Laura Itzel’s Liberatory Dreams

ByFrancisco Javier Guerrero

This editorial by Francisco Javier Guerrero originally appeared in the September 13, 2025 edition of La Jornada, 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 the Mexico Solidarity Project.

Long ago, in 1965, I had a gratifying conversation with the great artist and architect Juan O’Gorman, and let’s remember that this year marks the 120th anniversary of his birth. In that conversation, the famous painter taught me much about the progress of socialism and the advances of workers around the world. Almost 20 years later, I read with surprise and dismay an interview O’Gorman gave to a reporter for Claudia magazine, published by a national newspaper.

There, the famous artist displayed profound depression and, in fact, referred to the futility of his own work. That reading convinced me that Diego Rivera’s illustrious colleague was suicidal, and shortly afterward, I learned that he had taken his own life in 1982.

Juan had become aware of the impetuous advance of the most rapacious capitalism in the world and the increasing retreat of the organized left, as well as the collapse of so-called real socialism; he found himself engulfed in depression and lost his existential compass.

Heberto Castillo

In 1990, architect Laura Itzel Castillo was the Party of the Democratic Revolution’s candidate for the Assembly of Representatives of the Federal District. I was appointed her alternate by the same party. I knew of Laura’s existence because I had been a member of the now-defunct Mexican Workers’ Party and the Mexican Socialist Party. 

I knew about her architectural work at the Siglo XXI National Medical Center and the workers’ housing at the Metropolitan Autonomous University. Naturally, I was aware that she was the daughter of an excellent engineer and notable social activist, who, as is well known, went by the name of Heberto Castillo.

When I met Laura in the early 1990s, I was surprised that she wasn’t a stodgy, moth-eaten leftist like many people who claim to be of that political affiliation. Behind her appearance as a private university graduate, there lay a passionate and ardent political activist who fought tirelessly for the realization of her liberatory dreams, dreamlike elements in which the emancipation of workers becomes completely real. During her campaign for the Assembly of Representatives, I was the one who closely followed Laura’s progress in pursuit of her liberatory hopes.

Today, Laura belongs to the Morena party and is the President of the Senate. She knows that this political group is the result of a popular movement, which includes a large number of social activists, but also includes many “grasshoppers,” social climbers, and profiteers who could lead the Morena force to fall into the precipice of PRD-ization if Morena fails to become a fundamental driving force in organizing workers from below. This cannot be achieved simply through a set of social programs, since these are reformist mechanisms granted from the highest political powers. It is not simply a matter of recruiting millions of supporters, but rather ensuring that they carry out essential tasks outlined in a political program, which must be developed within the framework of a fully democratic internal system.

Reformist mechanisms like social programs are not enough to avoid Morena from falling into the precipice of PRD-ization

It is of utmost importance to add something essential: the Senate is the key institution regarding the Mexican government’s foreign policy.

In this context, support for the Palestinian people, who are currently suffering a genocide perpetrated by the Israeli government, is essential. If this continues, the entire global policy favoring the self-determination of peoples will collapse, opening the door to other genocides. Let us not forget that in the United States, there are white supremacists who not only demand the deportation of our compatriots and other migrant groups residing in that country, but even advocate for their physical elimination. We have ample evidence of this at the Permanent Seminar on Chicano and Border Studies, an academic department of the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

Laura knows very well that what is happening in the Gaza Strip is an atrocious crime, and I think she should call for a break in relations with the Netanyahu government.

Laura hasn’t lost her inner spark like Juan did, and I’m sure she’ll live with it throughout her life.

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