Mexico
Immigrants shut down Matamoros-Brownsville border crossing in protest over US-Mexico asylum ban
By Eric London, 11 October 2019
The protest is a powerful indication of growing opposition among the estimated 40,000 immigrants being held in inhumane conditions in Northern Mexico.
Mexico: 100,000 university workers strike as López Obrador’s vows deeper austerity
By Andrea Lobo, 10 October 2019
The bankruptcy of universities and the response by López Obrador exposes the anti-working class character of the Morena administration.
GM shuts down Silao complex in Mexico as workers’ rebellion brews
By Andrea Lobo, 4 October 2019
The decision to close Silao was likely aimed at preempting a simmering rebellion by workers who are making appeals for a joint struggle with US strikers.
GM Mexico fires another Silao worker backing US strike and shuts down the plant
By Andrea Lobo, 2 October 2019
The firings as well as the shutdown at the GM Silao Complex further demonstrate the common fate of workers across the border and the international character of the working class.
US and Mexican autoworkers call for united struggle against GM and auto companies
By Tom Hall, 28 September 2019
More than 200 autoworkers and other sections of the working class discussed an international perspective to win the General Motors strike in a call-in meeting Thursday hosted by the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter.
“We’re all fighting for the same thing!” Striking US GM workers defend fired Mexican workers
By our reporters, 26 September 2019
Striking GM workers in Detroit and Flint denounced the firing of GM workers in Mexico for refusing to accept more work during the US strike.
GM fires another Mexican worker for aiding strike in the US
By Andrea Lobo, 26 September 2019
Autoworkers across the US sent statements of support to Mexican GM workers facing retribution for advocating a united fight against the global corporation.
GM fires Mexican workers for aiding US strikers and calling for cross-border fight against automaker
By the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter, 23 September 2019
The victimization exposes the weak underbelly of the transnational corporations, which fear that workers will defy the nationalist unions and unite internationally to defend jobs and living standards.
“We will not submit, and we will not bow out.”
Hundreds of autoworkers discuss GM strike and global strategy in online meeting
By Marcus Day and Evan Blake, 21 September 2019
Over 300 workers from the US, Mexico, Canada and other countries participated in the second WSWS Autoworker Newsletter online forum, with many expressing their desire to expand the GM strike.
“We will not accept an increase in production”
GM workers in Mexico hold assembly to discuss strike in the United States
By our reporters, 18 September 2019
A worker at the GM plant in Silao appealed to US workers: “Keep us informed and we'll inform people here to decide what we'll do. There are people supporting us and we just have to keep fighting. If more people support us, we'll move forward.”
GM fires and harasses Mexican workers to speed up production
By Andrea Lobo, 10 September 2019
GM is trying to switch production to Silao to continue its massive extraction of profits in the event of a strike in the US, but Mexican autoworkers are expressing strong opposition to being further super-exploited, and much less being used as scab labor.
Mexican president used spy agency to monitor immigrant caravans
By Alex González, 5 September 2019
After claiming that Mexico’s spy agency would be dismantled and immigrants protected, AMLO has escalated attacks on democratic rights.
“This is a prison city”
Immigrants hold four days of protest outside Mexican detention center
By Alex González, 26 August 2019
Two hundred protesters staged sit-ins and blocked vans with migrants bound for deportation.
Trump administration refuses to vaccinate migrants in detention centers
By Alex González, 21 August 2019
The decision to run filthy and disease-ridden detention camps is part of a definite strategy by Trump’s fascistic advisers.
Layoffs in global auto industry hit Mexico, India, China and the US
By Jerry White, 7 August 2019
Global automakers are destroying hundreds of thousands of jobs as sales fall and a brutal competition unfolds to dominate the market for electric vehicles and other new technologies.
In wake of El Paso slaughter, Mexican government continues to do Trump’s bidding
By Don Knowland, 7 August 2019
The Mexican president said on Sunday, “We don’t want to interfere in the affairs of other countries; we’re going to continue sticking to the principles of non-intervention.”
As Mexican economy stagnates, ruling Morena party imposes state law to suppress social protests
By Don Knowland, 6 August 2019
The government of Mexican President Lopez Obrador is increasingly turning to authoritarian measures.
