Skip to main content
NEU Senior Industrial Organiser
A socialist borough leads the way in Mexico
Introducing the Utopias project – self-organised spaces which now provide jobs, training, culture and hope to the Iztapalapa district of the world's biggest city. DAVID RABY reports
The Teotongo Utopia has an old airliner refitted as an IT lab for local people

MEXICO CITY has 16 boroughs and the the 1.8 million strong Iztapalapa is the most populous of them, also having the most radical council. It lies at the eastern end of one of the city’s metro lines and its more remote and hilly areas can be reached by the new “cablebus” service.

Its mayor Clara Brugada — re-elected last year for a second successive three-year term — is an outspoken and dynamic socialist who is leading a transformation which is an example for the entire city and indeed the country.

Brugada, whom I was able to interview in January this year, has roots in the south-eastern indigenous state of Chiapas and identifies with native culture and the migrants who make up much of Iztapalapa’s population.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
CONTRAST: People dressed as revolutionary fighters carry a banner that reads in Spanish ‘Long live Mexico and the working class!’ during a parade marking the 115th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution in the Zocalo, Mexico City’s main square, November 20
Features / 27 November 2025
27 November 2025

A November 15 protest in Mexico – driven by a right-wing social-media operation – has been miscast as a mass uprising against President Sheinbaum. In reality, the march was small, elite-backed and part of a wider attempt to sow unrest, argues DAVID RABY

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum looks on during her morn
Features / 20 June 2025
20 June 2025

DAVID RABY reports on the progressive administration in Mexico, which continues to overcome far-left wreckers on the edges of a teaching union, the murderous violence of the cartels, the ploys of the traditional right wing, and Trump’s provocations 
 

TRANSFORMATION: President Claudia Sheinbaum waves as she arr
Features / 8 February 2025
8 February 2025
By taking a firm stance against the ‘Monroe Doctrine Mk II’ President Sheinbaum has won plaudits from across Mexican society, says DAVID RABY
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum
Features / 2 January 2025
2 January 2025
Mexico’s unflinching stand has earned praise from across Latin America and the world, writes DAVID RABY