In a conversation between the President of Mexico and US President Donald Trump, they reached several agreements, among them, the imposition of tariffs is canceled, when it seemed that an economic and social “catastrophe” was approaching.
“It is important to always keep a cool head,” Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo has recommended in the face of the concerns of Mexicans and the questioning of the media. Of course, in the face of a right-wing political opposition that was already rubbing its hands together as it saw the U.S. president make good on his threats, such as imposing the much-mentioned 25 percent tariffs.
Observing the phenomenon as a first step, with a scientific eye, putting aside the political and propagandistic “noise”, without being frightened by the support to Washington of the owners of the technological and e-commerce giants. Calmly, Sheinbaum has analyzed each of the steps and speeches Trump has made regarding Mexico and in detail, she has openly explained in the morning of the People.
Gustavo Petro, President of Colombia, two weeks ago, in a first reaction said: “The U.S. cannot treat migrants as criminals. I disallow the entry of U.S. planes with Colombian migrants to our territory” and then: ‘How much of our press must have degraded, believing that dignity is a drunkenness’.
Faced with Trump’s fury, who ordered to impose 25 percent tariffs on Colombian products and that would be increased to 50 percent for the refusal to receive US flights, in addition to withdrawing visas from South American government officials, Gustavo Petro also responded, ordering the Ministry of Commerce, also to raise to 25 percent the products arriving from the United States.
It is clear that neither Claudia Sheinbaum is the “ice lady” as her electoral adversary labeled her, nor Gustavo Petro allows himself to be carried away only by momentary impulses.
The position of these two representatives of Latin American countries could not be otherwise, they come from far away, with social causes and close to the feelings of the youth and the popular classes, as well as Lula, Xiomara Castro and at the time Pepe Mujica, Rafael Correa and Evo Morales. Hugo Chávez, in spite of his military profile, was also close to the people.
We mentioned in a previous installment, three factors that will be a containment barrier for Donald Trump’s desires of unipolar and expansionist dominance. The first, that there are indicators of a probable implosion that can be observed in sporadic upheavals of discontent, the second, the resistance that Latin America will present now with this emergency situation and if it finally finds that element of regional identity that points to unification, so as not to continue being the backyard, and third, the geopolitical response of China, Russia and the BRICS+ bloc that do not need grandiloquence and act in a strategic and timely manner, as we saw a few days ago with the launching of the artificial intelligence (AI) chat DeepSeek by a Chinese company of the same name and with notable advantages over its North American OpenAI competitors; On the other hand, Russia has authorized Mexico to enter its currency market. And Europe timidly wants to distance itself from the US and we will see if it finally gets rid of its ties that have it bound by the aid received with the Marshal Plan for the reconstruction of the old continent after the Second World War.
What concerns us now is the second factor, Latin America and how it will face the onslaught of Trumpism. The USA has its military, propaganda and financial machinery that can be set in motion at any moment to continue with its agenda, even when Donald Trump retires. In addition, the Right, with political parties and organizations, has started what they call the “cultural battle” and with an “anti-woke” agenda, is trying to establish itself and gain social acceptance in many parts of the continent.
Leaving aside folklore, gastronomies, regional dances and vernacular or local vindications, it is observed that Latin America has the opportunity to see the culmination of its desires of cohesion that it has looked for since the independence era and that the pre-Hispanic cultural legacies and those of the heroes do not end up offering, nor do the religious institutions, because they show a great discredit; because the nefarious neoliberalism is disappearing and leaving institutions hollow, trade agreements do not help much, the Sao Paulo Forum has not been followed up or operational and CELAC, which is a mechanism for intergovernmental coordination and integration, cancelled its January 30 meeting due to lack of consensus.
Each country will have to implement its reindustrialization, take care of its domestic market and continue with trade agreements but, on the other hand, the juncture can be used to build scenarios that lead to a new direction in the relations of our region and to begin to close those open veins of Latin America that Galeano described.
The dictionary of New Humanism, provides information in the explanation of two entries (historical moment and humanist moment), which can help us to rescue and recognize those humanist moments of our cultures and what similarities we find in this time in which we live. This one-volume production was opportunely delivered by Mario Luis Rodriguez Cobos, better known as Silo, in 1996, at the request of the World Center for Humanist Studies.
Let’s go to the definitions:
The historical moment is that in which “different generations coexist and it differs from another when a generation of rupture appears that disputes the power to the generation that holds it”.
This is perfectly understandable and we are already familiar with this generational dynamic, which is somewhat mechanical.
As opposed to a humanist moment, which is the “historical situation in which a younger generation struggles with the generation in power, modifying the dominant anti-humanist scheme. This moment is often identified with the social revolution”.
Here we can recognize the projects of the beginning of the century that emerged in South America, such as the Bolivia of Evo Morales with the “Refoundation of the Country” or the “Citizen Revolution” of Rafael Correa in Ecuador, the administration of José Mujica in Uruguay, Lula Da Silva in Brazil in its first stage and of the Peronists Néstor and Cristina Kirchner in Argentina. In Mexico, this revolution seems to go a little further: a young generation is fighting to occupy a leading role and is not necessarily a party militant, although it is very informed and politicized.
Therefore, and continuing with this concept, “the humanist moment acquires full significance if it inaugurates a stage in which successive generations can adapt and deepen the founding proposals of this process”. Mexico is in this possibility.
He also cites something that happens frequently, that the generation that achieves the opening, fails in its attempt or, when it comes to power, cancels that humanist moment to produce a change of scheme, perhaps so as not to provoke much opposition.
We continue with the dictionary:
“Some have wanted to see in the social conscience of different cultures the appearance of humanist moments, represented by a person or a group of them that try to institutionalize it from the power (political, religious, cultural, etc.) and in an elitist and ‘top-down’ way.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador and currently President Claudia Sheinbaum, highlight the contributions of pre-Hispanic cultures but understand that in this globalized civilization interconnected by technology, it would not be possible to establish it “from above”, from the political power. In other times, the reactions of the displaced generation were furious and they set themselves the task of destroying all the changes made, this destruction even provoked an exodus of the population to other cities.
The section that concerns us points out examples of this:
“In pre-Columbian Mesoamerica by the figure of the Toltec ruler of the city of Tula, Topiltzin, who is credited with the establishment of the humanist attitude called ‘toltecayotl’. The same happened with the ruler of Chichen-Itza and founder of the city of Mayapan, called Kukulkan. Also with Netzahualcoyotl, in Texcoco, the opening of a new humanist moment is observed”.
“In pre-Columbian South America, the same tendency appears in the Inca Cuzi Yupanqui, who received the name of Pachacútec, ‘reformer’, and in Tupac Yupanqui. The cases multiply as the cultures become better known…”
So, in the different cultures of our continent, we can trace these historical contributions and in this effervescent political and economic environment that is presented to us, we have the condition and capacity to confront any power that tries to subdue it.
Thus, throughout our America, little by little we are finding ourselves on the road to give Humanism a chance.