French populist Mélenchon gives advice to AMLO in Mexico amid growing social unrest
By Andrea Lobo, 2 August 2019
While supporting his right-wing policies and crackdown on immigrants, Mélenchon advised AMLO on creating new nationalist traps to divert the movement of the working class.
Mexico deploys National Guard, detains immigrants at record levels
By Alex González, 4 July 2019
Mexico launched its 70,000-member National Guard as immigrant detentions rose by a third since May.
Striking Coca-Cola workers rebel against union in Mexico City
By Andrea Lobo, 27 June 2019
The strike is yet another sign that the working class is moving into struggle against the world’s most powerful companies, independently of the unions.
Mexican government cracks down on immigrants to consummate deal with Trump
By Alex González, 18 June 2019
The stepped-up persecution claimed the life of a 12-year-old girl from El Salvador on Friday.
US to jail 1,400 immigrant children at WWII Japanese internment site
By Eric London, 13 June 2019
The government is reviving the worst crimes in US history as official state policy.
Democrats, Mexican president collaborate with Trump’s anti-immigrant crackdown
By Eric London, 10 June 2019
The US also announced it will house 3,000 to 4,000 immigrant children at army base internment camps.
Mexico to deploy 6,000 troops to southern border as Trump postpones tariffs
By Alex González, 8 June 2019
No faction of the American or Mexican ruling class offers any genuine opposition to the assault on immigrants and democratic rights.
Six months of AMLO: Jacobin defends the Mexican president
By Alex González, 8 June 2019
Jacobin claims that Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s “progressive agenda” is being restrained by opposition parties and finance capital.
Available in English and Spanish
New pamphlet on Matamoros wildcat strikes
6 June 2019
Mehring Books is pleased to announce the publication of a new pamphlet, The 2019 workers’ rebellion in Matamoros, Mexico by WSWS writer Andrea Lobo.
Mexican president vows to curb migration after Trump’s tariff threat
By Andrea Lobo, 4 June 2019
The fear of social explosions against inequality is driving President López Obrador and the Mexican bourgeoisie to prostrate themselves before US imperialism.
Matamoros workers run for office: The political questions
By Alex González and Andrea Lobo, 1 June 2019
The “20/32” election campaign was deliberately orchestrated to channel workers’ collective anger into the safe and acceptable channels of electoral politics.
Police and military crack down on spontaneous taxi strike in Matamoros, Mexico
By Eric London, 25 May 2019
Hundreds of taxi drivers blocked the international border crossing and several major thoroughfares in response to government efforts to decommission cabs.
After Matamoros strikes, Mexican government enacts bill for “democratic unions”
By Alex González, 7 May 2019
The bill is a response to the resurgence of the class struggle and a demand for the passage of the USMCA.
Documentary about the brutal 2014 disappearance of teachers’ college students
The 43: A state massacre and cover-up in Mexico
By Rafael Azul and Don Knowland, 4 May 2019
The documentary on Netflix exposes the role of the military in the 2014 disappearance of 43 rural teaching students and the government’s cover-up of this atrocity.
Mexican police detain hundreds of Central American migrants during mass raid
By Alex González, 26 April 2019
The arrest of over 370 migrants, the largest in recent years, shows that the Mexican ruling class is subserviently implementing the Trump administration’s fascistic attacks on immigrants.
New trade union bureaucracies or rank-and-file workers’ power?
Lessons of the Matamoros workers’ rebellion: Part five
By Andrea Lobo, 17 April 2019
This is the fifth and concluding part of a series of articles on the wave of strikes carried out by maquiladora workers in the Mexican border town of Matamoros. The lessons of this struggle are essential for not only Mexican workers, but for workers internationally.
Mexican musician, writer Armando Vega Gil commits suicide after #MeToo allegation
By David Walsh, 15 April 2019
Vega Gil, born in Mexico City, was a bassist and a co-founder of Botellita de Jerez, one of the more influential Mexican rock ’n’ roll bands. He was also the author of novels, short stories and volumes of poetry.
