I don't know if you heard or not, but Mexico is going through shit right now. Well, there's the earthquake and the mess that it created to various parts of there. Thankfully, people are making sure humanity exists as many went out of their way to volunteer to either rescue people, contact worried families, and/or provide necessary supplies. Even soccer teams that are known for their rivalry in Mexico casted aside their jerseys and took the role to help people in these dire times.

For a little more info, you can read this blog post:

http://www.espnfc.com/mexican-liga-mx/22/blog/post/3209658/liga-mx-doing-what-it-can-to-help-in-wake-of-devastating-mexico-earthquake

But let's not forget people that have no direct ties to help out the country. We have people as close to as El Salvador to as far as Japan going to help out with the efforts. That's quite admirable, given how the stretch for both places. For places like the former, cultural differences (and soccer) have caused tensions that quickly explode at the given occasions. For places like the latter, they really could just stay in their countries and watch the news; instead, they take the stand to join the rescuing efforts. I can say that I appreciate this from them, despite some issues.

I'll just come out and say this: as a Mexican, I know very well we don't come out to be the best of people. No, I most certainly don't mean it in the Trump manner of "being criminals". I mean it in the manner in which we carry pride, or how we seem to overshadow other Hispanic races and don't really care to correct others about it. Or how we can – so to blatantly speak – be racist and use the excuse that "it's our culture, duh". But I can say that knowing that other countries are willing to help out Mexico reminds me that despite these things, we are all people at the end of the day, preserving humanity. For a list of the countries that thus far has been joining the effort, read this article:

http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/a-dozen-nations-rally-to-mexicos-aid/

I do wish that all these disasters haven't occurred in the same time frame. All have been equally devastating: Harvey, Irma, Maria, earthquakes in Mexico, and the fires in California. Yes, they have brought the best (and maybe the worst?) that humanity has to offer. I have the luxury to remain unscathed from the effects of Harvey as I can sit back and relax as I watch the awe-inspiring news regarding what has been done to combat the disasters. However, I'm well aware that other places cannot brag to have what I do. They're probably in a place far from what they've known, or trying to find if they have anything to salvage. They could be trying to figure out how to contact their families, or worried that they won't find them underneath the rubble. Or perhaps they're coping with how a return to normalcy won't bring back neighbors, friends, or peers back from the grave.

Which is why what I've been hearing has severely pissed me off.

The last thing Mexico – or any other affected place needs – is for this whole humanitarian effort to be a political propaganda. Yet here we are, about to talk about the rather poor yet astute timing of the Mexican government. At least Trump was rather discreet when talking about the disasters and in no way ever included the whole "keep me around another presidential term" in the mix. He has his fair share of controversies... But no, we are not here to bash him. Not today. We are here to reprimand on a certain political party that's been trying to reestablish themselves back as the "powerhouse" of the Mexican government.

These foul villains are the Institutional Revolutionary Party, otherwise known as El PRI in Mexico. Since 1929, they have been the dominant party of the Mexican government and have been doing so for around 71 years. Naturally, this party had inside crisis/controversies, which eventually lead to the party switch of government in 2000. It wasn't until current President Enrique Peña Nieto came in 2012 that they've been attempting to restore back their "former" glory as the dominant party of Mexico. That's just a nutshell, but for more info regarding El PRI, visit the link below:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Institutional-Revolutionary-Party

So what's so important about them anyway, especially in these times? In case you haven't heard of it yet, but the earthquakes that have affected Mexico also took place around 32 years ago, exactly to September 19 of the year 1985. Consequently, things were just as bad as now, except the deaths were estimated around 10000, not the 300-ish count we have now. So why did the death rates escalate so quickly back then? This ties back into my previous statement. Remember when I said that Mexicans such as myself have pride? Sadly, this had everything to do with it. At the time president, Miguel de la Madrid, did a news blackout. He assured foreigners that they didn't need further aid and even denied the help that was coming through. And since Mexicans alone can't stop the earthquake's wrath, a lot of survivors underneath the rubble died. Actually, thanks to the news blackout, the true death numbers are not – or will ever be – revealed.

This is probably one of the lowest points of all El PRI's history. Not only were they incompetent to rescue their own people, but they even aided in killing them by denying assets to help. Hundreds – no, thousands of lives – could've been saved if they let that Mexican pride aside. It was rather childish to do, and thanks to that, earthquakes have become more of a scar. As expected, this was the revelation to the Mexican people of El PRI's true colors. Since then, they haven't had the same influence as they once had.

Back to present day, we have this recent earthquake that fell on the 32nd anniversary of the one in 1985. People were quick enough to wrinkle their noses and remember what happened the last time El PRI was in power at this extent of damage. The fleeting whispers were very much heard from Peña Nieto, who took it upon himself to "restore" his party's reputation. I give him minimal credit for not denying foreign aid.

