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United Mexican States
Official Name: United Mexican States
Ruling Party: Partido Revolucionario Institucionalnote
Ideology: Institutional Despotismnote
Mexico is one of many nations that went from a state of prosperity and rapid development to one of misery and anarchy. The nation's alignment with Japan during the sixties proved fatal to its economy, as it experienced three recessions over the span of three decades, the last one combining with Mexico's skyrocketing debt and crippling the nation for good. Since its fall from grace, Mexico has become a haven of corruption and crime; its people becoming increasingly desperate for a solution as politicians continue to abandon them. General Tropes
- Allohistorical Allusion:
- The PRI managed to stay in power here, even if its reputation was destroyed in the process. Unlike in our timeline, the PRI did not shift to technocratic neoliberalism right away and stuck to its populist foundations. The result was a very slow recovery for Mexico's economy and the PRI's continued hold on power, as the party did not face the splits of the late 80s that would prove catastrophic to its future.
- The Zapatista Uprising did not happen in this timeline, as the PRI didn't shift to neoliberalism as aggressively as it did in OTL, and its leaders were more willing to open up dialogue with social movements and left-wing groups. Instead, the EZLN slowly made themselves known to the public by waging a guerrilla war in Chiapas and using their political front, the FZLN,
to spread their Neozapatista ideology to the disillusioned masses.
- Banana Republic: Mexico is a party-state dictatorship disguised as a democracy, with a government that is extremely corrupt and has left the population in dire straits just to enrich themselves and stay in power.
- Broken Pedestal: The PRI entrenched itself in Mexican politics with the promise that it could guarantee continued stability and growth, something that resonated with the public back when Mexico was still thriving. But since the 1980s, the party has failed to deliver on both of these promises. Mexico's catastrophic downturn during the 1980s opened an entire pandoras' box worth of problems, from crime to economic stagnation. Worst of all, the Lost Decade revealed the extent of the PRI's depravity to the average Mexican, as the party became increasingly corrupt and used dirty tactics to stay in power.
- The Cartel: A classic example. Even in this timeline, Mexico is dominated by cartels that hold large swathes of the nation's territory and have local authorities in their back pockets, using Mexico's strategic position to export drugs to the United States and other countries in Latin America, competing with the Colombians over the drug trade. Unlike in OTL, Mexico's cartels are even more powerful, given the rampant corruption in the government and the PRI's own incompetence.
- Corrupt Politician: Mexican politicians, especially at the local and state level, have a tendency of being extremely corrupt. In many cases, they are controlled directly by the cartels, having been "purchased" through a mixture of bribes and intimidation.
- Crapsack World: Mexico is, to put it lightly, not doing very well. The government is shamefully corrupt and authoritarian, cartels practically run entire parts of the country while terrorizing innocent citizens, the economy hasn't really recovered from the Lost Decade, and people don't see any hope of change through the system.
- Drunk with Power: Virtually every PRI President since 1970 has promised to bring more transparency and openness to politics, only to give up on these promises after attaining power and not making any significant changes to the system.
- The Federation: Mexico is an OFN Partner at the start of MTNO's timeframe.
- Head-in-the-Sand Management: The federal government was completely dysfunctional during the 1980s, as incumbent Presidents responded poorly to the economic crisis and took a very conservative approach in tackling it. In some regions, local governments were shut down and public servants were laid off en masse as federal reserves began to dry up. This severely weakened Mexico's security forces and entire public apparatus, leading to a rapid rise in crime and the formation of guerrilla groups like the EZLN.
- People's Republic of Tyranny: While nominally a democracy with all the privileges that come with it, Mexico is anything but that. "Elections" in are always rigged to favor the PRI, and any politician who wants to make a difference soon finds that the only way to rise through politics is through the establishment. Even nominations are a sham - it's the President who gets the final say on who succeeds him.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Averted. While Mexico was once considered the "Perfect Dictatorship", this perception is long gone by now. People see the PRI for what it is and even the Americans have begun to pressure the party into giving up power amidst growing international backlash.
