From references to the defunct Internet conspiracy bogeyman, QAnon, in The Guardian to epithets of “ultra right-wing” in El Pais, Mexican actor Eduardo Verastegui’s recently launched independent bid for his country’s presidency has met with a clamour of vitriol.
Donald Trump, for his part, had already referred to the possibility of the actor becoming president of his nation while discussing the massively successful The Sound of Freedom film, of which Verastegui is the producer.
About three months ago, the actor released a video discussing Mexico’s upcoming 2024 presidential elections, in which he described the country as being at a crossroads between the same dirt road it has followed for decades and a highway cutting across that trodden path: “The dirt road is the same as always … [We are told] everything bad is the fault of the past; we are told that we’re almost there, but in reality we’re going backwards.”
In particular, he referred to economic deprivation and the problem of emigration, hinting at their relationship to that demonic enterprise confronted in The Sound of Freedom, namely human trafficking: “Mexicans continue to migrate to the United States in search of a dream that often, sadly, turns into a terrible nightmare.”
Crucially, Verastegui referred to the elites whose policy it is to devastate the economy, environment, and employment as the same elites now involved in undoing the family and traditional morality: “The same political class have not only destroyed the economy, the environment, and jobs, but now they also want to destroy the institution of the family, destroy our values, and pervert your children.”
This is precisely the sort of politically transversal rhetoric that should be deployed to disturb Left-Right categories.
He goes on:
Now they want to destroy our faith, pulling God out of our homes, our schools, and our lives. They have robbed us of the material wealth of Mexico, and now they want to steal our souls. We will not allow it. Let’s build the Mexican Dream together.
Part of the value of Verastegui’s campaign is its foregrounding of human trafficking by Mexican criminals—apparently now a multi-billion-dollar business—in a country where cartels control vast swaths of land, recruit openly, and sometimes outperform the country’s military in direct confrontation.
In terms of his policies, a major plank is his opposition to abortion: “If every mother had a crystal womb, none would abort because they would see the miracle that they carry within.” He is also clearly opposed to the so-called pink tide state-socialism of Venezuela and other countries in the region and has spoken out in favour of President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, articulating a tough-on-crime stance, especially regarding the kidnapping of children. In this regard, it is worth highlighting that Verastegui is a signatory to Carta Madrid, along with Spain’s VOX and other political factions, supporting greater Ibero-American collaboration.
Opposing the disastrous statism of the Latin American Left does not necessarily translate into a Javier Milei-style libertarianism, however. Certainly, some of Verastegui’s call to take care of Mexico’s least fortunate would seem to translate into government provisions (from the video referred to above):
I dream of a country that recognises that we are all equal in dignity and in which life is respected, from conception to natural death. Let’s defend everyone’s life. Our brothers in a homeless situation, the lives of children who are victims of sex trafficking, the lives of people who suffer from addictions, the lives of those who were falsely accused and are in prison, deprived of their freedom yet innocent. The lives of the sick who do not have proper means for treatment, the lives of abused women, and the lives of the abandoned elderly in nursing homes who are dying of sadness because not even their own family visits them. Put yourselves in their shoes.
It does seem, however, that Verastegui has not formulated specific economic proposals. He would need to determine how the state is to invest and incentivise intelligently so as to develop high-value-added industries. In any case, a Bukele-style radical crackdown on crime and the military extermination of the cartels would already transform the Mexican economy by allowing business owners to have long-term confidence in their investments.
And as with Bukele, we find statements of faith and a patriotic call to action at the centre of Verastegui’s platform:
Fellow Mexicans, we are royal eagles, not caged birds, as they want us to believe we are … Let’s fly high like the eagles that we are. The sky’s the limit. Let’s dream big. I dream of a Mexico that allows God to be the centre of our nation. I dream of the day in which no person has to leave the country out of necessity for lack of opportunities.
