56 | Mexico, US Imperialism and The 2026 World Cup

Miguel is joined by Alexander Aviña — associate professor of Latin American and Mexican history at Arizona State University and author of Specters of Revolution: Peasant Guerrillas in the Cold War Mexican Countryside — for a deep conversation where fútbol and imperialism collide. First, Alexander breaks down Mexico’s World Cup-hosting history, linking the 1970 tournament to the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre and 1986 to the 1985 Mexico City earthquake and public jeering of PRI presidents, while noting protests during 1986 and Sócrates’ solidarity gestures as Maradona worked his magic on the pitch. They compare those political tensions to the upcoming 2026 tournament. Alexander and Miguel also break down the younger, Liga MX and Euro club-heavy Selección Nacional Mexicana roster, what home-field advantage at Azteca could mean, and why FIFA's hyper capitalist grip on this tournament — from displaced vendors and street workers in Mexico City to $30,000 World Cup final tickets in the US — has both Miguel and Alexander feeling less excited about this World Cup than any before.

Miguel and Alexander also dig into the CNN and New York Times reporting on CIA-linked assassination operations targeting cartel figures on Northern Mexican soil, asking whether the line between intelligence sharing and outright foreign intervention has already been crossed. They also break down Mexico's Ministry of Public Education, reversing its plan to end the school year early for the World Cup, the US State Department's announced review of all 53 Mexican consulates and the far-right conspiracy theory behind it, and the broader Trump administration push to install a right-wing political order across Latin America — from Venezuela to Cuba to Mexico.

Lastly, Miguel and Alexander discuss the contradictions of being a politically conscious Fútbol fan: rooting hard for El Tri while critiquing the mega-event capitalist FIFA machine hosted in the imperial core.

Links:

* Specters of Revolution by Alex Aviña

* Cursed? Always let down? Whatever the truth, Mexican support is unconditional -The Athletic

* Mexico agrees to host Iran at World Cup instead of US - BBC Sport 

* U.S. and Mexican Officials Deny C.I.A. Had Lethal Role in Mexico Operation - New York Times 

* State Department reviewing all Mexican consulates in U.S. as tensions grow - CBS News 

* Ministry of Education Backtracks; Social Pressure Derails Plan to End School Year Early - Mexico Solidarity Media

* President Sheinbaum Calls on US Ambassador to Limit Himself to Bilateral Coordination & Collaboration - Mexico Solidarity Media

* Anti-Fascist Football Coalition Website 

Miguel Garcia and Comrade E produced this episode. The Sports As A Weapon Podcast is part of the @Anticonquista Media Collective. Subscribe to the ANTICONQUISTA Patreon and follow ANTICONQUISTA on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.

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Transcript

Episode 56 - Mexico, US Imperialism and The 2026 World Cup 
 
 

[00:00:00] Intro Music: We came here to build the new Chicano movement. That's what we came here for 
 
 

We came here to build the new Chicano movement. That's what we came here for 
 
 

Bryant to Shaq... 
 
 

[00:00:31] Miguel: Hey everyone, welcome to the Sports as a Weapon podcast, a Chicano Chicana sports podcast on the entanglement of sports, radical politics, and working class sports fan culture. And don't worry, we talk about just sports too And again, reminder, as always, the Sports as a Weapon podcast is part of the ANTICONQUISTA Media Collective. 
 
 

ANTICONQUISTA is an anti-imperialist media collective. Our content is produced by [00:01:00] and for the Latin American and Caribbean diaspora. We are dedicated to exposing and fighting the capitalist imperialist system, the root cause of our displacement. Subscribe to the ANTICONQUISTA Patreon at Patreon/ANTICONQUISTA, and follow ANTICONQUISTA on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, X, and Instagram. 
 
 

And as always, also be sure to watch all our new episodes on the ANTICONQUISTA YouTube, and listen, subscribe to the Sports as a Weapon podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts wherever you get your podcasts. Now you could also watch the videos on Apple Podcasts. That's like a new thing. And then, then you can follow the Sports as a Weapon podcast at Sports as a Weapon Podcast on Facebook and Instagram and at Sports as a Weapon on Twitter X. 
 
 

And s- today, I'm pretty excited of the guest we're having on. Um, been following him for a while. A lot of you might know [00:02:00] him already 'cause you've listened to a lot of these podcasts he's on, and comrades and all that. Um, but very excited. We're gonna get into, uh, just talking about Mexico and the World Cup and a lot of politics with Mexico and US imperialism, all the stuff that's going on right now, and kind of relate some of it to the World Cup. 
 
 

Uh, record, this is my third World Cup episode, I think, in a row. So it's ended up becoming a little World Cup miniseries, um, before the World Cup, which is cool. Um, I had, uh, Adnan Hussein and then did a podcast with the Black Alliance for Peace since I joined their, uh, anti- anti-fascist football coalition. 
 
 

So I'll post a link to them, um, as part of this podcast as well. But very excited to welcome our guest, Alex Aviña. He is an associate professor of Latin American history, um, and Mexican history really, in the School of Historical, [00:03:00] Philosophical, and Religious Studies at Arizona State University. He's also the author of a, the book Specters of Revolution: Peasant Guerrillas in the Cold War Mexican Countryside. 
 
 

And a lot of you might already know him. He's always on a bunch of the podcasts I listen to, or friends, comrades. So very excited to welcome Alex to the podcast. Welcome, Alex. Thank you for coming on. Oh,  
 
 

[00:03:23] Alexander Aviña: thank you so much, Miguel. I'm happy to be on.  
 
