Call effect: Spanish left and its influence on the Mexican left

While Mexico sinks into the violence of the narco-state, a segment of its left finds ideological refuge in Madrid. In recent years, an evident phenomenon has emerged: the Spanish left, led by figures such as Pablo Iglesias and Irene Montero, is exerting a pull effect on the Latin American left, particularly the Mexican one.

Since the creation of Canal Red Latinoamérica, Iglesias has sought to articulate a common discourse among Spanish-speaking leftists, projecting in Latin America the ideological frameworks of Podemos. The message is clear: the progressive struggle is global, and Spain can be its operations center.

 

From the narco-state to Academic Debate

However, the reality between both lefts could not be more different. In Spain, progressivism is experienced from institutional comfort, scholarships, subsidies, and university debate. In Mexico, by contrast, the left is marked by violence, corruption, and the territorial control of the cartels.

Mexico is today a narco-state, where going out on the street is a risk and where impunity has erased almost any boundary between crime and politics.

When speaking with those who migrate, the contrast becomes evident. In protests organized in Spain by Mexican feminists after the Rancho Izaguirre case, local slogans quickly mixed with messages for Palestine and speeches aligned with Morena.

In the Marea Rosa —a movement supporting the then-presidential candidate from PAN, Xóchitl Gálvez— Morena activists also appeared, reproducing in European territory the same political divisions that fracture Mexico.

The importation of discourse

In fact, a network called Morena Europa is already operating formally, which last year filled the streets of Madrid and other cities with stickers during Claudia Sheinbaum's presidential campaign in Mexico.

This group meets, coincidentally, at Pablo Iglesias's bar, consolidating a political and media link between the Spanish left and the Mexican ruling party. In recent years, Morena Europa has organized events in Madrid, Berlin, and Paris, with the presence of diplomatic representatives aligned with the party.

The contrast is evident: while the Spanish left is nourished by academic debate and institutional comfort, the Mexican left is marked by the informal economy, the territorial control of the narco, and the use of poverty as a path to building votes.

Even so, more and more Mexicans are arriving in Spain attracted by a "more comfortable and safer" leftist model, where one can be politically active without fearing for one's life. It is logical: in Mexico people survive under a narco-state, meanwhile in Spain one can be leftist from the tranquility of a Madrid terrace.

"What seems like solidarity between peoples is, deep down, a reconstruction of Latin American progressivism on European soil, under the guidance of Iglesias and his media network."

Two Mexican migrations, two realities

However, not all Mexicans who arrive in Spain follow that ideological path. There is also a new wave of right-wing Mexicans, professionals, and families fleeing the country's violence and instability.

People who did not vote for Morena, who believe in democracy, and who from abroad fight for a Mexico free from populism and the narco. That other migration shows that not everyone who leaves does so for the same reasons, nor do all arrive with the same ideas.

Import Mexican chaos?

The question is inevitable: is Spain aware of what it is importing?

If the Mexican model has demonstrated anything, it is that populism disguised as social justice ends up serving the most violent. The risk is that, under the protection of the Spanish left, that model may begin to take root in Europe.

Spain thus becomes fertile ground where the Mexican left can replicate its methods and consolidate its influence on the continent.

By: Alejandra Ylizaliturri