The Mexican 2023/10/19 | Excelsior

Mexico is becoming de-Mexicanized.

He ate it with his bread.

Salvador Novo

The perception is that the humanist and bishop of Chiapas won the contest that defined the principles of the Laws of the Indies. However, serious omissions were incurred in its application. He started a disastrous tradition when those responsible for its application expressed: “It is observed, but it is not fulfilled.”

I do not hesitate to consider the Dominican friar as the pioneer in the study of Mexican, which has continued to this day.

Francisco Javier Clavijero, expelled from New Spain with his Jesuit brothers, writes from exile The ancient history of Mexico. In his dedication to the university it reads: “To the Mexican homeland.” It seems to me that, in anticipation of Independence, the first claim to our identity occurs. Since then, our people have been studied with great fervor. Our most distinguished intellectuals have contributed something in this matter.

In the balance of our personality and culture, we come out with a notable deficit. In contrast to the beginning, we have been described with a series of shortcomings and shortcomings to conclude with a diagnosis, to put it euphemistically, of people with limited aptitudes to be good citizens.

Our political class contributed even more to strengthening this idiosyncrasy. For example, when handing over the land as a consequence of the agrarian reform, he took it off the market and gave it to the petitioners, with the limitation (as the Gracchus brothers proposed in Rome in the 2nd century BC) of not being able to sell it. A kind of diminutio capitis. The biggest problem in the field today is the legal uncertainty in the ownership of so-called social property, which covers half of the national territory.

In our law there are many cases in which the active and passive subjects of the legal relationship are considered minors. The head of the Executive has referred to his supporters as “pets”, or, trying to flatter the poor who, thanks to social programs, are faithful in their electoral preferences.

I believe that with the transition to democracy (which I consider poorly achieved) and with the Free Trade Agreement, there has been a radical change. The Mexican has stopped being what he was. It would be necessary to update the studies carried out, especially those from the last century. There are already some flashes that will have to be continued.

There are advances and setbacks. An infinite number of issues force us to rethink the national agenda: the outbreak of social movements that go beyond the channels of the law to channel demand, the penetration of organized crime, the influence of a globalized world, migratory flows (in both aspects: those who those who leave and those who arrive), the irreversible economic imbrication with the United States, which has shown the competitive capacity of the Mexican and its enormous potential; political degradation, confirmed daily by the poverty of the debate and its ideological overload; sectarianism and intransigence that impact self-esteem and the paradigms of rulers...

The topic is heterogeneous, diverse and complex. It requires a multidisciplinary approach and an ethical attitude to carry out criticism and self-criticism that makes us return to dialogue and agreement. We require an updated and renewed Mexicanness. One thing seems substantial to me, it is unavoidable and requires a process of adaptation.

The times to come in North America, in our country and in the world will be crucial. I like this term: facts and ideas will intersect. There will be no room for neutrality.