 

[00:03:26] Miguel: Appreciate it. I don't know if you wanna plug anything or if we'll just go from  
 
 

[00:03:30] Alexander Aviña: there and just start it off. 
 
 

I'm terrible, I'm terrible at plugging stuff, man. Let's g- let's get the, let's get the conversation going. No, I'm, I'm, I'm just really happy to be here. Um, uh, I do... I guess I do a, a fair amount of, of podcasts, but, uh, this very few sports one, man. So like you, I'm, I'm an obsessed, uh, football fan, and I played for a long time, so now I'm like a futbolista fracasado, I guess, like, like retired. 
 
 

Um, but, uh, [00:04:00] yeah, so no, anytime I get to talk about football or soccer, especially in the World Cup, man, s- s- so I look forward to it, man. It's a lot of fun. So thank you for having me on.  
 
 

[00:04:09] Miguel: Well, yeah, I think the first time I maybe heard about you, like, on a podcast, you might have... It probably was on, like, Gorilla History or something- Mm-hmm 
 
 

and doing one of their World Cup ones last summer. Yeah. Well, may- yeah, so that's probably how I heard about you, when I started following you. Yeah, that was... Yeah, it's  
 
 

[00:04:23] Alexander Aviña: definitely common, man.  
 
 

[00:04:24] Miguel: But I know you always, you always on there. That's one of the podcasts you've joined a lot. Um, shout out to them, Gorilla History, uh, comrades, especially Adnan, who's been a guest on here a couple times. 
 
 

But yeah, man, let's get into it. Uh, a lot going on right now with the geopolitics, uh- Neighbor politics, everything going on with, uh, Mexico and the US, the border politics. Um, but also they're the both co-hosting the World Cup, so wanted to really focus a little bit on Mexico. But if you want, if you could speak a little bit on the history of Mexico [00:05:00] and the World Cup. 
 
 

Um, especially like last time was the '86 World Cup, which I think's considered one of the greatest World Cups ever in terms of the ga- Yeah ... the tournament. Um, that was when the Hand of God happened, I believe. Yes. We- I think it was '86. It was at... Yes, right, right.  
 
 

[00:05:17] Alexander Aviña: We all saw- From  
 
 

[00:05:18] Miguel: Diego- ... divine  
 
 

[00:05:18] Alexander Aviña: intervention take place on the field. 
 
 

Yeah, man Yeah. I, I was  
 
 

[00:05:20] Miguel: barely, like, one years old.  
 
 

[00:05:21] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, man. You  
 
 

[00:05:22] Miguel: watched. But I've seen all those highlights my whole life.  
 
 

[00:05:23] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you have it. You have to watch, you have to watch the clip of, of Diego Armando Maradona score the second goal, but you gotta hear the clip with the narration from the Argentine. 
 
 

Uh, I forget his name, the Argentine commentator. Because the guy's like- The great guy ... ends up crying, right, where he's narrating the goal, and that's where he gives him the nickname El Barrilete Cósmico. De qué planeta viniste. No? So it's like, yeah, man, this... I still watch that clip and my... It's just, I, I, you know, it gets that. 
 
 

You, you get the feels, man. So, um, yeah, no, I think, listen, so this is, yeah, Mexico's third time hosting the World Cup. This time [00:06:00] co-hosting it. I think  
 
 

[00:06:00] Miguel: that's the most, right? That's the most- Yeah ... I think. Yeah.  
 
 

[00:06:03] Alexander Aviña: Yeah. And, and, um, it's interesting because the last, the first two times Mexico hosted the World Cup, they're arguably the two best of all time, right? 
 
 

So the 1970 World Cup we saw most likely, I think, arguably the best national team in the history of, of, of, of world soccer, which was the 1970 Brazilian national team, um, that had Pelé playing his last World Cup. And- Um, they beat Italy like 4-0 in the final, and there's one-- The last goal is kind of crazy because every single person on the, on the Brazilian team touched the ball, and then it led to a goal. 
 
 

So it's like the very, like... And there's these really incredible images of, of Pelé, you know, shirt off on top of people's shoulders and trying to put the charro hat on him, the sombrero on him. But that, that was an interesting World Cup because that came two years after Mexico became the first Global South nation to host the Summer Olympics, right, in O- in, in October of 1968. 
 
 

And a week [00:07:00] before the Summer Olympics started in Mexico City, we had the Tlatelolco student massacre that took place on October 2nd, right, where, uh, a student movement, a pro-democracy, reformist, you know, let's say left-wing student movement had developed throughout the course of 19-- the summer of 1968, really pressuring the Mexican government then that was ruled by the, the PRI, Partido Revolucionario Institucional, Institucional, that was, you know, basically the, the, the authoritarian dictatorial political party that ruled Mexico from like 1929 to 2000. 
 
 

So we had this pro-democracy student movement that takes form over the summer of 1968. They continue to pressure the Mexican government to make democratic reforms. Uh, and a week before the Summer Olympics begin, um, a gathering of student protesters and other protesters at this place called La Plaza de las Tres Culturas or Tlatelolco, uh, they're fired upon by and massacred by Mexican soldiers. 
 
 

Um, there's other stuff we can-- There's a lot of details we could get into the actual massacre, [00:08:00] but, uh, we still don't know, like, how many students and protesters were massacred, most likely in the hundreds. Um Well, if we fast-forward to the 1970 World Cup when the, when President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz enters El Estadio Azteca for the opening game of the 1970 World Cup, he received just thunderous, like the wis- the, the infamous Mexican whistles, right? 
 
