A new statewide survey commissioned by Mijente reveals a clear and urgent message from Texas Latino voters. They are struggling with the rising cost of living, frustrated with the state’s direction, and need leadership that delivers real solutions. As the largest and fastest-growing demographic in Texas, Latinos hold the power to reshape the political future of the state. Now, they are demanding more — from both parties.
Our survey, conducted by RG Strategies, highlights that jobs, economy, and inflation are at the forefront of Texas Latinos’ minds. Significantly, 73% of respondents identified controlling inflation and reducing the cost of everyday items as critical. So, it’s no surprise that 60% of Latino voters believe Texas is on the wrong track.
Key Frustrations with Abbott’s Leadership
In particular, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been a focal point of dissatisfaction. The numbers reveal deep frustrations as everyday expenses continue to skyrocket while wages remain stagnant for many working-class Latino families. While 8% of respondents believe that Abbott has done well, overwhelmingly Latinos share the sentiment that he has abandoned Texas. Results showed that:
64% are unhappy with Abbott’s handling of inflation and the rising cost of living
61% oppose Abbott’s abortion restrictions
55% are dissatisfied with Abbott’s overall performance
Similarly, 57% of voters disapprove of Abbott’s harsh immigration policies that use state resources to create dangerous border enforcement operations. This is crucial information, as we’ve seen immigration narratives shifting further to the right for both Republicans and Democrats. However, it’s clear that the way Abbott is addressing issues like immigration is not the path forward — and it is not popular with our community.
Across Key Texas Issues, Lack of Trust Remains
Still, immigration is not the only issue where Abbott is failing. Voters also voiced dissatisfaction with Abbott’s approach to school vouchers (54% disapprove) and the overall economy (52% disapprove). As Governor Abbott continues to focus on divisive culture wars, Latino families feel left behind. Abbott’s compassion is nonexistent, while our communities struggle with rising costs, poor infrastructure, and limited economic opportunity.
(Photo byOrange County Register/SCNG)
While dissatisfaction with Abbott is clear, the survey also reveals slight leanings towards Democrats on key issues like healthcare, reproductive rights, and gun safety. However, Latinos in Texas remain unconvinced that either party is ready to tackle the economic challenges they face.
On healthcare, 56% trust Democrats, compared to just 27% who trust Republicans.
On reproductive rights, 60% trust Democrats, while only 27% trust Republicans.
But when it comes to reducing inflation, just45% of Latinos trust Democrats, compared to 39% who trust Republicans.
This split demonstrates that while Latino voters may align with Democrats on social issues, they remain skeptical of both parties’ ability to improve their daily lives. Jobs, wages, and inflation are front and center for Texas Latinos, and so far, no party has effectively addressed these concerns.
The Need for Real, Sustainable Economic Opportunities
In summary, Mijente’s political strategist Mayra Lopez-Zuñiga explained what’s at stake and where Texas Latinos stand:
The data shows that Texas Democrats have an opportunity to win over Latino voters, but it won’t happen by default. Nearly 80% of respondents said they are concerned about their personal economic situation. They’re feeling stuck, squeezed by high costs, and desperate for change. If Democrats want to maintain and grow their support among Latino voters, they need to present bold, concrete solutions that lift Latino families out of poverty and provide real, sustainable economic opportunities. Without such action, Democrats risk losing the Latino vote to a Republican Party that continues to make gains, particularly in areas like South Texas, where conservative values on social issues and border security have resonated with some Latino voters.
For the first time an alliance amongst the center-left has created a viable alternative to bipartisanship in Puerto Rico that could win some significant elections.
Alianza de País: An Alternative to Bipartisanship in Puerto Rico
The “Alianza de País” in Puerto Rico is a new political coalition formed by the Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana (MVC) and the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP). This alliance has emerged as an alternative to traditional bipartisanship in the 2024 general elections. It has defined a political agenda focused on ten priority points, including the elimination of government corruption, the recovery of the energy system through the annulment of LUMA Energy and Genera PR contracts, the promotion of a universal healthcare system, and the decolonization of Puerto Rico. They also advocate for the elimination of the Fiscal Control Board, known as “La Junta”, the defense of human rights, the repeal of the 2020 Electoral Code, and the creation of a more inclusive public safety model.
In the U.S., the left has struggled to build a viable “third way” due to the bipartisan system and institutional barriers limiting the competition of minor parties. Although we cannot compare the two systems, since the US electoral college system clearly does not translate to Puerto Rico’s, the possibility of the Alliance was not an easy one and required a lot of political creativity.It has provided a real alternative for the people of Puerto Rico, but not without having to surpass key obstacles.
