With relatively little money and using coordination with local governments, the López Obrador government has transformed garbage dumps into cultural spaces, abandoned areas in parks and concrete into green areas. The impact of these works and their appropriation by local grassroots organizers have convinced multiple people that Morena is using state resources more efficiently.
Personally, I have visited multiple cultural centers and seen how these have been appropriated by the communities in an act of citizenship impossible until a few years ago.
Finally, a third reason that López Obrador has gained popularity is because the opposition has failed to create a powerful narrative of change. Immersed in conflicts of interest or kidnapped by internal factions, the PRI and the PAN have not been able to explain why they were unable to support the growth of the middle classes since 1982. Without any explanation, and with a narrative that attributes all the problems to López Obrador, each day they dig their own political grave.
I think that the opposition is incapable of championing an agenda for change because they have too much tail to step on or because their allies are part of the problem. They cannot propose a change that would destroy them.
In general, López Obrador’s popularity comes from real increases in the purchasing power of lower-income workers, social spending higher than that of past governments, greater investment in social infrastructure, and an accurate diagnosis that cannot be replicated by the opposition. . Morena is popular because she has managed to change the lives of hundreds of people. If the elites and their analysts do not see it, it is because they have given up on making political analysis, in favor of doing an elite journalism that only talks to sources from the Industrial Club.
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Editor’s note:
The opinions in this article are the sole responsibility of the author.