New trade union bureaucracies or rank-and-file workers’ power?
Lessons of the Matamoros workers’ rebellion: Part four
By Andrea Lobo, 11 April 2019
The US and European ruling classes are promoting self-proclaimed “independent” unions in Mexico partnered, financed and in some instances created by the American AFL-CIO labor federation.
Mexico’s López Obrador attacks teachers through right-wing education reform
By Alex González, 6 April 2019
AMLO and Morena have adopted the education legislation of his predecessor, while the CNTE union works to isolate teachers’ struggles.
The threat to close the US-Mexico border
By Bill Van Auken, 3 April 2019
The sealing of borders, the creation of concentration camps for refugees and the whipping up of xenophobic and fascist forces are all part of an international turn to reaction that echoes the darkest days of the 1930s.
New trade union bureaucracies or rank-and-file workers’ power?
Lessons of the Matamoros workers’ rebellion: Part three
By Andrea Lobo, 3 April 2019
As the wildcat strikes began to spread, the government, companies and unions scrambled to suppress each new struggle and prevent them from uniting and spreading internationally.
As Mexican president calls Mussolini a “great leader”
Companies and police violently attack remaining strikes in Matamoros
By Andrea Lobo, 2 April 2019
The Mexican ruling class and its imperialist patrons in the US and Europe are responding to the largest strike in North America in the last three decades by turning sharply toward authoritarian forms of rule and militarized counterrevolution.
New trade union bureaucracies or rank-and-file workers’ power?
Lessons of the Matamoros workers’ rebellion: Part two
By Andrea Lobo, 29 March 2019
When workers in Matamoros learned their raise and bonus was being stolen and formed rank-and-file committees to launch a wave of wildcat strikes, Susana Prieto worked to isolate the struggle and chain workers to the unions and to illusions in the ruling party.
Pentagon announces transfer of $1 billion for border wall construction
By Meenakshi Jagadeesan, 28 March 2019
The Pentagon announcement came as Congress failed to override Trump’s veto supporting his declaration of a national emergency on the US-Mexico border.
New trade union bureaucracies or rank-and-file workers’ power?
Lessons of the Matamoros workers’ rebellion: Part one
By Andrea Lobo, 25 March 2019
The ongoing strike wave on the US-Mexico border provides critical lessons for the incipient movement of the working class on an international scale.
Mexican government intervenes to end Coca-Cola strike in Matamoros
By Alex González, 23 March 2019
The AMLO administration’s action openly shows that the local, state, federal and court systems are jointly operating on behalf of the corporations and against the workers.
For joint action of US, Canadian and Mexican workers
Defend the Matamoros workers!
By WSWS Autoworker Newsletter, 12 March 2019
Terrified that wildcat strikes will spread throughout factories in Mexico and into the United States and Canada, the US and other foreign-based corporations and the local ruling elites are responding with mass firings, plant closings and other reprisals.
Amid national strike wave
Mexican ruling class responds to Matamoros: Militarization and alignment with Trump’s attacks on immigrants
By Alex González, 6 March 2019
The AMLO administration has prevented immigrants from reaching the border and is forcefully detaining them, creating the framework for escalating attacks on the entire working class.
“The union abandoned us and allowed for management to blacklist us”
US, Canadian and Mexican workers denounce mass firings of Matamoros strikers
By our reporters, 2 March 2019
Mexican auto parts and other “maquiladora” corporations are firing workers in retaliation for launching a wave of wildcat strikes that brought the Mexican border town of Matamoros to a standstill.
Mexico: Metalworkers, universities join strike wave as 90,000 Walmart workers threaten to walk out
By Andrea Lobo, 28 February 2019
As the strike movement builds, the trade unions are scrambling to co-opt, isolate and shut down each rank-and-file struggle.
Ford production crippled by Mexican workers’ strike
By Jerry White, 27 February 2019
After concealing news about the strike in Mexico for six weeks, the Detroit Free Press acknowledged that it has forced Ford to halt production due to a lack of steering wheels.
Oppose the attacks by company thugs against Mexican worker Luis Daniel Prieto!