The Alianza was Formed Despite Government Prohibition of Coalition Parties
The first obstacle for the “Alianza del Pais” is that Puerto Rican law prohibits coalition candidates, restricting any political party from formally uniting to present a joint candidate on a single electoral ballot. This restriction was established in 2011 by the Legislature, controlled by the New Progressive Party (PNP), and with the silent support of the PPD, as part of a series of reforms aimed at consolidating bipartisan power and limiting alternatives outside the traditional parties (PNP and Popular Democratic Party, PPD).
This change came about in response to new political alternatives emerging both in the electoral arena and in the streets. In the mid 2000s political activism in Puerto Rico was gaining momentum, with social movements, organizations, and individuals intensifying their efforts. Various sectors, including primary education teachers, the University of Puerto Rico student body, and unions such as UTIER, had been increasingly mobilizing against the neoliberal policies of both the PNP and PPD since 2005. Then in 2008, a new party called Puertorriqueños Por Puerto Rico emerged, marking the first time in decades that a fresh political alternative appeared. Although it did not pose a significant threat to the established two-party system, the organizing plus the new political organizing led the establishment parties to quickly implement obstacles to prevent future coalition possibilities.
This prohibition significantly impacted the island’s political landscape, making it impossible for parties with common agendas to present consensus candidacies. As a result, the “Alianza de País” in 2024 had to find creative solutions to push for an electoral alternative without falling into the category of a formal coalition prohibited by law.
CREDIT: Jacobin
The Alliance is Fighting for the Governor’s chair, San Juan Mayorship, and a seat in Washington, D.C.
The main candidacies of the “Alianza de País” include Juan Dalmau Ramírez (PIP) for governor, Ana Irma Rivera Lassén (MVC) for Resident Commissioner in Washington D.C., and Manuel Natal (MVC) running for mayor of San Juan. Additionally, the alliance has candidates for the Senate in all senate districts across the island and multiple candidates for legislative and municipal seats across the island. The alliance has been presented as a political alternative that represents the interests of the Puerto Rican people and proposes a change in how the island is governed.
Juan Dalmau is strongly committed to sovereignty, environmental justice, and labor rights, appealing to those who want to challenge U.S. influence and push for economic and ecological reform. Ana Irma Rivera Lassén’s candidacy resonates with those committed to intersectional social justice, diversity, and human rights. Manuel Natal is a young, dynamic leader focused on anti-corruption and progressive urban governance in San Juan. Together, they form a coalition that offers an inclusive, justice-driven alternative for the left in Puerto Rico.
If La Alianza wins, what would it mean for the PR left? Can we scale up social justice work?
If the Alianza de País wins the upcoming elections, it could represent a significant opportunity to scale up grassroots social justice initiatives across Puerto Rico. Programs like comedores sociales and huertos comunitarios, which have played a vital role in addressing food insecurity, could be expanded with government backing, allowing for more locations and resources to sustain their efforts. Additionally, cooperative movements could receive institutional support by creating municipal incubators empowering communities to build worker-owned businesses that operate on principles of solidarity and shared wealth. Public ownership of essential services, such as energy and water, would also be prioritized, ensuring that these resources are managed for the public good, rather than private profit.
This victory could also bring participatory democracy to the forefront, where residents have a direct say in how their communities are governed. Initiatives like participatory budgeting and community councils would give people more power in decision-making processes, fostering a stronger, more inclusive democracy. Overall, a government led by the Alianza de País could transform the way Puerto Rico is governed, creating a partnership between the state and social movements to advance economic justice, sustainability, and equity at a larger scale.
CREDIT: REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo
How to Support the Alianza de País from the United States
For those who want to support the “Alianza de País” from the United States, there are several ways to contribute:
Spread Information and Engage in Digital Activism: From the United States, you can help amplify the alliance’s visibility and proposals through social media and other digital channels. Sharing content related to the “Alianza de País,” creating informative posts, and organizing virtual events to explain their political platform to the Puerto Rican diaspora can generate awareness and support.
Organize and Mobilize the Puerto Rican Diaspora: The Puerto Rican community in the United States can be a significant resource to influence politics on the island. Organizing community events, discussion forums, or support groups focused on the “Alianza de País” can motivate family and friends in Puerto Rico to vote. Additionally, the diaspora can engage in election observation, volunteer efforts, and resource mobilization to support the alliance.
These actions can significantly strengthen the movement and achieve its objectives in the elections.
