Mexico under Covid-19: ‘feels like a war zone’

MEXICO, April 9—Under capitalism, workers’ health is important as long as they can be exploited. “Workers: you are on your own.” That is the bosses’ plan of action during this pandemic. Their actions will lead to many preventable deaths from a disease that they refuse to diagnose or from starvation because of the economic devastation. This capitalist system is unfit for the workers and doesn’t deserve to exist.
Abandoned healthcare system
After the economic crisis in the 80s, because of the depreciation of its currency due to the nationalization of the banks in 1982, the Mexican government, in order to deal with the crisis, acquired loans with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. One of these loans demanded the dismantling of the State’s health services, to implement a system of private health services. Since the 80s, there has been little money put into the healthcare system.
There are 250 abandoned public hospitals. In the last 36 years, deteriorating infrastructure and lack of pro-health policies have lead to an increase in diabetes, heart problems, cancer and more.
Covid-19 unmasks capitalist disregard
Like in other parts of the world, Covid-19 has unmasked the abandonment and inequality of healthcare. While public health care for the masses is nonexistent, healthcare is plenty for who can afford it. The places with the highest number of registered infections are Mexico city, the state of Mexico, Baja California, Sinaloa, Quintana Roo, Puebla and Jalisco.
The health authorities reported 3,181 registered cases of coronavirus and 174 deaths in the first weeks of April, but this is only a representative sample. For each case, there could be eight to 12 more people infected, which means 26,000 cases with Covid-19 (El Universal, 4/8).
Many hospitals are living in this emergency due to the chronic underfunding. In cities like Tijuana and Mexicali in Baja California, the rate of infection and deaths has grown immensely. Doctors are warning in the next weeks, with the increase in infections, the hospitals will collapse. Note that these two cities have the highest concentration of migrants waiting to cross the border.
Healthcare workers protest for protection
The protests of doctors and nurses throughout the country have not stopped. From Baja California to Chiapas, they are demanding protective equipment so they can treat patients. Scores have rallied in Mexico City.
The Mexican Association of Doctors and Residents of April said that 8 of 10 doctors do not have N95 masks, more than half did not have protective goggles and around 30 percent did not have acrylic masks (El Pais, 4/8). There is also the lack of trained staff to face this emergency. The collapse of hospitals and an increase in deaths was preventable.
With a precarious economy where 54 percent of the working population are in the informal sector and don’t have access to social security, the only alternative will be broken public health infrastructure (El Pais, 4/8).
In Mexico City, before the declaration of a national emergency, we had lost 64,000 jobs. and between March 13 and April 6, 346,800 jobs were lost. Also, many workers were forced to accept lower salaries in order to keep their jobs. Many workers who lost their jobs in the formal sector took jobs in supermarkets and delivery services.
AMLO serves big business
If we can see that the working class has been affected the most by this pandemic, so can the labor department. The business coordinating council has requested that the president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) cut their taxes and add money for their sector, so businesses don’t go under. AMLO refused, saying that his government prioritizes the needs of the poorest population, and a “rescue” of that magnitude will lead to more loans from the IMF. This liberal misleader’s lies knows no bounds. This is the same president that underplayed the pandemic in the first place.
But to be honest, AMLO’s strategy is to rely on the businesses that have always supported him: Carlos Slim from Grupo Carso; Alberto Bailleres, BAL; and Germán Larrea, Grupo México, who have gotten land and projects throughout the country (El Pais, 4/8).
PLP serves workers
The PLP here continues to function. We read and share DESAFIO with co-workers online while maintaining relationships with our base. Our strategy to combat this crisis, we must talk to our base, friends, family, co-workers, developing a communist conscience by sharing real information to create our own analysis. CHALLENGE is the tool that help us see experiences from workers around the world and know that we are all living the same experience; that we are one international working class; that the only way we can change the world is building a revolutionary movement to destroy capitalism and build a dictatorship of the working class.