Left’s Incompetence Caused Return of Right in Latin America, Warns Zapatista Gathering

ByEdgar H. Clemente

This article by Edgar H. Clemente originally appeared in the December 27, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Tapachula, Chiapas. The return of right-wing “fascist” governments to Latin American countries is largely due to the mistakes of progressive left-wing governments, specialists warned during their participation in the “Pyramids: History, Loves, and, of course, Heartbreaks” seminar, held in commemoration of the 32nd anniversary of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) uprising.

Carlos Aguirre Rojas, PhD in Economics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), explained that despite the rhetoric of progressive left-wing governments, from Hugo Chávez in Venezuela to Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico, including those of Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, and others, which proclaimed that the poor come first and provided scholarships, food baskets, and more, “none of them scratched the capitalist pyramid.”

“That capitalist pyramid continued to exist, it grew, it strengthened, and it remains as triumphant and prosperous as ever,” he stated during his presentation.

The specialist elaborated that even during administrations that promised to build 21st-century socialism, abuses against the working class, Indigenous people, femicides, and repression of protesters persist.

Aguirre Rojas warned that the Mexican government’s subservience to US President Donald Trump and the ongoing abuses against Indigenous people, the working class, and migrants could lead to the return of the right wing to power in Mexico.

Therefore, he argued that we must examine the social construction undertaken by the Zapatistas, which demonstrates the possibility of governments without hierarchies, politicians, or parties, where there are no irrational powers and which are organized from the ground up.

“To judge any social problem, what we have to do is look toward and from below, and look toward and from the left,” he paraphrased—as the EZLN has stated.

The return of right-wing “fascist” governments to Latin American countries is largely due to the mistakes of progressive left-wing governments, specialists warned during their participation in the “Pyramids of History, Loves, and, of course, Heartbreaks” seminar, held in commemoration of the 32nd anniversary of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) uprising. Photo: Moysés Zúñiga

Raúl Romero, a sociologist and contributor to La Jornada, addressed the use and abuse of history by the ruling classes to subjugate the dominated classes and “erase the history of peoples,” a practice even employed by “self-proclaimed leftists” throughout history.

Faced with the dominance of official history, “oppressed peoples fight to reclaim their history” because “when one ignores their history, they lose their identity, and a people without identity is easily dominated,” he explained.

Romero stated that the use of history by those in power has had repercussions such as massacres, atrocities, and genocides. Examples include Gaza, Ukraine, and Venezuela. He also mentioned the erasure of evidence to whitewash the image of the military, as in the Ayotzinapa case.

“They prevent us from accessing memory, truth, and justice,” he declared.

He exemplified that Donald Trump’s current narrative of claiming territorial domains—referring to the dispute with Venezuela—is intended to strengthen imperialism and “prepare for the great war to come.”

Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés closed the activities of the second day of the workshop—which began on Thursday, December 26, and concludes on Tuesday, December 30—stating that Indigenous peoples must continue organizing both in rural and urban areas, generating proposals for resistance and governance.

“We cling to the belief that only together, through peaceful political struggle, can we demonstrate to capitalism that we will defend ourselves and that we can do so even if they tell us we are uneducated,” he pointed out.