In 2024, El Salvador has been under the scrutiny of the international community due to the increasingly repressive tactics of President Nayib Bukele. His far-right government’s heavy-handed approach to crime, under the guise of establishing “public security”, has sparked both praise and criticism.
We must understand the deeper social and political impacts of Bukele’s policies and the ways our gente mobilize against them. That’s why Mijente Public Policy Director Jacinta Gonzalez sat down to interview Francisco Parada Rodriguez this September.
Rodriguez is a member of the coordination team of Bloque de Resistencia and Rebeldia Popular. He discussed the rise of militarization, the criminalization of poverty, and the long-term consequences for El Salvador.
Below is a summary of our conversation with Rodriguez. To listen to the full conversation in Spanish, check out our YouTube page.
A Climate of Fear and Control
Rodriguez began by explaining the “exception regime”, a cornerstone of Bukele’s strategy to “combat” crime. This policy has led to the militarization of communities, especially in poorer areas like Soyapango and Apopa, where simple poverty alone is seen as a criminal act. “The government has made poverty synonymous with criminality,” Rodriguez emphasized, drawing attention to the stark class divide in how the regime operates.
Because all those military fences that have been set up in Soyapango, in Apopa, for example, right? That is where those military fences are, but we do not see those military fences in the affluent areas of this country. As if to say, where the rich live there are no criminals, right? The ones who deserve a military fence are the poor, right?
Francisco Parada Rodriguez
Courtesy of Salvador Melendez, AP
Bukele’s government routinely justifies these actions as necessary to combat gang violence. Instead, Rodriguez argues that this has simply created a climate of fear and repression that affects everyone. Historically safe communities are now under siege, further marginalizing those who were already struggling to make ends meet.
The Rich Keep Getting Richer
Furthermore, Rodriguez highlighted the economic motivations propping up Bukele’s security policies. The militarization of El Salvador is not just about controlling crime but also about creating a punitive economy. Industries surrounding the prison system, from supply chains to infrastructure, have profited significantly.
[Since COVID-19], the punitive model has generated the growth and strengthening of the country’s wealthiest. Gains are generated by businessmen who are dedicated to supplying these [new] prisons with the goods necessary for the people who are detained to live. It is an industry, and it is the impoverished population that is being used to strengthen that industry.
This model of repression benefits the wealthy elites, who have little to lose and a lot to gain from maintaining the ongoing status quo. This is only a convenient distraction from the underlying issues – poverty and inequality – that fuel crime in the first place.
The Rise of MOVIR: Resistance to Repression
In particular, Rodriguez touched on the ways the exception regime has had devastating effects on families in impoverished communities. Thousands have been detained (most times arbitrarily, with very little explanations given), leaving families not only traumatized but also financially hurting. The Movement of Victims of the Regime(MOVIR, or “El Movimiento de Víctimas del Régimen de Excepción” in Spanish) rose up in response. MOVIR advocates for the release of the wrongfully imprisoned and demands justice for those whose lives have been destroyed by Bukele’s policies.
Courtesy of movirsv.org
Community organizations like MOVIR are rising up to push back against the narrative of militarization as a solution. Especially in response to the government’s misleading rhetoric on crime and its failure to address the underlying social conditions.
There are thousands of people… who, with the capture of their loved one, they have to assume a cost– Not only an economic cost, but also an emotional cost, a psychological cost, to see that their relative was detained without having committed any crime. And this has even generated the creation of a movement of victims of the regime, the MOVIR, which has already been working for two years to denounce the regime and to demand the release of their family members from prison.
MOVIR represents a growing resistance to Bukele’s regime, a grassroots, pueblo-led effort to challenge the narrative that militarization equals safety. In 2023 alone, MOVIR supported over 4,000 family members of PDLs (Persons Deprived of Liberty). They provided access to legal aid, as well as other basic essentials like food, water, and transportation as families navigated the legal system.
The Truth Behind Bukele’s “Public Security”
We learned that Bukele’s government has been known to praise (and credit) itself for a reduction in homicides. However, Rodriguez pointed out that just citing that statistic alone is seriously misleading. Other crimes, including theft, human trafficking, and sexual violence, have actually increased. This signals that the regime’s focus on militarization has done little to address the actual root causes of crime.
It’s the same old Mano Dura policy repackaged. It is a plan of repression and persecution, because in the end… crime has not decreased and we are not saying this with a propagandistic spirit, but there are data that the Attorney General’s Office itself, which is an official institution, presents [via] studies in which it says that, yes, homicides have decreased but other types of crimes have increased.
