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José Luis Hernandez Ayala worked for Luz y Fuerza del Centro, or CFE, Mexico’s national electrical company, and has been active in the Mexican Union of Electricians, or SME, for 23 years.

In 2013, the neoliberal government of President Felipe Calderón shut down CFE with the aim of eliminating the union, which opposed his privatisation of the electricity industry. Today, although reduced in size, the SME continues to be active, and Ayala remains part of its heroic resistance.

Mexicans began organising support for Palestine long before Israel's genocide in Gaza. How did that come about?

In the 1968 student movement against the PRI government, hundreds of peaceful student protesters were massacred in Tlatelolco Square. A wave of radicalisation among youth followed in the 70s, and out of that, a significant movement of solidarity with the Palestinian cause emerged. Many of those activists now hold positions in the Mexican government.

In addition, young anti-Zionist Jews who emigrated to Mexico helped us understand the colonialist, racist and imperialist nature of the Israeli state. Yes, Zionist Jews do live in Mexico, but they are mostly businesspeople who are not involved in politics.

Mexican foreign policy has been governed by the Estrada Doctrine. What is that?

The Estrada Doctrine is a principle of Mexican foreign policy, enacted in 1930. It’s based on the principles of non-intervention and self-determination of peoples and remains a fundamental pillar of Mexican diplomacy.

Estrada is enshrined in the Constitution, which requires the head of the Executive Branch to “observe the following normative principles: the self-determination of peoples; non-intervention; the peaceful settlement of disputes; the prohibition of the threat or use of force in international relations; the legal equality of States; international cooperation for development; respect, protection and promotion of human rights; and the struggle for international peace and security.”

This Doctrine should be understood in context — in 1930, Mexico had already been invaded by France, Spain, England and the US. Neutrality was a way to defend Mexico, avoiding alliances that could lead to its being caught up in wider conflicts.

How has the Estrada Doctrine been applied?

However, in its international practices, Mexico hasn’t always been neutral — not when neutrality amounts to ignoring oppression. In international conflicts, Mexico has often played a significant role in supporting victims of dictatorial regimes or countries suffering imperialist invasions.

This was the case of the support — including military support — for the Republican fighters in the Spanish Civil War and later for recognising Nicaragua’s Sandinistas as a legitimate revolutionary force. Mexico also severed diplomatic relations with the authoritarian regimes of Franco, Hitler, Mussolini, Pinochet and Somoza. During World War II, they  granted asylum to Jews and to persecuted people from other nations.

Mexico has granted political asylum in our country to thousands of victims of South American dictatorships and to political figures over many years, from Leon Trotsky in 1937 to former Vice-President Jorge Glas from Ecuador in 2024.

How does the Estrada Doctrine affect Mexico's relationship with Palestine and Israel?

In reality, it has no effect whatsoever. It is simply used as a pretext by the current government to avoid breaking diplomatic relations with the genocidal entity of Israel and to avoid antagonising Donald Trump's imperialist government.

What does the pro-Palestine movement want the Mexican government to do? 

We applaud that Claudia Sheinbaum recognised the Palestinian state recently this year and established a Palestinian embassy in Mexico City. Mexico also joined South Africa and other countries in filing a charge of genocide against Israel before the UN’s International Criminal Court.

However, Mexico could do more in the face of Israel’s barbarism.

Reviving one of our best national traditions of breaking diplomatic relations with dictatorships such as Pinochet’s in Chile and Somoza’s in Nicaragua, we call on Mexico to sever diplomatic, commercial, cultural and military relations with the Zionist state of Israel. The Israel-Mexico Free Trade Agreement should be canceled. The acquisition of any military, police, or security products or services should be prohibited.

Mexico should denounce the criminal blockade of food, water and medicine, and the use of hunger as a weapon of genocide. Mexico can insist at the UN Security Council that food be immediately distributed to the people of Gaza.

You’ve been organising labor for Palestine. What support is there already, and how will you expand labor support?

More than a year ago, SME’s leadership published a paid advertisement in a national newspaper demanding Mexico sever diplomatic relations with Israel. In August 2025, we joined the movement in solidarity with Palestine. Frankly, we were surprised to find other unions participating. Most were teachers from several CNTE local unions and professors from university unions here in Mexico City. Since then, we have proposed a Coordinating Committee of Mexican Unions for Palestine.

On September 25, we’ll hold our first public event. A national forum with the Palestinian ambassador Nadya Rasheed will draw an expected crowd of 1,200 people.

Next we’ll organise another demonstration in the streets.

To educate the rank and file, we’ll initiate a series of workshops inside unions led by teachers including Gilberto Conde, an expert on the Middle East and leader of the academic workers’ union at El Colegio de Mexico.

Israel is committing a crime against humanity, and we cannot remain indifferent. But also, support for Palestine constitutes part of the struggle against imperialism and colonialism, racism and the anti-worker offensive of extreme right-wing and fascist groups.

We’ve witnessed how Israel's genocidal violence is accompanied by intense repression of any resistance or solidarity from the peoples of the world who denounce it. Nations such as Germany, England, France and the US criminalise protests, violate freedom of expression and imprison hundreds of activists who are only exercising their legitimate right to civil and peaceful protest. Once again, this confirms that a nation that oppresses another, or is complicit with the oppressor, cannot be a free nation.

We understand that Claudia must be “careful” and “prudent” in handling Mexico’s support for Palestine, given this difficult moment in which the US is menacing our own country. But as unions and workers, we don’t have to be so careful. We must forcefully defend the principle of sovereignty for Palestine and for any other people.