The Truth About the Protests in Mexico

A copycat protest funded and organized by billionaire far-right actors is not what the U.S. media would have you believe

Image from the protests in Mexico City, taken from social media and enlarged

Many in the U.S. recently saw photos and commentary on social media about protests in Mexico City that were allegedly about crime and corruption in Mexico. As is typical of U.S. corporate-owned news and its selective airing of demonstrations in other countries, not all is as it seems. Much of what happened in Mexico over the weekend stems from consistent attempts by wealthy elites and the U.S. to delegitimize President Claudia Shienbaum’s administration.

Earlier this year, Mexico adopted judicial reforms with the support of the lower house and two-thirds of the upper house voting in favor of the measure, which was later signed into law by Former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in 2024. Despite the majority of Mexican voters also supporting the move (66%), many outlets referred to the reforms as “divisive.” The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) denounced it as risking the “political capture” of the courts, as if they weren’t blatantly corrupt before, leading to the reforms.

The truth is, they were only divisive on the political far right.

Similarly, during the weekend’s protests, protesters voiced legitimate complaints, but as is typical with far-right movements, those were appropriated for more nefarious purposes. The presence of neo-Nazis, graffiti calling Sheinbaum a “Jewish Whore,” and accusations of her being a tool of “the Jews” because she’s Jewish, with questions like, “How does a Jewish woman get elected in Mexico, hmmm?” These are all typical and usually expressed by the most vile and hateful people in the world: racists and bigots.

Like in the United States, hateful movements are backed by billionaires as a means to an end without any concern for the harm they’re doing. Recently, Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled against several wealthy elites regarding 48.3 billion Mexican pesos ($2.6 billion US) in back taxes owed by corporations. Billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego’s Elektra is one of those companies.

Pliego, Chairman of the Board of Kimberly-Clark de México, Claudio X. Gonzalez, and former President Vicente Fox, were all named as backers of the weekend’s protests. Azteca Noticias, owned by TV Azteca, which was also ruled against by the Supreme Court, started the push when it published a report on October 3 linking Mexican youth protests to other protests seen in various countries in an attempt to co-opt them for their own benefit.

“According to Infodemia, 179 TikTok accounts and 359 Facebook communities synchronously promoted the call to action. At least 50 of the TikTok accounts were created between October and November 2025, and 28 Facebook pages active since October 26 have foreign administrators.”

Many left out this important context to promote the false narrative. POLITICO glossed over the far-right, billionaire benefactors and motivations behind the protests. The New York Times and many other outlets, including the Associated Press, also pushed biased portrayals. Bloomberg got much of the narrative right, but shifted to the chosen narrative, offered a dismissive style, and attempted to cast doubt on the reality, pushing the message of being related to other youth movements around the world.

Claudia Sheinbaum maintains an above 70% approval rating in Mexico and is one of the most popular leaders in Latin America and much of the world. Additionally, Mexico’s homicide rate is the lowest since 2016, alongside drops in all other violent crime. Cartel violence, which the far-right continues to baselessly assert Sheinbaum is associated with, remains a top concern for most Mexican voters. More than 154 tons of drugs were seized, and more than 20,000 people were arrested for “high-impact crimes” in Shienbaum’s first 7 months in office.

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I’m an independent investigative journalist who enjoys digging deeper into the stories you see on the news. Find my work at Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, Latino Rebels, Orinoco Tribune, and more. I’m also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a donation via Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App.