 

The jeering, the whistling, the booing because people still remembered and blamed him for that student massacre that had taken place two years earlier. And then something eerily similar happens when Mexico hosts the 1986 World Cup, right? Where there, um, Mexico wasn't originally the country that was supposed to host the '86 World Cup. 
 
 

I think it was Colombia. But for political reasons and b- and cholera outbreaks and other things, they s- they quickly transitioned to Mexico to be the host. But Mexico had s- in 1985, Mexico City had suffered this horrific earthquake, um, that killed more, like, th- than 10,000 people in Mexico City. Um, at the time I was living in, [00:09:00] in Michoacán with my family, and we felt, we felt it, and we felt the aftershocks. 
 
 

Our own house almost came down. So, um, the response of the Mexican government, the p- still the PRI, uh, was horrific. It was completely just... They didn't, they did not meet the moment, right? Like, they, there was all sorts of corruption in terms of, like, receiving international aid or the Mexican government at one point saying, "We don't need international aid. 
 
 

We, we can take care of ourselves." But the government response to this earthquake in Mexico City was, was horrific. It didn't meet the moment. So when the World Cup gets hosted just, like, a year later, which is kinda crazy to think about after this massive earthquake, um, then President Miguel de la Madrid enters Estadio Azteca for I think it was the... 
 
 

I don't know if it was the opening match, but it was, like, Bulgaria versus Italy or something like that. And when he enters and tries to give a speech, he got the same treatment that Díaz Ordaz got back in 1970, the jeering, the whistling, the booing, the protesting. Um, and actually during the '86 World Cup- Which we probably [00:10:00] saw the greatest single individual performance of any World Cup, which was the Argentine player Diego Armando Maradona. 
 
 

You did have protests, um, against the Mexican government around the World Cup. And in, in a really famous moment, one of my favorite players of all time, a Brazilian number eight midfielder, Sócrates, would wear... When they would, when the players would come out and stand in a line to hear the national anthems, he would wear these headbands that would say, like, "Solidarity with the Mexican people." 
 
 

'Cause Sócrates is an amazing guy, right? Like, he's just, uh, a Marxist doctor who, who, uh, plays, who happened to play soccer, helped bring down-  
 
 

[00:10:33] Miguel: Speaking of pro-  
 
 

[00:10:33] Alexander Aviña: Yeah. Helped bring down- And  
 
 

[00:10:34] Miguel: played for Brazil of all teams, like,  
 
 

[00:10:36] Alexander Aviña: that's- Played for Brazil. One of the silkiest- You gotta hear how good you are to play, right? 
 
 

Yeah. One of the silkiest center mids. Um, and he's also radical, right? Very politically committed and, and helped bring about the, the downfall of the Brazilian military dictatorship with the m- democracy moment he led at, at Corinthians, which was his Brazilian team. Um, so yeah. So those are the two. So, so the 1970 World Cup gave us, uh, the greatest team [00:11:00] performance, I think greatest team ever at a World Cup. 
 
 

'86 gave us the greatest individual performance, so who knows what's gonna happen, um, at, at this current forum. Uh, it's just, I, I'm... This is the, probably the one World Cup in my life that I'm, like, the least excited about. A- and it is for political reasons, um, because of the- Like  
 
 

[00:11:16] Miguel: overall because of politics-  
 
 

[00:11:18] Alexander Aviña: Yeah 
 
 

[00:11:18] Miguel: not just like the ban from the  
 
 

[00:11:19] Alexander Aviña: fans sports point of view? Oh, no. I mean, as a long-suffering Mexico fan, I already know what's gonna happen, you know? Hey,  
 
 

[00:11:23] Miguel: no, I was about to say, 'cause, you know.  
 
 

[00:11:24] Alexander Aviña: I have this thing-  
 
 

[00:11:25] Miguel: We know, we know what happens.  
 
 

[00:11:26] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, no. Online once, I think it was the 2018 World Cup, I tweeted something where I was like, "Listen, I- I don't believe any of the bullshit that Octavio Paz writes in The Labyrinth of Solitude. 
 
 

I only- but it only when it applies to the national team at the World Cup, then I agree with his thesis about Mexicanidad and Mexican identity. Other than... In no other situation is it accurate or does it f- like, say anything meaningful about Mexican identity or quote, unquote, "The Mexican character." But I think it does apply to the Mexican national team every four years at the World Cup. 
 
 

Um, but no, it's mostly because of the, the political situation, [00:12:00] uh, obviously because of the way that the US government is, is, is, is, is going to run this tournament into the ground because the way that it seems like FIFA is trying to squeeze the last cent from every single soccer fan that it can by monetizing every single aspect of this World Cup in ways that are different from previous World Cups. 
 
 

Although we could see probably since the 1994 World Cup, they've been on that trajectory of just trying to monetize as much as possible. But then when you combine that with Trump, with the ethnic cleansing campaigns within the US against migrant communities and refugees, um, when you consider geo- pol- you know, global geopolitical situations like the genocide in West Asia and Palestine, Southern Lebanon, uh, Iran, I mean, it's just, it's, it's crazy, man. 
 
 

It's, it's... For me, I, I, I will watch games, I'm not going to lie, but I'm not as excited as I have been in the... Like, i- in the past, I would be like, "All right, I'm not doing shit for a month except..." And I'm, I have two kids, and they'll sit with me, and they're like, "We're watching this with you." But [00:13:00] this time around, it's not anywhere near, um, how I felt about pra- past iterations  
 
 

[00:13:06] Miguel: And for me, kind of the same thing. 
 
