-wing governments in Peru and Ecuador and refusal to support interventionism in the Caribbean.

Trump’s ambassador to Mexico, Ronald Johnson, is a former CIA officer with a record of involvement in coups and interventions, and while both he and the Mexican government have observed diplomatic niceties, it would not be at all surprising if the CIA or other agencies were involved in trying to destabilise Mexico.

Fortunately the skill of Sheinbaum and her team and the overwhelming support of the Mexican people make it inconceivable that any such subversion should succeed; the November 20 civic-military parade marking the anniversary of the great Mexican Revolution was a massive popular rally in support of the government, with a bold and dignified speech by the president.

David Raby is a retired professor of Latin American history, a freelance journalist and co-ordinator of the UK Mexico Solidarity Forum. His book “Mexico In Transformation: From AMLO to Claudia” was published in 2025 by Praxis Press. He can be contacted at david.raby@mexicosolidarity.org.uk and on X @DLRaby.