Interviews from Mexico – Mexico’s Midterm Elections

Interviews from Mexico, hosted by Laura Carlsen, goes straight to the source -- the men and women making news and making history in Mexico and throughout the region. Today’s program focuses on last week’s elections held amidst fears of violence, the participation of organized crime, and deep divisions in the society. What was learned from the elections? Did the political system survive the challenge? And in what ways is it still falling short of citizen expectations? These are some of the questions our host Laura Carlsen explores with sociologist Dr. Hector Diaz Polanco, a member of the Honesty and Justice Commission of the MORENA Party, and Historian Raquel Sosa, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Her guests discuss the impact of violence on the recent elections, the move to boycott the elections, the fact that political parties do not respond to the needs of the people, the failure of the government to respond to disappearances of the Ayotzinapa students, the lack of trust in the political system, and the higher-than- expected level of participation in the elections. The conversation winds up with comments on voting results, whether or not the vote was a mandate for the PRI, and the gains of MORENA. teleSUR