The Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) staged its first demonstration in Mexico City in more than three years on Thursday condemning the cuts that are part of the 2017 budget.
PRD president Alejandra Barrales said that the budget cuts will damage social development and the wellbeing of the population.
After contingents and sympathizers of the PRD marched from the Angel of Independence to the Los Pinos presidential residence, the executive agreed to establish a dialogue table with the PRD to negotiate the reinstatement of budgetary resources to state and local governments.
Barrales recognized that the PRD has not won anything through dialogue tables, and says that the party will be ready to take to the streets again in the future in order to achieve the fulfillments of their demands.
“This country needs a responsible left, which is what the PRD proposes,” she said at a rally outside of Los Pinos. “A left that denounces, that complains, but also a left that engages in dialogue and proposes solutions.”
Barrales criticized the government for devoting significant budgetary resources to debt payment in a year when it has a high capacity for generating revenue.
She said that the debt has grown 109 percent under the current administration, and that the government is cutting resources in ways that hurts the people, such as cuts to education, health, security and agriculture. She gave the examples of the 12 million-peso ($600,000) cut to Mexico City’s budget, and the lack of resources given to Michoacán and Morelos for crime prevention.
According to the PRD, the budget cuts to Mexico City will prevent maintenance work from being performed on the Metro and the Metrobus, water and drainage systems and roads.
“It just so happens that they have increased the budget of the State of Mexico, which is governed by the PRI, by 12 million pesos,” Barrales said. “But in spite of all the resources it gets, the State of Mexico is still number one for kidnapping, homicide and rape.