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47 Articles by: Kurt Hackbarth

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Kurt Hackbarth is a writer, playwright, freelance journalist, and the cofounder of the independent media project “MexElects.” He is currently coauthoring a book on the 2018 Mexican election.

The Mexican Right Has United to Defeat AMLO

In Mexico, the midterm election campaign has just kicked off and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s right-wing opponents have formed a coalition against his ruling party, MORENA. Their aim is to seize a majority in the lower house and stop AMLO’s progressive agenda in its tracks.

The Disaster of Privatized Banking in Mexico

Since the 1990s, Mexico’s banks have been privatized, bailed out, and sold off, resulting in a massive upward transfer of wealth. The AMLO administration is introducing a public option for basic banking, but it must go further to rein in the untrammeled power of the banks.

It’s Time for Mexico to Tax the Rich

Mexico is one of the most unequal countries in the world, with a caste of superrich lording over a mass of urban and rural poor barely surviving. Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s transfer programs have gone some way toward distributing wealth, but much more needs to be done.

Never Let a Pandemic Go to Waste

Mexican elites have done everything in their power to discredit and undercut President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador since he first took power. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, they’re ramping up their attacks.

They Got Filthy Rich off Cocaine Trafficking and Killed Leftists. Now AMLO Must Make Them Pay.

In Mexico, the “war on drugs” was never about drugs at all, but about repressing social movements, smashing unions, and creating a shock-doctrine atmosphere for conservative governments to privatize pensions, health services, and the oil sector. The AMLO administration must dismantle the narco-state.

Against the Odds, AMLO Has Made Gains in His First Year

It’s been a year since Andrés Manuel López Obrador took power in Mexico. Against the odds, his administration has won a host of important progressive victories. But it’ll need to do more to withstanding pressure from Washington and the more conservative parts of the MORENA coalition.