By our reporters, 27 February 2019
US and Canadian workers must defend their Mexican class allies from threats by thugs.
State and corporate attacks escalate against workers in Matamoros, Mexico
By Andrea Lobo, 22 February 2019
The World Socialist Web Site has received new reports of assaults against workers in Mexico who are voicing opposition to the right-wing offensive of the government and companies against social and democratic rights.
GM worker in Mexico speaks in support of fight against plant closures in the US and Canada
By our reporters, 19 February 2019
The WSWS Autoworker Newsletter interviewed a GM autoworker in Silao, Mexico, about conditions at the plant, the struggle by workers in Matamoros, rank-and-file committees and a joint struggle of autoworkers across North America and beyond.
Union thugs assault striking Matamoros workers
By Andrea Lobo, 16 February 2019
Threats by management, police and the unions are increasingly frequent across the city.
Mexican President López Obrador cracks down on Central American migrants
By Don Knowland, 14 February 2019
Central American immigrants detained in Piedras Negras, Coahuila on the Texas border are rebelling against detention at the hands of López Obrador.
Democrats capitulate to Trump, agree to wall funding
By Eric London, 12 February 2019
As Trump was delivering another fascistic rant in the border city of El Paso, Texas, Democrats were agreeing to advance his anti-immigrant crackdown.
Mexican union apparatus, government scramble to suppress growing strike across Mexico
By Andrea Lobo, 12 February 2019
Inspired by the wave of wildcat strikes by maquiladora workers in Matamoros, Mexico, militancy and opposition to the trade unions and the AMLO administration are growing.
Wave of walkouts in Matamoros, Mexico builds toward general strike
By Alex González, 7 February 2019
An additional 15,000 workers have gone on strike across multiple industries, threatening to bring the city to a standstill.
Mexican auto parts workers support February 9 demonstration in Detroit
By Andrea Lobo and Eric London, 6 February 2019
“I support the call for a general strike in Canada, the US and Mexico. We must be united. There are no borders. We stand firm here.”
Matamoros strike grows as Mexican ruling class warns of national strike wave
By Eric London and Andrea Lobo, 2 February 2019
The leading financial paper wrote: “As easy as one two three, the labor stability which we have maintained for decades, with hundreds of thousands of successful contract negotiations, is broken. And it won’t stop there.”
The economics of the North American auto industry
How global auto parts corporations profit by exploiting Mexican workers
By Shannon Jones, 2 February 2019
With 345 Tier 1 auto parts suppliers operating in Mexico, the country is an enormous source of enrichment for transnational corporations.
February 9 demonstration against auto plant closures in Detroit
The program and strategy to defend jobs
By Joseph Kishore, 1 February 2019
The demonstration, called by the WSWS and the Steering Committee of the Coalition of Rank-and-File Committees, is the first organized expression of rank-and-file opposition to GM’s jobs massacre.
Worker in Mexico fired, beaten, censored, and falsely charged for protesting corporate abuses
By Andrea Lobo and Alex González, 1 February 2019
Inspired by the courageous stand taken by Matamoros workers, Luis Daniel decided to share his story with the WSWS to encourage workers internationally.
Matamoros, Mexico maquiladora workers threatened with mass plant closures
By Alex González, 31 January 2019
The strike of auto parts and electrical workers in Matamoros, Mexico has powerfully demonstrated the international character of the class struggle.
Mexican government prepares “legal” pretext for end of Matamoros strike
By Alex González, 29 January 2019
Threats of a federal operation mean the government is preparing to both bully workers into protracted legal negotiations—which will inevitably end in a result beneficial to the companies—and carry out a violent police repression of the strike.
Matamoros strike at a crossroads as Mexican government orders crackdown
By Andrea Lobo, 28 January 2019
The López Obrador administration sent orders Saturday through Morena Senator Ricardo Monreal Àvila demanding the Tamaulipas state police attack workers and re-open the gates of the factories.
Strikes by Hungarian Audi workers, Mexican auto parts workers
The global struggle of autoworkers
By Jerry White, 28 January 2019
Autoworkers are striving to unite their struggles against the attack on jobs and living standards by GM, Ford, VW and other global corporations.
