Morena Supporters Deliver Letter Demanding Party be “Democratized”

This article by Fernando Camacho Servín originally appeared in the July 24, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Mexico City. A group of Morena activists delivered a letter to the party’s headquarters this Thursday demanding that the institution be “democratized” and truly take into account the opinions of its members, given that the leaders of the state and municipal executive committees are currently seeking to remain in office, despite having already concluded their three-year terms.

They also denounced the lack of clarity regarding the composition of the membership registry, and that “PRIAN upstarts” have been allowed access to candidacies for elected positions, over individuals with a genuine leftist track record, which has generated “disenchantment and disillusionment” among the Morena rank and file.

The members of the so-called Voices of the People National Movement 4T explained in the letter—delivered on behalf of some 200 members of the cherry-coloured group—that “it is necessary to democratize this party, because its members continue to be denied the right to elect their own leadership.”

Attorney Jaime Hernández Ortiz, who identified himself as a founding member of Morena, denounced in an interview that one of the issues that most concerns him is that “they want to extend the leadership of all state executive committees for two more years, even though the three-year terms for which they were elected end in September.”

Likewise, he said, the proposal to renew all municipal executive committees and the presidencies of the state and national councils should be considered, because “we don’t want anyone to perpetuate themselves in power.”

On the other hand, he lamented that the promises of transparency and accountability within Morena have not been fulfilled, as the updated membership registry, which “theoretically” would consist of some 9 million people, is not available on its website. However, some people who founded the party have been “shorn off.”

Regarding the formation of a commission to evaluate membership, agreed upon at Morena’s National Council last Sunday, he lamented that “hundreds and thousands of people have already joined, and we don’t know who they are or what their resumes are, and the rank and file have a right to know who has joined.”

Hernández warned that Morena “has an internal democratic deficit. Rather than promoting an internal democratic path, what the party did at last week’s council was rally around each other, cheer certain figures, and close ranks, but the agreements they made are completely incomplete and deficient, or don’t respond to the needs of the rank and file.”

“What could happen if the party isn’t democratized?” he was asked.

“The disenchantment and disillusionment of the membership will continue, and we will see low turnout, because they only want us to garner votes, and we are not willing to do that. There is excessive discipline in Morena, because people are silent, afraid, and unwilling to speak. Self-censorship within the party is tremendous and fierce,” he emphasized.

For her part, María de los Ángeles Huerta del Río—who was a federal deputy for Morena from 2018 to 2021—emphasized the importance of renewing the party’s state committees so that in the 2027 elections, “the rank and file can be certain that there will be democratic processes” to elect candidates.

“There are many municipal presidents, governors, and local and federal representatives who come from the PRI and who were previously officials of the PRI or PAN, and who were selected as candidates for positions of popular representation. We, the rank and file, believe this is wrong because upstarts from outside have to demonstrate their long-standing loyalty” to Morena’s principles, she pointed out.

“What guarantees do we have that upstarts without principles won’t occupy the spaces that belong to Morena, to the rank and file? This party is full of prepared people, and we respectfully demand that we be taken into account,” she emphasized.

“We are founders, activists, defenders of the 4T (Trust for the Fourth Transformation), and we are happy to have overthrown the neoliberal regime, but that doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be a current of critical thinking, where we don’t say ‘shut up, don’t say anything, don’t criticize.’ We have to say what isn’t right, just as we say what is right,” Huerta insisted.