Mexican Political Elite Using Lawfare to Silence Critics, Memes

Mexico’s political elite is using lawfare tactics to target critical journalists, cartoonists, and even average citizens who dared to create or share memes on social media. The move sets a dangerous precedent that has grown bolder in recent years as members of the ruling party Morena have solidified their power and begun changing laws in an attempt to silence critics. One of the most recent projects led to the passage of a new law that prohibits the use of memes by citing the alleged unauthorized use of a person’s likeness or government satire. The law targets not only individuals but also social media networks that do not take down such posts. Dubbed the Anti-meme law, the move has sparked harsh criticism from various press freedom organizations claiming that the law is poorly written and open to interpretation, something that could be abused to establish censorship of any government criticism. The issue further came to light this week, when a Mexican court sided with Morena Congresswoman Itzul Barrera in her lawsuit against Cartoonist Francisco Navarrete over a satire he made of her. The cartoonist mocked the politician for her comments about adding a 70 percent tariff on avocados so the U.S. wouldn’t be able to get any. The court ruled that Navarrete had violated gender laws by creating an image of the politician that exposed her legs. The case is the latest escalation of lawfare; however, the practice has been in place in prior years, primarily under the Morena party. In 2024, Carla Maria Estrella, a regular citizen not involved in media or news, was fined and forced to use social media to publicly apologize to Diana Karina Berreras for mocking her candidacy. The issue stemmed from a social media post by a private citizen in which Estrella highlighted Barreras lack of qualifications and hinted that her only merit was being married to a politician aligned with the Morena and PT (Workers’ Party) alliance. The courts ruled that the private citizen violated Mexico’s gender laws. Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.