 

Like, I, like you, I'm gonna watch the tournament. Um, but then I'm also like, in a way it's the contradictions 'cause I just had the episode with BAP with, uh, Black Alliance for Peace, and they're doing their boycott campaign, and I'm for that all the way, right? Yeah. Even then, but here I am still gonna watch the games 
 
 

[00:13:24] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, it's hard. You know, yeah, no, it's, yeah, it's-  
 
 

[00:13:27] Miguel: But one of the things I'm hoping to do, I'm over here in Sacramento. I'm originally from SoCal, but, but live here in Sacramento. Um, and I used to live in the Bay when I ended up in Northern California. Um, but you know, the games are gonna be at Levi- Yeah 
 
 

Stadium, the Niners stadium, and then obviously in SoCal at SoFi Stadium. But hopefully, I'm trying to find out if there's gonna be any actions, any, like, outside the stadium, right? So I'm hoping if there is, trying to go to something like that, support for that. Um, and I know there's other ones, so if [00:14:00] people wanna know, just check out... 
 
 

I'll be posting about it, but Black Alliance for Peace has been po- posting all these things. There's different groups. There's a whole coalition. So hopefully people go out to that. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm gonna watch the games too, but hopefully the, you know, the whole point of my podcast, sports is a weapon. 
 
 

Like, let's go do some actions, right? Yeah. Yeah, for  
 
 

[00:14:16] Alexander Aviña: sure. For sure.  
 
 

[00:14:17] Miguel: Um, so hoping that happens. I'm pretty sure there will be. Um, there's always stuff popping in the Bay Area. There was for the Super Bowl. Mm-hmm. Um, but even when I was in grad school, that's how I ended up in, um, Northern California. I was at San Jose State. 
 
 

Um, I, my research project was on, uh, the clean zones that the Super Bowl implements and all these mega events pretty much lease contracts, right? They sign with cities, host cities, and they pretty much have, like, a ordinance, and they prohibit certain business. So there, this was in 2016, right when Trump was campaigning, which I actually talk about Trump in my thesis project. 
 
 

Like, I went to the freaking convention center where they had the campaign and everything. Like, that's all part of it, but part of it [00:15:00] was 'cause the street, they were, like, banning the street vendors, all the Mexican- Yeah ... and, uh, Central American undocumented street vendors. So I've kinda, like, been very familiar with mega events now for a while, and then to me it just get, it's getting worse 
 
 

Yeah. Like, the Olympics are coming up in LA. Yeah. Shout out to No Olympics LA. Like, it's gonna get... It's, these mega events are just, they're just like what all capitalists do, right? They're just trying to- Yeah ... get all that profit they can. Um, but yeah, and then it's getting worse. And I even read, even though, you know, most, for the most part, I'm a supporter of Morena, Morena Party, right? 
 
 

But I also will have critiques, and I know that they had to make some deals with, 'cause it's mega, it's a mega event, right? And then obviously the- The pre- it was also Morena party before in Mexico, um, with AMLO. That's probably when they made the deal to host the, uh, the World Cup. Um- Oh,  
 
 

[00:15:53] Alexander Aviña: it  
 
 

[00:15:54] Miguel: was under the, it was Peña Nieto 
 
 

it was be- oh, so, oh, so- Yeah, it was, it was Peña Nieto ... I guess that's, in a way that's good 'cause it was the, [00:16:00] the worst. It was the fucking PRI, right?  
 
 

[00:16:02] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, no, they negot- It's the, it's- It was Peña Nieto on his way out- It's the, yeah ... negotiating it with  
 
 

[00:16:04] Miguel: FIFA ... oh, so I, I was trying to remember if it was- Yeah 
 
 

right after AMLO. It was right before. And he gave- But usually they plan it, like, 10 years in advance, right, so.  
 
 

[00:16:11] Alexander Aviña: Yeah. No, and he provided really generous, like, uh, concessions to FIFA, like multi-year, uh, tax-free, um, con- concessions that, uh, I, I don't remember if it was López Obrador or Sheinbaum who negotiated it down just to a year. 
 
 

So, like, so this year FIFA does enjoy, like, certain tax-free statuses in Mc- in, in the World Cup, the three World Cup cities, Mexico, Guadalajara, and, and Monterrey, and their, and their vendors. But before, like, Peña Nieto's deal extended this for, like, multiple years. Um, but I can't re- I can't remember if it was López Obrador or Sheinbaum who negotiated down to just the year of the World Cup. 
 
 

Um, but yeah, it was, it, this was, this was, this was made or I think this was 20... I wanna say, like, 2016, 2017, maybe even into 2018 right before the election, yeah Yeah, 'cause it's usually,  
 
 

[00:16:58] Miguel: like, a decade before when they usually plan- [00:17:00] Yeah ... these out.  
 
 

[00:17:00] Alexander Aviña: Um- So it's probably 2016 if I remember correctly, yeah ...  
 
 

[00:17:03] Miguel: and I was just reading, like, there's been, you know, people, like, that live near the stadium that have been protesting 'cause certain developments have been popping up and they didn't get the resources, you know? 
 
 

And it's just reminding me of the '86 World Cup even though we have a- Yeah ... much more favorable government, right? There's still these issues of neoliberalism and capitalism that are gonna be inherent because you're, you're hosting this mega event. It's just- Yeah ... that's the way it is with this capitalist, right? 
 