As strike expands in the maquiladoras
Mexican auto parts workers explain how they formed strike committees
By Andrea Lobo, 26 January 2019
”I think that, indeed, the independent committees are much more useful than the union because we asked ourselves ‘this is the proposal, what do we do?’—something that the union never did.”
Matamoros, Mexico strike becomes “legal” as ruling class fears contagion
By Alex González, 25 January 2019
Conditions are ripe for the Matamoros strike to spread throughout the US-Mexico border region.
Matamoros strike set to expand as ruling class boosts unions
By Eric London and Andrea Lobo, 24 January 2019
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has intervened on behalf of the corporations to call on the unions take “control” of the situation.
The Matamoros auto strike and internet censorship
By Andre Damon, 24 January 2019
The ongoing strike by over 70,000 workers in Matamoros, Mexico has been met with a media blackout by the major print and broadcast outlets.
Amid growing calls by workers for an international struggle
Companies, union appeal for federal intervention against strike in Matamoros
By our reporters, 23 January 2019
The ruling class is desperate to prevent millions of workers in the rest of Mexico and internationally from adopting the example of Matamoros.
Ninety three dead and dozens in critical condition from Mexico pipeline explosion
By Andrea Lobo, 23 January 2019
The tragedy is a direct result of the reactionary and militaristic policies of the López Obrador government to accelerate the privatization of the country’s oil.
Thousands of striking Matamoros, Mexico workers march to border to appeal to US workers
By Alex González, 22 January 2019
Workers gathered at the border crossing between Matamoros, Mexico and Brownsville, Texas to appeal for international support.
Matamoros strike threatens to shut down North American auto industry
By Eric London, 21 January 2019
The corporate media are blacking out coverage of the largest strike in North America in the last two decades.
Workers call for election of committees
Auto companies scared, parts run low across North America as strike grows in Matamoros, Mexico
By Andrea Lobo and Alex González, 19 January 2019
The struggle by Maquiladora workers has reached a crucial point in which workers must take the struggle away from the trade unions, and appeal to their class brothers and sisters across North America and beyond.
Amid media blackout, workers expand strike
Matamoros, Mexico strike of over 70,000 workers enters sixth day
By Alex González and Andrea Lobo, 18 January 2019
The strike at Matamoros is being blacked out by the corporate media because the ruling class is terrified of the prospect of workers uniting internationally in the fight for social equality.
“Those workers are setting an example, they are starting a movement”
Canadian and US autoworkers voice support for striking maquiladora workers in Mexico
By Shannon Jones, 18 January 2019
The striking workers in Mexico include many employed by US and global auto parts suppliers who rely on their labor to fuel their massive profits.
Mexican strikers show working class answer to capitalist reaction at US-Mexico border
By Eric London, 17 January 2019
At the US-Mexico border, the two chief social classes under capitalism—the capitalist class and the working class—are demonstrating the two alternatives for the future of mankind.
Mass strike enters fifth day in Matamoros, Mexico
Thousands gather at mass meeting as maquiladora strike grows
By our reporters, 17 January 2019
Despite threats of mass firings and plant closures by the employers, over 70,000 striking workers are advancing their fight against social inequality.
Mexican, US workers exchange statements of support as Matamoros strike grows
By our reporters, 16 January 2019
The massive citywide strike is expanding today in Matamoros, Mexico as the union and employers failed to meet the workers’ demands.
Rebellion in Matamoros, Mexico
70,000 workers strike at US-Mexico border sweatshops
By Alex González and Eric London, 15 January 2019
Workers are waging a struggle against the pro-company trade union and the brutal “maquiladora” sweatshops across the US-Mexico border.
López Obrador proposes austerity budget, creates free economic zone at the border
By Alex González, 3 January 2019
The funding package is characterized by a massive increase in military spending and negligible funds for social programs.
Nissan to lay off 1,000 Mexican autoworkers
By Alex González, 24 December 2018
The layoffs will have a devastating effect for tens of thousands of autoworkers and are part of a larger restructuring of the auto industry.