Righteous anger and moral clarity are massively motivating forces, and if enough people are mobilised, radical change can result. And from this universal intuition, a solid, particular identity can be cultivated. Indeed, the invocation of patriotic symbols and a national ethos is essential to beating back the sense of tribal belonging on which gangs and cartels partly rely in order to captivate the young.
Looking ahead, it is upon the unwavering determination to commit sufficient resources to dismantle the cartels and on the practical specificity of formulating a national industrial policy to expand the high-value-added stratum of the Mexican economy that the success of an eventual Verastegui presidency will depend.
Mexico’s Royal Eagles: On Verastegui’s Christian Patriotism
Eduardo Verástegui at CPAC Hungary, 2023.
Photo: Elekes Andor under a license from Creative Commons
From references to the defunct Internet conspiracy bogeyman, QAnon, in The Guardian to epithets of “ultra right-wing” in El Pais, Mexican actor Eduardo Verastegui’s recently launched independent bid for his country’s presidency has met with a clamour of vitriol.
Donald Trump, for his part, had already referred to the possibility of the actor becoming president of his nation while discussing the massively successful The Sound of Freedom film, of which Verastegui is the producer.
About three months ago, the actor released a video discussing Mexico’s upcoming 2024 presidential elections, in which he described the country as being at a crossroads between the same dirt road it has followed for decades and a highway cutting across that trodden path: “The dirt road is the same as always … [We are told] everything bad is the fault of the past; we are told that we’re almost there, but in reality we’re going backwards.”
In particular, he referred to economic deprivation and the problem of emigration, hinting at their relationship to that demonic enterprise confronted in The Sound of Freedom, namely human trafficking: “Mexicans continue to migrate to the United States in search of a dream that often, sadly, turns into a terrible nightmare.”
Crucially, Verastegui referred to the elites whose policy it is to devastate the economy, environment, and employment as the same elites now involved in undoing the family and traditional morality: “The same political class have not only destroyed the economy, the environment, and jobs, but now they also want to destroy the institution of the family, destroy our values, and pervert your children.”
This is precisely the sort of politically transversal rhetoric that should be deployed to disturb Left-Right categories.
He goes on:
Part of the value of Verastegui’s campaign is its foregrounding of human trafficking by Mexican criminals—apparently now a multi-billion-dollar business—in a country where cartels control vast swaths of land, recruit openly, and sometimes outperform the country’s military in direct confrontation.
In terms of his policies, a major plank is his opposition to abortion: “If every mother had a crystal womb, none would abort because they would see the miracle that they carry within.” He is also clearly opposed to the so-called pink tide state-socialism of Venezuela and other countries in the region and has spoken out in favour of President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, articulating a tough-on-crime stance, especially regarding the kidnapping of children. In this regard, it is worth highlighting that Verastegui is a signatory to Carta Madrid, along with Spain’s VOX and other political factions, supporting greater Ibero-American collaboration.
Opposing the disastrous statism of the Latin American Left does not necessarily translate into a Javier Milei-style libertarianism, however. Certainly, some of Verastegui’s call to take care of Mexico’s least fortunate would seem to translate into government provisions (from the video referred to above):
It does seem, however, that Verastegui has not formulated specific economic proposals. He would need to determine how the state is to invest and incentivise intelligently so as to develop high-value-added industries. In any case, a Bukele-style radical crackdown on crime and the military extermination of the cartels would already transform the Mexican economy by allowing business owners to have long-term confidence in their investments.
And as with Bukele, we find statements of faith and a patriotic call to action at the centre of Verastegui’s platform:
Righteous anger and moral clarity are massively motivating forces, and if enough people are mobilised, radical change can result. And from this universal intuition, a solid, particular identity can be cultivated. Indeed, the invocation of patriotic symbols and a national ethos is essential to beating back the sense of tribal belonging on which gangs and cartels partly rely in order to captivate the young.
Looking ahead, it is upon the unwavering determination to commit sufficient resources to dismantle the cartels and on the practical specificity of formulating a national industrial policy to expand the high-value-added stratum of the Mexican economy that the success of an eventual Verastegui presidency will depend.
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