 

Yeah, there's no- That's what the World Cup and FIFA is. There's- You can't escape it if you're gonna host it.  
 
 

[00:17:33] Alexander Aviña: Right. Right, and this is why probably shouldn't host it to begin with, right? As the No LA folks have argued, right? Mm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um,  
 
 

[00:17:40] Miguel: and  
 
 

[00:17:41] Alexander Aviña: I think they're exactly right. But I think in Mexico City there's been pretty sustained popular protests against the way that the the way that the f- that FIFA and Morena are trying to hold the games in, in the city, right? 
 
 

So for one, one really unpopular project involves [00:18:00] the building of a, like a walking pathway or bike pathway from the Zócalo, the very center of Mexico City, down to the Estadio Azteca- Mm-hmm ... which is like 17, 18 kilometers. Like Estadio Azteca is, i- far in the south. Like it's not close to the very center of Mexico City. 
 
 

But to build that bike path or, uh, walking path for, for tourists, they've had to displace peoples who lived on that path, or they've had to displace vendors who worked on that, on that path, a- a- a- street work- a- a- sex workers as well. So it's brought in like the protests against some of the, the quote-unquote infrastructural development that the city has had to do to like, to, to accommodate, uh, tourists who are coming and fans who are coming to watch the games at the Estadio Azteca or Estadio Banorte, whatever it's called now. 
 
 

Um, for, to me, it's always gonna be Estadio Azteca. Okay. Um, they've dis- they've, they've managed to piss off street vendors, sex workers, people who live near the pathways, um, and they've had pretty sustained [00:19:00] protests, uh, since last year try- and, and trying to bring attention to, uh- This p- this hypercapitalist dynamic that FIFA is hel- with the help of the local Mexico City and federal government helping to accommodate, right, which is to just help plunder, uh, and help just take as much value that they can from the thir- how many? 
 
 

Thir- I think Mexico's hosting 13 matches total, right? I can't remember how many at Estadio Azteca.  
 
 

[00:19:27] Miguel: But they're just- I think up to like a semi or quarterfinal- Yeah ... and then the semis are probably in the US.  
 
 

[00:19:31] Alexander Aviña: It's just they're, they're a bunch of pirates, man, and they're going in there and they're plundering, and they have the help of local and, and federal governments, and then they leave, right? 
 
 

And they leave, and as we know with these mega sporting events, like what do they leave behind, right? So that's, that's the issue. So I haven't seen as many protests. I haven't seen really any protests in Monterrey. I've seen some protests in, in Guadalajara. There, the dynamic has been- Specifically at the  
 
 

[00:19:52] Miguel: FA, right? 
 
 

[00:19:53] Alexander Aviña: Yeah. What's that? In Guadalajara, the, the news that we, that's come out are some protests organized by f- [00:20:00] um, organizations formed by family members of the Disappeared, and apparently within the last s- you know, six to eight months, they've found like human, a, a lot of human remains pretty close to El Estadio Akron, which is where the Chivas de Guadalajara play and which is gonna be one of the sites for the, for some of the World Cup matches, right? 
 
 

So you, there you also have a, a crazy contrast, right? You have ultra-modern, expensive, new soccer stadium that's going to host this mega global event, but not, you know, two, three kilometers from there, you know, people are finding the remains of loved ones who were disappeared by either state agents or narcotrafficking organizations that are pretty powerful in that part of Mexico. 
 
 

Uh, so there's a contradiction right there, right? Uh, but what joins the two things is capitalism, right? 'Cause narcos are just outlaw capitalists who depend on licit capitalists to, to, to do their, to, to do their business. Um, so those are some of the contradictions I think we're seeing play out right before the World Cup takes place in Mexico. 
 
 

But [00:21:00] Mexico City seems to be the, the more sus- the site of the most sustained protests against it.  
 
 

[00:21:05] Miguel: Yeah, so I saw that connection now from this current World Cup coming up and then '86 when I was doing my research a little bit because of the earthquake when it was happening and peop- there was that, there was all these issues, right? 
 
 

So, um, the same issues of prioritizing the mega event and the cap- the business class capitalists, um- Infrastructure, like fix- they were fixing up the stadiums in '86, Ru, like probably- Mm-hmm ... just Azteca. I don't know how many, which... Of, of course, they were the whole host country, so there was other stadiums. 
 
 

[00:21:34] Alexander Aviña: Yeah.  
 
 

[00:21:35] Miguel: But they're, you know, they were fixing the stadiums quick- quicker, pri- prioritizing that over people's, uh, homes or whatever else was destroyed, right? That, that just, that was in the community. Um, and this again, just had the main the main thing that ties it all is ca- capitalism.  
 
 

[00:21:54] Alexander Aviña: Yeah. Right. I mean, this is what is-  
 
 

[00:21:55] Miguel: Right. 
 
 

[00:21:55] Alexander Aviña: And this is what this event is about, right? Yeah. It didn't begin as such, [00:22:00] right? It, this wasn't the idea of the event in 1930. But if you read, you know, if you read, like, the great Eduardo Galeano's, uh, Uruguayan writer's history of, of soccer, like, that's one of the... And then the updates he kept doing to the book, uh, Soccer Under Sun and Shadow, like one of the trajectories or one of the dynamics that he's tracing is, like, what does capitalism and commodification do to this beautiful game? 
 
 

And, and he t- has some really strong words. By the time as he get... I think the last World Cup he wrote on was, might have been 2014. I don't think he, or maybe tw- I don't think he was alive by the Russia World Cup in 2018.  
 
