Does politics have an age?

By Marilú Acosta

We are before the carcasses of the great political parties that built the current Mexico, yes, also the one of this century. Just because they are now carcasses does not mean that they did not have their golden age. The National Action Party (PAN), since it was founded in 1939, was the best counterweight and the PRI, founded in 1929 as the National Revolutionary Party (PNR), was accommodating the post-revolution. In 1939 it changed its name to Partido de la Revolución Mexicana (PRM) and almost halfway through the century, in 1946, it institutionalized the revolution and changed its name to Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). In 1988, the PRI underwent a schism and the Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD) was created.

While the world went through endless ideological and political storms, PAN, PRI and civil society gave Mexico enough stability to receive migrants from civil wars, world wars, revolutions, authoritarian states, spy artists and lovers of the surreal. The PRI created and consolidated the great health, educational and political institutions. It never did it alone; it always went hand in hand with intellectuals, union leaders, the PAN itself and the leftist parties. The PRI controlled much of the country and the party, but it always let the ideas that were in vogue in the world pass through. Architecture, technology, science, medical advances, United Nations improvement proposals, civil codes and human rights. The PAN and the PRI had great men and women who fought for the welfare of Mexicans.