Politics: New Covid-19 confusion and conflict
The initial days of the return to the “new normal” (as the government has termed this latest stage in its management of the Covid-19 pandemic) have been marked by confusion and conflict. Until recently the National Palace was fine with letting state governments assume the risk of figuring out for themselves how to manage the health crisis in their respective states and tamp down on any local outbreaks. Some used that leeway to devise more assertive and effective responses in contrast to the lackadaisical approach of the federal government and AMLO loyalist governors. That difference may help to explain the extent to which infection and lethality rates have tended to be significantly lower in states led by opposition governors. The states governed by Morena are home to only 28% of Mexico’s population but account for 47% of confirmed infections.
When officials in the capital reversed course and pretended they would micromanage the reopening throughout the country, new tensions emerged, with discontent apparent even in the case of some state leaders belonging to the incumbent Morena party. The stress reflects not only the objective challenge posed by the stark differences in the extent of the pandemic rates from state to state, but also federal officials’ refusal to seriously engage with authorities at the state level about their specific policy design and implementation needs. If we add the federal government’s discretionary and not-terribly-transparent handling of official data we arrive at a better appreciation of the rebellious attitudes many governors have assumed. However, it is a complex problem that cannot be reduced to a subjugation/confrontation binary.
Most importantly, this disconnect poses obvious obstacles to an effective pandemic response, and continues to stoke resentments and political polarizations that under current circumstances could spin out of control. We witnessed this with the escalating war of words between federal officials and Jalisco State Governor Enrique Alfaro in the wake of violent confrontations in Guadalajara amid protests demanding justice for a construction worker who died in police custody shortly after allegedly being arrested just outside his home for not wearing a face mask.
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