 

[00:22:33] Miguel: I, I was in grad school when he passed away, so it might have been around that time. 
 
 

[00:22:37] Alexander Aviña: Yeah. And that's, so that's one of the, like, what the... So in addition to, like, what- Hosting a mega event does, right, just to, to accumulation, to exploitation of local communities and, and, and municipal and federal governments, like what capitalism has done to the actual game itself, right? And, and, and Galeano's whole thing about how [00:23:00] capitalism and commodification have, has turned players into robots. 
 
 

Um, male players, right? 'Cause Galeano only wrote about male soccer players, not, not women. But he talks about how capitalism has commodified players to the point where it's turned them into robots, and now it's really difficult to see, you know, individual sparks of creativity and brilliance because the incentive is actually to be s- to play it safe, right? 
 
 

To win, to play it safe, to get the mega contracts, to be- to behave on and off the field so you can get the sponsorships. And, and so what has that done to the game, right? And it's, it's what capitalism has done to every other, uh, uh, activity that it, it has colonized, right? It does the same thing. It's a similar type of flattening out, exploitative, uh, process that homogenizes, that tries to render difference out of that particular activity so the few can make c- For the few to accumulate profits at the expense of the many. 
 
 

And I know soccer players, like, you know, we think some of these world-famous soccer players are [00:24:00] extremely wealthy, but they're not the ones who have the power, right? They're not the ones who have the power, uh, or who are making, like, the real money. Uh, the real money, you know- Well, not the  
 
 

[00:24:09] Miguel: owners.  
 
 

[00:24:10] Alexander Aviña: Yes, owners. 
 
 

Uh, sovereign f- you know, Saudi Arabian, Qatari- Yeah, Saudi, yeah ... like these sovereign funds, right? Yeah. Like, yeah. So that's, that's one of the things also too, right? So we have what's going on outside of the stadium and the impact of capitalism on local communities and countries, but then also thinking about what capitalism has done to the actual beautiful game itself. 
 
 

[00:24:32] Miguel: And I don't know specifically about Mexico, but obvious- here in the US there's been a lot of the talk of how much... You know, like in New York they had, they were gonna charge like 100 bucks for, like, riding the, the subway. They reduced it, I think. But, like, it's crazy prices like that, right? And obviously there's been talk about ticket prices over here and, like, how they're so expensive and they're actually not selling. 
 
 

And hotels apparently saying they're not seeing people booking for the World Cup. So there's even that. At least here in the US there's like a, [00:25:00] the public is not as responding to how they wanted, like, the capitalists, the way they... I don't even know. The games are still, there's still gonna be people going to the games, but- Yeah 
 
 

this doesn't sound like it's gonna be as profitable as they really wanted. And like we said, all this stuff is going, like gas is g- crazy right now over here in the US- Yeah ... so globally 'cause of the war. And then here, the big thing over here in the US is the whole situation with ICE, right? So-  
 
 

[00:25:26] Intro Music: Yeah  
 
 

[00:25:27] Miguel: They're gonna be present at the World Cup. 
 
 

Like, that's, that's gonna be an- another thing where something's gonna... There's gonna be things happening, unfortunately- Yeah ... 'cause of that shit.  
 
 

[00:25:37] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, no, I think- Um- ... like, like I think my, my parents, my dad, um, was able to get three tickets for my brother and I and him to go watch a World Cup game in 1994, right, when the, when the US hosted it for the first time. 
 
 

You know, my, at that- Did you go to the  
 
 

[00:25:51] Miguel: LA one?  
 
 

[00:25:52] Alexander Aviña: No, we went to Stanford to watch Brazil- Stanford ... versus Cameroon.  
 
 

[00:25:55] Miguel: Okay, okay.  
 
 

[00:25:56] Alexander Aviña: Um, you know, and we were like a very working class [00:26:00] family. I think in '94 my parents had finally gotten their green cards, so they were finally legal. Um, but we were able to afford it, right? 
 
 

Like, we, we didn't stay at a hotel or anything. We drove up and drove back down. I lived, I grew up in San Luis Obispo, so like a three and a half hour drive. So we drove up for the game and came back. But, like, it was an affordable experience. Like, that's not, that's not a thing for this World Cup, right? 
 
 

When you're ha- when World Cup final tickets are being tagged up to $30,000 a ticket, right? When FIFA is... The FIFA fan zones that they've created in the last couple of World Cups outside of stadiums where, you know, you may not have a ticket to get into a match, but then you can go to the FIFA fan zone and kinda interact with other fans, have a good time. 
 
 

They, those used to be free. This is the first World Cup where FIFA now is gonna be charging an entry fee. Like, they're so greedy, man. They're trying to, they're trying to monetize every single activity that's related to the World Cup, and that's, I think, that's gonna, uh, that's not very appealing for people to, in the US, uh, just speaking about the [00:27:00] US. 
 
 

Also, yeah, like Trump and, and, and ICE and, and, and people around the world have been watching over a year about these, these ethnic cleansing campaigns against migrants. Uh, this, this is not the mo- the US right now isn't the most inviting country to come visit, right? And the, and  
 
 

[00:27:15] Miguel: they actually, like- Visa prices. 
 
 

He just, the visa prices. Right, like- I think he just brought that down, but, like, he just-  
 
 

[00:27:18] Alexander Aviña: Na- Na- Narco Rubio is not making it easier for, like, fans around the world to come. There are certain fan bases that will not be allowed to come into the country. Yeah, yeah. Like, they're not gonna... They're gonna give a lot of shit to Haitian fans who are, who are trying to get in, or Iranian fans or whatever, right? 
 
