A Fourth Transformation: Is Mexico Ready for Social Justice?

Mexico is in the midst of great changes. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO for short), has pledged to end the corruption that has been endemic in the country and raise the living standards of the poor. These are just a couple of the more difficult aspects of what he calls The Fourth Transformation. With an activist state exercising a preferential option for the poor, he promises an end to the neoliberal era of the last 30 years. While he remains overwhelmingly popular, deep class divisions have opened up between supporters and opponents.

So how is AMLO doing? This will be the focus of a talk by Hector Ulloa. The first Mexican editor of Atención, Ulloa has a longstanding relationship with San Miguel de Allende. He studied ethnology at the National School of Anthropology and History in Mexico City and communications at Monterrey Tech before moving here in the mid-1990s. Following his stint at Atención, he was named Press Secretary to then SMA Mayor Jaime Fernández, where he got to know how Mexican politics work from the inside and the dire conditions in which most people live in San Miguel’s rural communities. After that, he was the academic director of the Instituto Allende. Hector moved to Toluca in the State of Mexico in 2011, where he established Iconofilia (iconofilia.hectorulloa.com) to practice and teach the art of digital photography.

Now he returns to San Miguel to share his insights about the current political situation in Mexico. What has AMLO been able to accomplish since his landslide victory a year ago? What are the challenges he faces today? Will he be able to realize his ambitious program? And if not, what would the consequences be? These are the times that will shape the future of Mexico.