Central American asylum seekers forced to wait for months at US-Mexico border
By Norisa Diaz, 19 December 2018
WSWS reporters spoke with a number of Honduran immigrants in Tijuana who have fled poverty, extortion, and death threats from gangs in their home country.
Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma: Art and struggle
By Rafael Azul, 17 December 2018
Roma is a sensitive portrait of a family breaking apart in the broader context of a social crisis. It follows Cleo, a Mixtec Indian, as she performs her daily chores, which include caring for the family’s four children.
Mexico’s new president to grant amnesty to those who profited from corruption
By Don Knowland, 6 December 2018
López Obrador has backtracked on one of his principal campaign pledges.
López Obrador’s rise in Mexico sets stage for explosive class struggles
By Eric London, 4 December 2018
AMLO’s proposed policies, packaged in pseudo-populist verbiage, make clear that the aspirations of his voters will soon be shattered.
San Diego workers and youth speak out in defense of refugees at US-Mexico border
By our reporters, 4 December 2018
American and Mexican citizens alike defended the migrant caravan and condemned the tear gas fired by the Border Patrol.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador inaugurated as new president of Mexico
By Alex González and Don Knowland, 3 December 2018
Popular illusions in promises by the new president to end decades of poverty and oppression in Mexico will crash against his limited, bourgeois program.
Central American migrants facing horror on US border
By Bill Van Auken, 1 December 2018
The deliberate confinement of thousands of refugees—men, women and children—under desperate conditions is a crime against humanity.
Mexico’s Lopez Obrador embraces military on eve of presidential inauguration
By Don Knowland, 1 December 2018
The policies that have been articulated by the incoming president and his team reveal what will be a thoroughly right-wing bourgeois administration.
The military-police assault at San Ysidro
Defend immigrant workers from state violence!
By Eric London, 27 November 2018
The Socialist Equality Party (US) condemns the US government’s military operation at the US-Mexico border Sunday as a horrific crime against humanity.
US and Mexican officials stoke up nationalist backlash against immigrants
By Norisa Diaz, 22 November 2018
Following an anti-caravan demonstration on Sunday in Tijuana, Border Patrol closed down the San Ysidro Port of Entry Monday morning, leaving tens of thousands in panic, in an effort to stoke up anger and confusion.
As Mexican-president elect prepares to take office
López Obrador backtracks campaign promises, creates new National Guard
By Alex González, 22 November 2018
His administration will accelerate the militarization of the country and intensify the ties between the government and the financial elite.
Amidst talk of US auto industry consolidation UAW pushes economic nationalism ahead of 2019 contracts
By Shannon Jones, 19 November 2018
The United Auto Workers has responded to the threat to jobs by aligning itself ever more closely with the Trump administration's America First nationalism and protectionism.
Migrant caravan reaches US border as Latin American governments discuss austerity and repression
By Andrea Lobo, 17 November 2018
As the first caravan of mostly Honduran migrants begins to arrive at the US border, local elites met at the Ibero-American Summit, vowing deeper social austerity and militarized repression.
Asylum ban: Trump eliminates right to asylum for immigrants crossing without documentation
By Eric London, 9 November 2018
The decision is the most significant restriction on immigration in decades. It will cause hundreds of thousands of deportations, and send countless immigrants to their deaths.
After new Mexico City airport is canceled, López Obrador rushes to reassure finance capital
By Alex González, 8 November 2018
The incoming AMLO administration made clear that all investments would be secured, while doing nothing to address the capital’s water crisis.
Mexican police shoot and kill 26-year-old immigrant as repression intensifies along Mexico-Guatemala border
By Andrea Lobo, 30 October 2018
Despite the US threats and the militarized operations by the Guatemalan and Mexican governments, thousands of Central American migrants continue to leave.
“Migrants are not criminals, we are international workers!”
The migrant caravan and the fight to unite the international working class
By Eric London, 23 October 2018
The caravan is proving that the division of the world into nation states under capitalism is incompatible with the aspirations and material needs of billions of workers.
Central American caravan reaches Mexico chanting “We are international workers!”
By Andrea Lobo, 22 October 2018
The caravan is becoming a symbol of working class internationalism and is being denounced by every government in North and Central America.
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