Not By Bread Alone…

ByYuriria Iturriaga

This editorial by Yuriria Iturriaga originally appeared in the March 1, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper. The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect those of Mexico Solidarity Media or the Mexico Solidarity Project.

A sustainable project for Mexico and Central America would be to return to the Mesoamerican milpa system, a productive and self-sufficient system, as the foundation of their enhanced social and economic reproduction. This system has been thoroughly proven for centuries in the past and will continue to be indefinitely productive in the future, just as it was for millennia before the European invasion. This project and undertaking is feasible from the short term to the very long term. However, we know that this project, while seemingly simple, would have the overwhelming support of the vast majority of Mexican society. Yet, it would fail to generate any enthusiasm among the economically dominant class, whose power lies in those who have profited from the junk food and beverage market— commodities that would plummet if the traditional Mexican diet were to return to the markets.

However, President Claudia Sheinbaum’s social sensitivity, which must be acknowledged, is undeniable: despite her scientific background, she is also remarkably sensitive to the human condition, not just to competitive cognitive output. This fact might allow us to imagine, and even believe, that she could join collective actions initiated from the National Palace, committing us to a radical and virtuous shift to recover the image of the ejido, planted with cornfields, and to the communities that, as their name indicates, dismantle the pyramids of power at any level and demonstrate that they are three times more productive than small farmers and even less so than those who monopolize agricultural activity based on excessive mechanization.

Reviving the productive and self-sufficient Mesoamerican milpa system in Mexico and Central America would be widely supported by Mexican society, but rejected by the economically dominant class. Photo by Marcos Cortez

But, since we cannot join the ranks of those who just watch biting their nails (I hardly have any left) or the haughty laissez-faire types, we will continue to insist on the issue, especially since our last environment (our generation has few years left) has no other task today than to defend us and defend Mexico in the midst of a tangled world politics, whose purpose would be to decrease the number of inhabitants of the planet, leaving only those who would be trained for some purpose planned by the Empire, which is already preparing to expand its territory to other planets.

Because if that weren’t the case, someone tell me, why are these recent wars targeting children and women? Why isn’t the deterioration of the youngest members of society halted and eliminated with drugs when they haven’t already fallen victim to bullets or drone strikes? Well, because potential combatants are being eliminated without risking a drop of American or Zionist blood: instead, they are eliminating one to three entire generations without risk, thus ensuring that the invaders will face fewer opponents in the next two decades, during which—the hunters imagine—they themselves will be responsible for training them for their cause… Or rather: the cause of their masters.

Death to history and memory. Didn’t Herod do the same? There’s plenty of material to weave an apocalyptic present… And what on earth are we, us and everyone else, doing?