Generation Z has raised its voice in Mexico. Thousands of people took to the streets in different parts of the country this Saturday to demand a major fusion of social demands, summed up in concerns about insecurity and discontent with traditional parties and the government of Claudia Sheinbaum. The mobilization promoted by young people of that generation – including those born between 1997 and 2012 – brought people of all ages to the streets.
The claims began with seeking the revocation of Sheinbaum’s mandate, but the traumatic shooting death of former Uruapan mayor Carlos Manzo in early November once again put insecurity at the center of the table. In recent days the president presented a report in which she associated the movement with an international network campaign promoted by opponents and businessmen such as the tycoon Ricardo Salinas Pliego. During this Saturday the pirate flags One piecethe series of souls in which its protagonists confront corrupt governments and which generation Z has taken on as their own. But so did the ones with the face of Manzo and the Mexican ones. There has been no shortage of continuous protests against the government and the rest of the parties. EL PAÍS speaks to six of the young people who participated in the march held in Mexico City.
Alexander Sánchez (Toluca, 21 years old): “There is no safe place in Mexico, we are already tired”
You can barely see Alexander Sánchez’s eyes. He covers his face with a black bandana and a hat. He has family in Michoacán, which led him to participate in the protests that took place in Uruapan and Lázaro Cárdenas in the days following Manzo’s murder. He discovered this gear through social networks. He sighs when he says that one of his great concerns is the insecurity that the country experiences: “The truth is that there is no safe place in Mexico. I think we are already tired of it.” But he is on the march towards something bigger. “What we have been demanding all this time are our rights, which even a primary school child knows: we have the right to a dignified life, to a home, to a family, to a healthcare system that is free and accessible to all,” he explains.
Sánchez is one of the voices of partisan discontent. In the background, the protesters’ proclamations against Morena resonate, but their tiredness affects all parties: “All parties are the same, the only thing that changes is the colour. We have been with the same people for more than 80 years and we have no change. It seems that we are the ones who have to take the reins of all this.” He has heard reports that the movement has been inflated by online campaigns by opposition parties and businessmen like Salinas Pliego. “As always, there will be people who take advantage of this. They will try to put their spoon in the pie and want to use the situation to their advantage,” he says. He sees how other generations have joined the Z march, but he doesn’t lose sleep: “We have the same goal. Age, sex, religion don’t matter.”
Casandra Moctezuma (Mexico City, 28 years old): “I come for health. There are no longer any drugs in the institutions”
Casadora Moctezuma studies Nursing, a career she combines with her work in the same field. This is what led him to demonstrate this Saturday. He wears a white cap, from which hangs a chick with a hat and a pirate flag. “There are no more drugs, there are no more supplies in the institutes, in the IMSS,” he says. He says he also took to the streets because he is worried about the future of Mexico: “For what we will inherit from our country and for what we inherit from our government.” He laughs and says that the march seems like a different generation, but assures us that it is Generation Z who is raising their voices. “They didn’t pay me or anyone else to be here,” he points out.
Emmanuel Torres (State of Mexico, 21 years old): “We are tired of how the country is managed, of the insecurity”
It is the first march in which Emmanuel Torres, a young accounting student from Mexico, participates. He wears a black mask and wears a UNAM Pumas cap of the same color. His eyes shine as he remembers Manzo’s murder. “He was different. He was doing his job, and to do his job, they killed him. Why?!” cries. He says the people gathered under the Angel of Independence arrive in reproach mode: “We are already tired of how the country has been managed, of the insecurity that exists, of the treatment of people. The speech of those in power is not consistent with what the actions reflect.” He says they are tired and looking for a change in the administration.
He also found out about the call on social networks. He was interested in the young people of his generation being interested in the future of their country. “I talk to friends and colleagues and I notice a certain disinterest, they don’t pay the attention that this requires,” he complains. He is motivated by the fact that people of all ages joined the march, and believes that it is possible that there are people who are funded: “I think the majority are not. I tell you this myself and from what I have seen. There are people who come not for a political interest, but for a social interest. That may be so, but how do you prove it?”
Alexa Barrientos (Mexico City, 25 years old): “If Ricardo Salinas were to become president, I would definitely vote for him”
He is holding a sign: “I am not a bot“I’m Mexican.” He walks with his family. He covers his head with a hat and hangs the Mexican flag around his neck. “We came because we are fed up with the government. It does nothing, there is no healthcare, there is no medicine and the security is worse than ever,” he says forcefully. His biggest concern is insecurity. “You can no longer leave the house in peace, because you don’t know if you will return or not. I think security is worse than ever, the numbers speak for themselves,” he explains, and winks at former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who defended his official data: “Even if in the Mañanera they say the opposite, it’s a lie. But they have other data.”
He believes Manzo’s murder moved the Mexican people so much because it was “admirable” and represented “a hope”: “It’s been a long time since we had someone in the public eye of the government raising their voice for all of us, fighting insecurity, drug traffickers and criminals.” For Barrientos, Salinas Pliego represents a great alternative to the current system: “If he went to the presidency, I would definitely vote for him. He is a businessman, he is not interested in stealing money. He is like Bukele, like Trump – in his first six-year term, then he went on a rampage.”
Mauricio Díaz (Mexico City, 28 years old): “I don’t know, nor do I care who called the demonstration”
The communications specialist, born in 1997, is part of the “pot-bellied” generation Z. In front of the Angel of Independence, characterized by a straw hat and a red t-shirt like Luffy, the protagonist of the Japanese animation One pieceexplains the relationship of his generation’s movement to that souls: “It represents a fight against inequality, corruption and bad governments.” He explains that he participated in the protest that called for the revocation of the mandate: “We want them to see that the people do not support them, because they have already shown that they do not support the people.”
The assassination of Mayor Carlos Manzo, who he called “the Mexican Nayib Bukele,” motivated him to participate in the demonstration. “He was one of us, he didn’t need to take risks and he did it anyway for his people. They killed him in front of his children, using a minor”, he denounces. According to him, the official response confirms the distrust: “The president’s loyalty is not focused on clarifying the facts, but rather on seeing who orchestrates a march like this.” Finally, he rejects that the mobilization was financed by entrepreneurs or parties: “I don’t know, nor am I interested in knowing who called the demonstration. The frustration was not financed, it is real.”
Araceli (Mexico City, 25 years old): “The murder of Carlos Manzo was the straw that broke the camel’s back”
The young woman holds a banner in her hand: “Where was the revolutionary Claudia? President, break the pact with the drug traffickers!” While walking along the Paseo de la Reforma, she explains that she went to march because she was “tired of the insecurity, the violence and, above all, because there is no clear government strategy to fight it.” For her, the breaking point was the murder of the mayor of Uruapan: “The murder of Carlos Manzo was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” she says. “He was an independent politician who asked for help and didn’t get it, he was exposed to violence and in the end they murdered him. This, as Mexicans, asks us: where are the authorities?” Regarding the composition of the march, he claims that “the initiative was born from generation Z, but ultimately other generations are also affected by insecurity”. He makes it clear that he does not support Morena or any other party, although he sees an alternative in Somos México – a group that emerged from opposition movements such as Pink Tide and National Civic Front -, which is calling for registration by 2027.
