The Perfect Dictatorship: Mexico's Media, Politics, and Cartels

Introduction

What is Mexico? How has it come to be in the state that it is today? The film The Perfect Dictatorship represents a Mexico whose leaders in both politics and media are so thoroughly corrupt, and so thoroughly in league with one another, that no honest person has a realistic chance of rising to a position of power. Has Mexico always been this way? The 21st century is unique in its own ways because of the power and influence of media and the role that crime plays in the lives of the rich and famous. In prior centuries, Mexico faced different issues and different struggles — and if the same kind of corruption existed, it manifested in different ways. One thing that is clear is that the struggle of Mexicans was more genuine in the past than it is today (Hamnett, 2019).

The Mexican Revolution of the early 20th century was a time when the Cristeros fought fiercely against a revolutionary government that aimed to reshape Mexico (Jaffary et al., 2003). Today, such a fight is not found because Mexico is beyond being merely subdued: it is veritably enslaved by upper-class figures who work hand in glove with the media empire, sustained all the while by the criminal class — of which they are all a part. It is a Mexico caught in a bitter, twisted death spiral. The Perfect Dictatorship illuminates that spiral through satire, representing the sad reality of the situation in Mexico today. If there is one thing in Mexico's favor, it is this: the country has at least retained its sense of humor.

Historical Context and Background

As Hamnett (2019) points out, the war with the United States (1846–1848) led Mexicans living under American occupation to become second-class citizens. Even though Mexico and the United States share much of the same heritage as products of the Enlightenment and its revolutionary era, the reality is that Mexican culture has been subverted by forces within the United States that used and exploited Mexico for centuries (Valentine, 2017). Mexico is also distinctive in that, despite the revolutionary influences that have shaped it in recent history, it has retained a great deal of the Catholic influence that defined its post-Columbian era. That influence has been particularly powerful in Mexican culture because of the enduring relevance of narratives such as the appearance of the Virgin Mary — Our Lady of Guadalupe — and other deeply rooted stories (Rodriguez, 2010).

The United States, culturally speaking, moved in a different direction, veering toward the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) culture inherited from England. Immigrant cultures were suppressed through the promotion of the "melting pot" ideal, in which all newcomers were expected to assimilate into WASP culture, embrace Manifest Destiny, and serve that vision. In Mexico, the vision imposed on citizens following the revolution and the Cristero Rebellion aligned more closely with that American model. It ushered in a century of corruption and made every Mexican citizen who was not a member of the ruling class into a second-class citizen — much like those who had lived under U.S. occupation in the 19th century. In their own homeland, Mexicans thus became strangers to their own nation.

The Film as Political Satire

The Perfect Dictatorship takes its title from a phrase by Mario Vargas Llosa describing the Institutional Revolutionary Party. The film is a satire of Mexico's political situation, its ties to big media, and the way criminal cartels work in tandem with corrupt politicians and media leaders to construct narratives that are wholly false — all designed to support moneyed interests and their superficial, self-serving pursuits. The film also shows how ordinary Mexicans long to participate in this façade, seeing television as a portal to wealth, fame, and escape. This is why the film ends with the note that the kidnapped twins are to become reality television stars on Mexican television. Mexican citizens thus participate in their own subjugation to a false narrative and a fake political culture, made possible by the manufactured stories television provides. It is a vicious cycle of deception that everyone — save one authentic politician — agrees to be part of. That politician refuses to play along and is eventually shut out and vilified in the media as a result.

The film supports what historical sources identify as a central problem in Mexico: an excess of money and power distorting both politics and community life. Valentine's (2017) work shows that the U.S. intelligence community has long been involved with Mexico's drug cartels, suggesting that Mexico's corruption is partly connected to the aims of American political and economic power. The defeat of the Cristeros in the first half of the 20th century indicates that Mexico's Catholic culture was displaced by a foreign-influenced order that had no sympathy for the country's post-Columbian beliefs and values. This displacement is reflected in The Perfect Dictatorship, which portrays the cynical relationships between top-tier politicians, media conglomerates, and the cartels — all one interconnected club in which making deals is the price of admission. Governor Vargas, for example, rises to the presidency thanks to the media's assistance, despite having many skeletons in his closet.

Conclusion

In Mexico, the perfect dictatorship is the media's control of all narratives — covering over some scandals, exposing others, and even creating fictional story lines to rehabilitate crony politicians who engage in quid pro quo dealings with other guardians of the establishment. That establishment has long treated ordinary Mexican citizens as though they were second class, just as the United States treated the Mexicans absorbed into American territory following the annexation of Texas. Mexicans have not been well served by the state. Those who wanted to retain their Christian identity and culture opposed the revolution in the early 20th century, but they were ultimately defeated. Some have continued to preserve their post-Columbian identity, but in the 21st century all of the messaging directed at Mexicans flows through a corrupt media that works hand in glove with an establishment government that is, in turn, intertwined with the cartels.

It is a corrupt triumvirate of power — media, politicians, and cartels — that produces a perfect dictatorship in which today's Mexicans are treated as second-class citizens denied access to the truth. They are not even afforded basic respect, for they are told nothing but lies. And perhaps because Mexico has retained its sense of humor, it endures the slight with a sardonic resilience that is, in its own way, a form of quiet resistance.

References

Hamnett, B. (2019). A concise history of Mexico. Cambridge University Press.

Jaffary, N. et al. (2003). Mexican history: A primary source reader.

Rodriguez, J. (2010). Our lady of Guadalupe: Faith and empowerment among Mexican-American women. University of Texas Press.

Valentine, D. (2017). CIA as organized crime. Clarity Press.