 

Like, so it's  
 
 

[00:27:33] Miguel: just- I just read that the Jordanian fans are gonna have issues because they're not able to travel over here, and they're, I think they're playing in Levi Stadium, so they're gonna play at, you know, in Santa Clara, San Jose and all that. So they're not gonna be able to travel. Yeah. So there's a, there's already, you know, those already popping up. 
 
 

And then we're not, I haven't even mentioned Iran, like what's gonna happen- Yeah ... with Iran. Like, they're gonna come to the World Cup, but- Like, what if, I don't know, man, shit's crazy. What if, what if Trump, like, [00:28:00] tries to, like, kidnap some of the Iranian players? Like, who knows? Who knows,  
 
 

[00:28:04] Alexander Aviña: man? At  
 
 

[00:28:04] Miguel: this- Who knows right now? 
 
 

Who knows? Um, right? Who  
 
 

[00:28:06] Intro Music: knows? Yeah.  
 
 

[00:28:07] Alexander Aviña: It just doesn't seem like, at least in the US, it's not, it doesn't augur well, like, that it's going to be a successful event. It might, it might... The, the Canadians might pull it off. They have their own contradictions as well. Um, you know, the events in Mexico might, are probably gonna be better off as well, although there's local contradictions as well. 
 
 

But, uh, the vast majority of the matches, of the 104 matches, are gonna be in the US, right? So I don't know.  
 
 

[00:28:34] Miguel: Yeah, I'm gonna skip a little bit and then we'll go talk about the team. But, um, I was reading the Mexican... So, like, they had announced that the, they were gonna count, like, end school, right, the school year early so they could go watch the games. 
 
 

And then, like, a few days later they reversed, 'cause I guess people were angry about it, but I also saw the opposition was angry about it. Um, but Mexican Ministry of Public Education, like, suddenly reversed it to end the school year and apparently [00:29:00] parents, teachers, labor unions were mad. But I also saw the PRI and opposition parties were, like, trying to like, "Oh yeah, we didn't do that when we were hosting the World Cup." 
 
 

So I don't know, just what are your thoughts on that? Like, that was just one of the other contradictions, I guess, or what's going on with Mexico hosting.  
 
 

[00:29:17] Alexander Aviña: Uh, I love, the political opposition in Mexico is just so pathetic, man. So I think we can kinda- ... we can kind of ignore them and, and, and, and kinda just critique. 
 
 

Uh, I mean, that's, it's a blessing and a curse for a, a, a poli- a social movement turned political party like MORENA to not have a political opposition, 'cause it kinda just allows them to take things for granted. And in the Mexican political scene, this is a long time occurrence, it's not specific to MORENA, uh, polit- you know, sc- unscrupulous politicians from other sh- parties will just jump ship and MORENA will accept them, and then that'll have certain consequences as well. 
 
 

But in, in, in terms of, um, this particular controversy, so yeah, the- The, the s- the, the [00:30:00] public education Secretaria de Educación Pública, um, had announced that they were gonna shorten the school year from, or the July 15th was the, the, uh, the last day of school. They're gonna shorten it to June 5th. Now, the World Cup was only part one half of the ex- the justification. 
 
 

The other justification was extreme heat, because Mexico right now, like many parts of the world, is ex- is ha- is experiencing one of the hottest years on, on record. Um-  
 
 

[00:30:24] Miguel: Like, every summer gets hotter, so.  
 
 

[00:30:25] Alexander Aviña: Yeah. So there, that was also a justification for it, but obviously the way it gets reported, and the way that the- Mm-hmm 
 
 

the, the Shane Baum and others talked about it, uh, they made it seem like it was only about the World Cup. So yeah, there was a massive sustained pressure and, and they reversed course. And now, um, there's also, like, logistical stuff in some of the host cities, but, like, parents, parents organizations, teachers, labor unions were like, "Well, only three cities are hosting it. 
 
 

Why do you have to shut down education for the whole, for the whole country?" Um, so I think they quite wisely, like, listened and, and, and they reversed course, and now they're, they're going back to [00:31:00] the original last day of school, which is, which is, uh, July 15th. Um-  
 
 

[00:31:05] Miguel: Feel like the, on, on social media they were, like, trying to make this bigger controversy than there really is after that reverse. 
 
 

Like, yeah  
 
 

[00:31:12] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, I mean, yeah. So going back, going back to political opposition, I mean, that's all they have, right? Like, I think- Mm-hmm ... um, es- you know, especially a party like the PRI. Yeah, like them citing that they had successfully hosted two previous World Cups. Well, we already talked about what happened when they hosted it, right? 
 
 

Like the run-up and, and what their presidents, the treatment that their, their presidents got when they, when they had to confront the popular, the populous at these stadiums. Um, but the, the PRI the other day is, was ... I saw the, the... I forget the name. Alejandro, what is his name? The president of the PRI right now. 
 
 

Can't remember his last name right now. But he was appealing to the US to basically intervene in Mexico because Mexico's now a narco state. And then we've seen other individual senators from, like, the right-wing PAN party, like Lilia going to the US and [00:32:00] basically begging the gringos to intervene in Mexico because Mexico's a narco state. 
 
