As can be seen in the clear pattern of the British media’s responses to the recent elections in South Africa, India and Mexico, the trans-Atlantic financial interests centered in the City of London are dead set against developing sector countries having strong governments. Reading between the lines of their press coverage, one can almost hear the British imperial explanation: “You see, you never know when the natives will get uppity, so better keep them divided and squabbling among themselves, and see if you can pull them out of the BRICS.”
Thus, the British media was thrilled that the ANC got slammed in South Africa, dropping from 57% to 40% from the last elections five years ago, and that they will have to form a coalition government; they are smug and satisfied that Narendra Modi got “humbled” by a narrow victory in India; and by the same token they are shaken and concerned that Morena party candidate Claudia Sheinbaum got a huge mandate in Mexico, and will probably control both houses of the Congress and thereby be able to pass Constitutional reforms that London and Washington object to.
According to the official preliminary results, with 95% of the votes counted, Sheinbaum received over 33 million votes, or 59% of the total. Opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez received just under 16 million votes, or 28% of the total. There was also a high turnout (over 60%). In short, this was a huge landslide victory.
An article in the June 4 Financial Times fretted that “Mexico’s elections on Sunday jolted investors and sent shockwaves through company boardrooms.” A second FT article that same day reported that “traders continued to sell the peso on fears of radical constitutional change”—in other words, they launched preemptive financial warfare against the Sheinbaum administration, which will take office on Oct. 1. Although it is not yet clear what Sheinbaum’s central foreign and economic policies will actually be, the British are clear about what they fear and don’t want to see.
