Mexico must lean on its enfeebled states

Sheinbaum needs 32 disparate, financially dependent local governments to make her security strategy a success.

In theory, Texas split from Mexico in 1836 because the government in Mexico City had violated the pact that gave each of the country’s constituent states freedom and sovereignty over its own laws. Little was said, at the time or since, that what these mostly illegal Anglo-American settlers really wanted was the freedom to own slaves, something the Mexican federal government had banned. An awkward place of departure for the argument of “states’ rights.”

Mexico, however, has historically been far less respectful of states’ sovereignty than its constitution establishes. The “federal pact” on which Mexico is built lives on to this day but it has gone from an agreement to hold a country together to a life support system for each of Mexico’s 31 states and Mexico City (a state in almost all but name). Despite having taxation powers, virtually the entirety of each state’s budget is made up of transfers from the federal government.

Under Claudia Sheinbaum and her ruling Morena party, the onerousness of the federal government is even greater. Morenistas, tightly controlled and given their marching orders by the central party apparatus, govern over 70% of these states.

This has been crucial in the passing of constitutional reforms, which, apart from needing a supermajority in Congress (which Morena has), also requires a majority of the state congresses to OK the measure. While the debates around issues like the judicial reform inflamed passions, at the local level they have been rubber stamped without so much as a debate.

Even opposition governors bend the knee to the president. The leaders of the PAN-controlled Querétaro and Movimiento Ciudadano-controlled Nuevo León have spent more time in Mexico City showing their support for Sheinbaum in recent months than in parts of their own states.

There are many reasons for this behaviour, but doubtless Mexico’s centralism and states’ dependence on the federal government play a role. Which is why, it may come as a surprise that it is Claudia Sheinbaum herself who has reached out for help from her governor colleagues.