The Poor as Instruments, Not Allies

ByMiguel Darío Hidalgo

This editorial by Miguel Darío Hidalgo originally appeared in the December 202, 2025 issue of La Jornada de Oriente, the Puebla edition of Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Mexico Solidarity Media, or the Mexico Solidarity Project.

The scenarios of war and genocide in the world are becoming increasingly complex. The expansionist war tactics of the old and worn-out US imperialism are revealing an ever more cynical, cowardly, and dehumanized face. This is evident in the extermination of the Palestinian people and Lebanon, carried out by Israel as its armed wing in the Middle East—a phenomenon that has transcended the boundaries of reality, with more than 30,000 deaths among children and women in the last two years of armed conflict.

Trump and Netanyahu continue to inflict grave harm on humanity, despite international organizations such as the United Nations (UN), whose purpose is to intervene for world peace, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its warnings of malnutrition and hunger. Neocolonial atrocities persist.

In Latin America, the rise of the far right in some countries is plunging us into uncertainty and pushing us to the brink of conflicts designed to control territories. The focus on Venezuela, Colombia, and, of course, socialist Cuba, is based on unethical and immoral narratives that shamelessly justify constant harassment and strong intentions of military intervention. The Latin American context is being shaped by the imposition of neoliberal economic and political models; trade agreements that benefit the empire; and, just in case, military intervention in countries not aligned with Uncle Sam’s principles.

In our America, progressive governments, under the banner of the Bolivarian Revolution, and the country inspired by José Martí, find themselves in open confrontation with the United States government over geopolitical interests. In these Latin American countries, the strength to resist, re-exist, and persist comes from the organized people. There, each government builds alliances with the people; they do not use them for political manipulation.

In political contexts with economic scenarios favorable to national and international capital, it is crucial to maintain power and persuade the voting population through social programs. However, welfare programs with political aims are not the same as forging political alliances with the impoverished population created by voracious neoliberal capitalism. In other words, “The poor first” is a slogan used to sustain—and subjugate—the “poor” as political instruments. The narrative of the existence of poverty, while real, is used to justify presidential power. Furthermore, the survival of political power rests on an alliance that legitimizes itself with the people, replacing the logic of mere subsistence with the sense of an ally capable of confronting the right and far right, as exemplified by the marches organized by the so-called “Generation Z.”

Why does the Fourth Transformation act in favor of national and international capital? Because it is not leftist, as many political analysts, both mainstream and independent, claim—some to justify the existence of a government supposedly beholden to the people, and others, on the right, to demonize and exploit the government’s missteps and confuse the masses. The 4T government’s Plan México confirms this.

The seemingly compassionate political strategy of “The Poor First” perpetuates dependency through social programs very similar to those implemented by the PRIAN (PRI and PAN parties) during their neoliberal terms (Solidarity, Progresa, Prospera, Procampo, among others). Now, programs like 65 and Over, Welfare for Single Mothers, the Benito Juárez Universal Scholarship, Sembrando Vida (Sowing Life), and others have emerged.

The shortcomings of the Mexican government manifest themselves in the discontent of sectors of the population who do not see their labour, social, and political needs reflected in this center-democratic model of government, which leans toward the international right. In the case of unionized workers, peasant resistance groups, and state employees (also unionized), they face a rigid and dynamic structure shaped by political forces aligned with the global economic model (the hegemony of trade globalization and the ideology of global neoliberalism).

What alliances would a government consistent with the demands of exploited peoples forge? With the groups to whom it made promises during its political campaigns that were subsequently broken; such as the CNTE teachers’ union and the repeal of the education reform; with Indigenous communities and the suspension of mega-mining projects that dispossess them of their land; with arts and culture unions and the respect for their labour rights; with public universities and the restoration of the necessary budget for the academic and scientific activities the country requires; with students and the reappearance of the 43 kidnapped and disappeared students from the Ayotzinapa teachers’ college; with women searching for the disappeared; and with the many other cases that remain unpunished.

The political onslaught of the Fourth Transformation creates the conditions for the right and far right to regain political and social control. The other path, of left and popular governments, would seek (and create) the circumstances that resist neoliberalism.

A remote and improbable historical solution would be to first work with the poor, social and labor organizations, and the mothers searching for their missing children… and, only as a last resort, if forced, with the hegemonic financial capital. The “national” cry would be: “Don’t support me, make me your ally and let’s build another world.” But expecting a Fourth Transformation allied to popular struggles is just wishful thinking.

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