The Beginning of the End: Alejandro Barrera

The surrender of Sinaloa's ex-officials, the protection of Rocha Moya and a failed mega-march expose the ruling party's exhaustion — and the start of its decline.

Ever since the U.S. Department of Justice for the Southern District of New York requested the arrest and extradition of Sinaloa’s current governor on leave, Rubén Rocha Moya, along with government officials and former officials, the ruling party’s rhetoric has been one of belittling and defying the American authorities — demanding evidence before extradition proceedings can begin — while deepening polarization through a discourse in defense of national sovereignty, in an attempt to shield the narco-politicians who emerged from its own ranks.

As if by an irony of fate, the evidence presented itself in the United States. This past Friday, Sinaloa’s former finance secretary, Enrique Díaz Vega, and the state’s former security secretary, Gerardo Mérida, turned themselves in to U.S. authorities. It is worth noting that Gerardo Mérida filed an amparo — a legal injunction — to avoid extradition.

With the arrest of these former officials, the regime has been left disarmed — not only because of rhetoric that confuses sovereignty with the defense of drug traffickers, but because of the lack of evidence against Governor Rocha Moya and other members of the government. It is also beginning to run out of its greatest talking point: that of moral superiority.

It is worth recalling that Morena rose to power by criticizing the privileges, corruption and moral rot that pervade Mexico’s public life — a message it has kept up even while falling into contradictions, such as defending the luxuries and extravagance of former President López Obrador’s sons, or justifying the systematic violation of the law.

In order to draw attention away from this debacle, Morena chose to go after the governor of Chihuahua, Maru Campos, over the incident involving CIA agents taking part in an operation to dismantle a clandestine lab — agents who died in a highway accident.

For nearly a month — the same span the scandal of Sinaloa’s narco-governor has lasted — the president and her henchmen have devoted themselves to attacking her in the media, even going so far as to organize a mega-march to “defend sovereignty” and demand the governor’s removal.

Between bussed-in crowds from other states who had no idea what they were attending, the blocking of local businesses to keep them from passing, the cynical admission of having paid attendees, and a turnout of 2,000 people against the 200,000 expected, the demonstration was the Fourth Transformation’s first failure at packing and inflating marches in its own favor.

We are unmistakably watching the beginning of the end of Morena and the movement it represents — brought on by its own vices and by its leaders’ frenzy for power, something that was foreseeable, though not this soon. So much so that the political opposition remains paralyzed and leaderless, leaving citizens with no recourse other than self-defense, made up of cells that, for now, are not yet brought together.