Generation Z has raised its voice in Mexico. Thousands of people took to the streets in different parts of the country on Saturday to demand a major consolidation of social demands, synthesized against concerns about insecurity and their dissatisfaction with the traditional parties and the government of Claudia Sheinbaum. The mobilization promoted by young people of that generation – those born between 1997 and 2012 – brought people of all ages onto the streets.
Allegations began with Sheinbaum’s mandate being abolished, but the shooting death of former Uruapan mayor Carlos Manzo at the beginning of November once again put insecurity at the center of the table. In recent days, the president submitted a report in which she linked the movement to an international network campaign promoted by opponents and businessmen such as business tycoon Ricardo Salinas Pliego. During this Saturday pirate flags were raised one pieceseries Anime Its heroes face corrupt governments and Generation Z is assumed to be their generation. But so did those with Manzo’s face and those from Mexico. There was no shortage of constant cries against the government and the rest of the parties. El País speaks with six of these young people who participated in the march in Mexico City.
Alexandre Sanchez (Toluca, 21 years old): “There is no safe place in Mexico, we are already tired.”
You can barely see Alexander Sanchez’s eyes. He covers his face with a black bandana and a hat. He has family in Michoacan, which led him to participate in the protests that took place in Uruapan and Lazaro Cárdenas in the days following Manzo’s killing. Discover this walk on social media. He sighs when he says that one of his biggest fears is the country’s insecurity: “The truth is that there is no safe place in Mexico. And I think we are already tired of that.” But he’s moving toward something bigger. “What we have been demanding all this time are our rights, which even a child in primary school knows: we have the right to a dignified life, to a home, to a family, and to a health system that is free and available to all,” he explains.
Sanchez is one of the voices of partisan discontent. In the background, the demonstrators’ statements against Morena are louder, but their weariness is with all parties: “All parties are the same, the only thing that changes is the color. We have been with the same people for more than 80 years and we have not changed. It seems that we are the ones who should take control of all of this.” He heard information that the movement was swelled by the network campaigns of opposition parties and businessmen such as Salinas Plego. “As always, there will be people who will take advantage of this. They will try to put their own spoon in the pie and they will want to take advantage of the situation to their own advantage,” he says. He sees how other generations have joined the Z March, but he won’t lose sleep: “We have the same goal. It doesn’t matter age, gender or religion.”
Cassandra Moctezuma (Mexico City, 28 years old): “I came for health. There are no medicines in the institutes anymore.”
Casadora Moctezuma is studying nursing, a profession that she combines with her work in the same field. This is what prompted him to demonstrate on Saturday. He wears a white hat with a chick in a hat and a pirate flag hanging from it. “There are no more medicines, there are no more supplies at the institutes, at IMSS,” he says. He says he also took to the streets because he is worried about the future in Mexico: “Because of what we will inherit from our country and what we will inherit from our government.” He laughs and says the march feels like a different generation, but he stresses that it is Generation Z that is raising their voice. “They didn’t pay me or anyone else to be here,” he stresses.
Emmanuel Torres (Mexico State, 21 years old): “We are fed up with the way the country is run, and the lack of security.”
It is the first march in which Emmanuel Torres, a young accounting student from Mexico, participates. He wears a black face mask and wears a UNAM Pumas hat of the same color. His eyes sparkle as he remembers Manzo’s murder. “It was different. He was doing his job, and because he was doing his job, they killed him. Why?!” He cries. He says the people gathered under the Angel of Independence come into rebuke mode: “We are already tired of the way the country is run, the insecurity that exists, the treatment of the people. The rhetoric of the people who have power is not consistent with what the actions reflect.” He says that they are tired, and that they are looking for a change in management.
Also find out about the call on social networks. He was concerned that young people of his generation were concerned about the future of their country. He regrets: “I talk to friends and colleagues and notice a certain lack of interest. They do not pay the attention it requires.” He is motivated by the fact that people of all ages are joining the march, and believes there may be people funding it: “I think the majority are not like that. I tell you this for myself and from what I have seen. There are people who come not for political interest, but for social interest. It may be so, but how do you prove it?”
Alexa Barrientos (Mexico City, 25 years old): “If Ricardo Salinas runs for president, I will definitely vote for him.”
He holds a sign: “I am not bot“I’m Mexican.” He walks with his family. He covers his head with a hat and hangs a Mexican flag around his neck. “We came because we are sick and tired of the government,” he says forcefully. “It is not doing anything, there is no health care, there is no medicine, and security is worse than ever.” His biggest concern is insecurity. “You can no longer leave the house in peace, because you do not know whether you will return or not. I think security is worse than ever, and the numbers speak,” he explains, and former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who defended his official figures, winks: “Although in Manyanera they say otherwise, it is a lie. But they have other data.”
He believes that Manzo’s killing moved the Mexican people so much because he was “admirable” and represented “hope”: “It has been a long time since we had someone in the public eye of the government speaking up on behalf of all of us, fighting insecurity, drug traffickers, and criminals.” For Barrientos, Salinas Pliego represents a great alternative to the current regime: “If he ran for president, I would definitely vote for him. He’s a businessman, he’s not interested in stealing money. He’s like Bukele, like Trump – in his first six-year term, then he goes on a rampage.”
Mauricio Diaz (Mexico City, 28 years old): “I don’t know, and I don’t care who called for the demonstration.”
Communications specialist, born in 1997, belongs to Generation Z “with big bellies”. In front of the Angel of Independence, who features a straw hat and red shirt like Luffy, the Japanese anime hero. one pieceHe explains the relationship of his generation’s movement to this anime: “It represents a fight against inequality, corruption and bad government.” He explains that he attended the protest to demand the repeal 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 called him “the Mexican Nayib Bukele,” prompted him to attend the demonstration. He denounces, saying: “He was one of us, and he did not need to take the risk and he still did it for his people. They killed him in front of his children using a minor.” He believes that the official response confirms the lack of trust: “The president’s loyalty is not focused on clarifying the facts, but rather on knowing who is planning a process like this.” Finally, he rejects the possibility that the mobilization was funded by businessmen or parties: “I do not know, and I do not care who called for the demonstration. The frustration was not funded, it is real.”
Araceli (Mexico City, 25 years old): “The killing of Carlos Manzo was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
The young woman holds a sign that reads, “Where was the revolutionary Claudia? President, break the agreement with the drug traffickers!” As she walked along Paseo de la Reforma, she explained that she marched because she was “tired of insecurity and violence, and above all, because there is no clear government strategy to combat it.” For her, the breaking point was the murder of the mayor of Uruapan. “The killing of Carlos Manzo was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” she says. “He was an independent politician who asked for help and did not receive it, and was subjected to violence and they ended up killing him. This makes us as Mexicans ask: Where are the authorities?” Regarding the structure of the march, he confirms that “the initiative was born from Generation Z, but in the end other generations are also affected by insecurity.” He makes clear that he does not support Morena or any other party, although he sees an alternative in Somos Mexico – a group that emerged from opposition movements such as María Rosa and the National Civic Front – which seeks registration by 2027.
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