However, he didn't do it for the people. No, his mind is on the elections coming up elections on July 2018. After all, the current president of Mexico is an avid speaker of his party and his plan to "revolutionize" it for the people. Well, you know, after ignoring the scandals that the other members of El PRI have been through. And this is also not taking in account his own odious record. Peña Nieto is definitely familiar with the 1985 earthquake that signalled that his party would soon be driven off to a state of nonexistence. The last thing he wanted to do was repeat the same mistakes, so he worked towards the process of rescuing.

However, this simply wasn't enough. If it wasn't enough in his mind, then it certainly wasn't enough to please the other El PRI members. They were right to worry when it came to their political future: could one correction of the past convince the people of Mexico to trust them? Hope was exactly what Mexico needed – and what they needed for themselves. The common people needed to feel inspired that victims were still alive underneath the rubble; the government needed to feel assured that the people will have their backs in the 2018 elections. How could two distinct goals be accomplished in the middle of the tragedy?

Thus is how Frida Sofía was born.

They knew the media loves to share news that related to children; most people tend to be conveyed by the tales of the youth. Imagine how many people would swarm over a young girl buried underneath the rubble of her school... Even more drastic, how about make sure the news kept tabs on what happened to her? After all, you must give people what they want to hear: news of survival. But wait, you can't just let any random volunteer hog the glory. Carpe Diem. The navy has to be there, taking over to assure people that not only El PRI does care, but is also willing to do the dirty work.

At least I'm convinced they orchestrated this fiasco of a girl that never existed. As much as I would love to hear that she existed in the first place and that she survived, that's not the reality here. Instead, it's colder than a bucket of water as you realize those inconsistencies you've known ever since the news of Frida Sofía went viral were real. Hindsight bias crashes down on you harder than the earthquake itself, leaving you to wonder who was to blame. The media for taking in the false news? A simple mistake of horrible communication amongst volunteers? Or do you find blame in the government?

Ah, but in case you haven't heard already about Frida Sofía and the sensation she caused, here's an article to catch you up on that:

http://time.com/4952839/mexico-earthquake-frida-sofia-trapped-girl/

It's not hard to interpret my stance on this. So the story of hope indeed fell apart, faster than the amount of help that came. Just great. El PRI could do much worse than this fable, right? At least it helped motivate the volunteers to work and move more people to gather donations. Really, they would know now to not play a dirty trick in these times.

Spoiler alert: they did much worse.

Really, the problem isn't the donations. People are more than willing to gather the necessary supplies and tools required for the search and rescue efforts. There are plenty of places that not only took in such donations, but also packaged them so that they could be hand-delivered to the affected places all over Mexico. All was well indeed, and suddenly the country was inspired to take a giant leap forward.

Only to land inside the moat El PRI built. Don't believe me? Read the following article for a bit more of insight:

http://jezebel.com/mexico-city-volunteers-report-that-police-confiscated-t-1818690214

The police have been accused of intercepting the donations to take them to government facilities. It's nice that they want to be formal, but having EL PRI tell them that it's quite alright to use force to take away the donations... All I can do is shake my head. The last thing Mexico needs to hear is this chaos, but here we are. Some are indignant as they wanted to make sure the right people got the help they needed. Others were just concerned that the supplied wouldn't be distributed right away. Then we have the astute minds that believe the government wants to confiscate the donations to later on pass them as their own "contribution" to the disasters.

Sadly, those astute minds might just be onto something. Why else would El PRI go through so much trouble to order the navy, governors, and local police to confiscate the donations? Out of pettiness to keep things organized? I think not. It doesn't help that as of late, El PRI and corruption have become synonymous terms. It's also discerning that when asked about it, governors deflect the issue back to Frida Sofía – which is a topic we're trying to work past. The last straw is their refusal to admit where exactly will they relocate the gathered supplies. How will the people of Mexico know that their donations are helping their fellow countrymen? They simply can't, it seems.

So in the end there are two tales of Mexico. One is what we'd like to focus on how the reality should be: a country that has learned humility, a place that has found its humanity, and a time that unifies foreigners to rescue suffocating victims. Instead, we have the one we'd rather ignore as it is our reality: a country that has regained astuteness, a place that has built on its corruption, and a time that brings more chaos to suffocating victims. I wish that we didn't have to go through the disappointment of El PRI all over again, or that foreigners can question if their aid is truly worth giving to Mexico. I'm hoping that this is the last on entanglements the government will be in – for the sake of the recovering victims.

However, El PRI did succeed on the fact that they will be on the voters' minds in the 2018 elections for Mexico. What they didn't want is for people to say how terrible they were for the 2017 earthquake – or that their party is truly nonexistent. And maybe, just maybe, this is the wake up call that Mexico needed to bring them out of the nets of corruption and find a leader that will think about the people before themselves.

But for now, this is a tale of two Mexicos: both affected by the earthquakes, yet neither have the same effects.

[Written in September]