According to Rodriguez, the exception regime is a band-aid solution that avoids addressing systemic issues like inequality, lack of education, and unemployment.
The Rise of the Far-Right’s Influence in Latin America
Importantly, Rodriguez shared insights into Bukele’s admiration for far-right leaders and the global implications of his policies. Bukele has made no effort to conceal his esteem for Donald Trump. On top of that, he has aligned himself with a broader trend of right-wing extremism in the region.
Rodriguez explained that Bukele’s government, with its increasingly authoritarian tendencies, serves as a model for other ultra-right politicians in Latin America. His militarized approach, use of repressive tactics, and concentration of power have inspired similar movements in countries like Argentina and Ecuador.
Bukele, let’s say, inaugurates this dynamic in Latin America. Of course, now he is followed by other ultra-right politicians who have been in the logic of publicly announcing that they want to implement policies similar to those of El Salvador.
This trend, according to Rodriguez, signals a dangerous shift in the political landscape of Latin America, where authoritarian regimes gain traction under the guise of public security and combating crime—but at the cost of our gente’s freedoms and human rights.
Resistance and the Power of Community Organizing:
Despite the repression and spread of the far-right beyond El Salvador, Rodriguez is optimistic about the power of community organizing and grassroots resistance. Movements like the Bloque de Resistencia y Rebeldía Popular (BRP) are standing up to the regime, demanding justice and accountability through social media and direct actions.
Our comrades, our relatives, our parents, our friends who fought in the armed conflict used the media as a means to fight for the transformation of society, we also have to do this. [But] beyond using social networks, we believe that what is important is that people organically develop actions, that they break the logic of just posting a denunciation on the networks and say ‘I’m going to go to bed’. They need to take on a militant role, a committed role, for the transformation of our society.
Francisco emphasized that this kind of organic activism is key to creating lasting change in El Salvador. The government may have the military, but the people have each other.
Courtesy of Menly Gonzalez for elsalvador.com
We know that the struggles in El Salvador aren’t isolated—they reflect broader trends of militarization, repression, and economic inequality seen elsewhere, including in the United States. Francisco urged everyone to stay informed, but to go a step further and also take action.
Although our gente in El Salvador are confronting the rise of an emboldened far-right, Francisco remains hopeful. The resistance is growing, and more people are waking up to the dark realities of Bukele’s regime. The fight for a more just and equitable El Salvador is far from over, and as Francisco shared with us, it’s a fight that requires all of us. As a political home for Latinx and Chicanx people across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, we recognize that our liberation is directly bound to other liberation movements fighting for transformative change.
At the end of the day, Rodriguezreminded us:“Change doesn’t come from the top down. It comes from the people, from the ground up.”
Want to watch the interview but missed our livestream last month? You can catch a replay in Spanish here.
La Vida Local 2024 is launching in just a few weeks! We’re sharing the details of the grant now, so that you and your compas can begin envisioning your projects and developing a proposal. La Vida Local will be open for applications starting Monday, October 21st and submissions will be accepted until Monday, November 18th.
The application should provide a description of the work you intend to do, how much you are requesting and how you plan to spend the money. This can be provided in short paragraphs or bullet points, just make sure that what you are proposing is easily and clearly understood.
The proposed project description should tend to one or more of the following areas:
Generating sustainability for your local community
Contributing to community welfare or to the principles of el Buenvivir
Providing services necessary to the welfare of the people that the state does not provide or provides negligently
Exercising participatory democracy
We invite proposals that focus on projects and campaigns that aim to develop collective autonomy, el Buenvivir, and self-governance structures. These projects must align with Mijente’s Principles of Unity and should seek to build power and well-being in our Latinx communities without the state.
OUR COMMITMENT
Funding up to $5,000 for projects considered ‘Sin el Estado’ and led by Latinx changemakers.
Mentoring and assistance via two meetings a year to establish objectives, benchmarks, and work plans.
Conducting follow up meetings to facilitate progress and evaluation.
Providing access to organizational digital tools and other technical support.
Important Dates
October 21: Application Opens
November 18: Application Closes
December 9-13: Decision Letters emailed
February 7/8: In-Person Meeting of participants (Location TBD)
June 2025: Meeting (virtual)
October 2025: Sazonblea (last face-to-face meeting
Note: Other workshops and virtual meetings will be scheduled according to the availability of participants.
Please note that La Vida Local grants are not permissible for the following– Funding for individual projects or needs or covering personal bills such as rent, food or people’s personal bills.