- You Can't Fight Fate: The PRI (and by extension, the PRI's Presidents) know that they cannot stay in power forever, and have done everything they can to avert their demise: from changing their party's stances to rigging election after election in their favor, even as the Opposition cries foul. However, it isn't possible for the PRI to stay in power forever, for they will inevitably end up losing the elections or being overthrown by force.
Presidents (2012-2018)
Elba Esther Gordillo
Role: President
Party: Partido Revolucionario Institucionalnote
Ideology: Institutional Despotismnote
Elba Esther Gordillo's career has been defined by one thing: corruption. Getting her humble beginnings as a trade unionist, she rapidly climbed up the ranks through sheer clientelism alone. Winning the 2006 nomination from then President Manuel Bartlett, Gordillo's Presidency has seen nothing but more and more scandals that have continued to taint the PRI's image and leave Mexico alienated from Latin America's new democratic order.- Breaking the Glass Ceiling: She is the first female President in Mexican history, and also the most corrupt one. She is often described along the lines of being the worst President in Mexico's history, as her rise to power saw nothing but pure thievery and mismanagement by her and her cronies.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Mexicans have given her the loving nickname of La Bruja Gordita, or "The Fat Witch".
- Hated by All: Not only do Mexicans hate her, but her own party hates her as well. Her allies think she isn't discreet enough and hurts the PRI with her endless corruption and PR blunders, while the handful of souls who are actually trying to pull the PRI to a better direction are constantly outraged by her actions in government.
- Sleazy Politician: While not the first in Mexican history, Esther Gordillo is still corrupt and generally incompetent. Instead of governing the country and actually trying to alleviate Mexico's suffering, Gordillo has used her time in office to embezzle millions of pesos and waste it all on "state visits" to the USA, racking up a significant number of gaffes and humilating moments that have put Mexico to shame in the eyes of the entire world.
Enrique Peña Nieto
Role: President (2012-2018)
Party: Partido Revolucionario Institucionalnote
Ideology: Institutional Despotismnote
A fresh face painted over a dying dictatorship, Enrique Peña Nieto won the PRI's Presidential nomination ahead of the 2012 elections and has surprised the establishment by being not only a somewhat popular figure, but also falling in line with the party's changing political atmosphere. While many hope his Presidency will bring at least some real change to Mexico, others have remained skeptical of his image.- Broken Pedestal: During the months leading up to the 2012 elections, Nieto managed to actually shore up some public support for the Presidency, which led him to winning the nomination and running as the first PRI candidate in over two decades to actually have some degree of popularity. However, his image rapidly falls apart throughout his Presidency as it becomes clear that Nieto is no better than the rest of the PRI.
- Corrupt Politician: Like his real counterpart, Nieto also engages in corruption during his time in the Presidency, albeit not as much as his predecessor.
- In Spite of a Nail: Although Mexico has had a completely different configuration of Presidents in this timeline and the PRI has preserved its dominance over Mexican politics, Nieto will still become President in the year where he became President in OTL.
- Internal Reformist: Nieto is a neoclassical liberal who wants to continue liberalizing Mexico's economy, further breaking from the party's traditional roots. If he bows to pressure from the OFN and the opposition, Nieto will also expand these reforms to Mexico's political system and allow opposition parties to run on equal grounds in the 2018 elections.
- Landslide Election: The opposition will boycott the 2012 elections to bring international attention to the lack of democratic freedoms in Mexico, allowing Nieto to win the elections in a landslide. Of course, the majority of these votes aren't even real ones.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: While Nieto is still a corrupt politician and not ideal in any considerable manner, he at makes up for it by trying to do some good for Mexico while in office. This stands in contrast to Gordillo and the other crooks in the PRI, who see politics as more of a business than anything else and are willing to send the country straight to hell just to make a quick buck.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Nieto is willing to open up Mexico's political system allow the opposition to claim their ground within it, further weakening the PRI's monopoly over power and possibly causing it to lose it completely.
- Superior Successor: Peña Nieto is clearly more capable than his predecessor, and his rise to the Presidency is welcomed with a huge sigh of relief. He goes on to prove this hypothesis right by actually trying to govern the country to an acceptable extent, revealing just how low the bar really is for Mexico.
