Narco-Morena... Again?: Why the Right's 'Narco' Narrative Keeps Failing - Ep 108

In episode 108 of Soberanía, hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth break down the latest astroturf campaign targeting Mexico's government and why it's likely to backfire.

The episode opens with Sin Embargo's investigation into "Mexicanos al Grito de Paz," a shadowy group backed by billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego that has been organizing flash mobs and banner campaigns against President Sheinbaum. Following the same playbook as the failed "Gen Z" movement, the group's social media follows just five accounts — all tied to the country's rightist media — and pushes a single message: narco-Morena. The hosts explain why this one-note strategy is failing to gain traction with a Mexican public that has repeatedly rejected U.S.-backed smears.

Next, they examine Mexico's proposed legislation to block foreign interference in elections; a direct response to U.S. meddling in Honduras, Argentina, and the upcoming Colombian elections. While the New York Times frames the move as authoritarian, the hosts clarify how electoral annulment actually works in Mexico: foreign interference would be just one of several legal grounds, and proving it changed an election result remains a high bar. Plus, new polling shows Morena has gained five points since February, while the PAN and PRI continue to collapse, the PAN now at just 4% party identification.

Losers and Haters takes aim at a journalist who criticized Mexico for agreeing to host Iran's World Cup delegation in Tijuana after the U.S. refused to let them stay on American soil. The hosts dismantle her regurgitation of State Department talking points, noting the Iranian embassy's gracious response and the Mexican government's mature handling of a diplomatic logjam not of its making.