 

Um, it, you know, I- you've... My contention is actually the US is the world's largest narco state. But, um, so there, these, this opposition is just really cartoonishly in- politically ineffective. But, so any time they can, like, get, uh, a particular issue that generates scandal, like this particular one, they're gonna jump on it, but they never ye- they haven't yet kinda capitalized ef- in an effective way on any sort of these scandals. 
 
 

Um, and this was, like, an easy one for the-  
 
 

[00:32:33] Miguel: I think you were thinking of, was it Alito Moreno?  
 
 

[00:32:36] Alexander Aviña: Alito Moreno. That's it. Yeah, that- Yeah, yeah ... pathetic individual. Um. The, yeah. But this was like, for Morena this was, like, an easy one. Like, this was an on, this is autogol, right? If we're gonna, like, use a sports metaphor. 
 
 

Yeah. This was kind of an own goal. Yeah. 
 
 

And it was easy 
 
 

to reverse and, and they, uh, they did the Ys.  
 
 

[00:32:51] Miguel: Yeah, like and then showing that they're reversing in a way is like, "See? We're responding to our people- Yeah ... what they wanted," right? Right.  
 
 

[00:32:58] Alexander Aviña: Yeah.  
 
 

[00:32:59] Miguel: Um, so [00:33:00] to me, I put it on there, but I was like, "This isn't even that big of a..." But it's like they were trying to make it like a bigger deal. 
 
 

So as a critique.  
 
 

[00:33:06] Alexander Aviña: Yeah. Yeah, and all, and, and all Morena had to do was say, "Okay, you guys are right. We'll put, put it back to the original closing date of the school year," and then it's over, right? Like, then the- that's, that's it. So again, like the, the, the, the political opposition in Mexico is just, um, they're not very effective or creative, um, or particularly successful at kind of trying to... 
 
 

I mean, if they're reduced to asking the United States to directly intervene in Mexico, I mean, it shows you at what place they kind of are. So.  
 
 

[00:33:37] Miguel: And now we'll just talk a little bit about the team, and then we'll get back to more, more of the serious stuff. Um, but just talk about the team. Uh, I was reading about the roster. 
 
 

Right now they're trying to pick the roster. Right now they kind of narrowed it down to, like, 55 players. Um, but it looks, from what I was reading, that a lot of the players are gonna come from the domestic league, from Liga [00:34:00] MX. Um, I don't know if that was... You know, obviously there's always gonna be a lot of players from Liga MX on the team, but it sounds like there's more than in the past that's gonna be on the team, more than the players that go play overseas in Europe, you know. 
 
 

Um, but if you wanna just talk about the team roster, what you're feeling as a fan. We already kind of have that doom. Um- I'm a Raider fan, football. I already, you know, I'm already- I already know how shit goes when bad things happen, right? Yeah. Um, kind of Mexico team feels cursed. So- You know, we never... But we'll see. 
 
 

But what do you think- Yeah ... of the roster? I didn't know there's gonna be a lot of young players and stuff, and- Yeah ... uh, Ochoa's back to be the backup goalie. He's been on the team forever.  
 
 

[00:34:40] Alexander Aviña: San, San Memo. Yeah, but, like,  
 
 

[00:34:43] Miguel: the, that thing- Yes,  
 
 

[00:34:43] Alexander Aviña: San Memo ... the online joke about Memo is that he only plays every four years, right? 
 
 

Right. And then in between he doesn't really do anything. Um- No, Memo. Listen, I, I'll admit that I'm a, I'm a, I'm a Club América fan, so I've, uh, I've r- I've watched Memo play for a really long time, and he's way [00:35:00] past his prime, man. Like, that, he honestly shouldn't be... He's there to break the record, right, or t- tie the record of most World Cups. 
 
 

I mean, but he's- He  
 
 

[00:35:06] Miguel: just has that legendary- Yeah ... that legend player roster spot. He,  
 
 

[00:35:10] Alexander Aviña: he plays, he's currently playing in the Cyprus League, and he hasn't had the best performance so that I've read or,  
 
 

[00:35:15] Miguel: you know. Oh, he's way over there? Dang, I didn't  
 
 

[00:35:17] Alexander Aviña: know- Yeah, yeah ... he was playing over  
 
 

[00:35:18] Miguel: him.  
 
 

[00:35:18] Alexander Aviña: So right now they're at the pre-list, right? 
 
 

Like, it's a prelista of 55 players. So we'll see if... I mean, I think- I think there's about 15 players, maybe 12 to 15 players that play abroad. I mean, it sucks that, like, there's two- I know  
 
 

[00:35:33] Miguel: a couple are injured, right, that are-  
 
 

[00:35:35] Alexander Aviña: Right ...  
 
 

[00:35:35] Miguel: that could be on the team.  
 
 

[00:35:37] Alexander Aviña: Well, yeah, the Huescas, um, the right back that plays in, in, uh, FC Copenhagen, I think, in Denmark. 
 
 

He was having such a good, uh, year last year until he blew out his knee. Um, so he won't play, which is a shame. We could ma- uh, that's an important position, right back. Um, but there's some other options I think that could do okay. And then there's a weird situation with Chucky, with Hirving Lozano, that, like, he's [00:36:00] been left off because he's not playing with his MLS team, the San Diego team. 
 
 

He's having  
 
 

[00:36:04] Miguel: issues with his team, right? With San  
 
 

[00:36:06] Alexander Aviña: Diego, yeah. So weird. Yeah. So he's, like, he's getting paid, like, 7 million a year, but then, like, the coach won't let him play or train with the team. Something went down, so he's been left off, which is kind of a shame. Um, but there's, there's an interesting gr- I think there's a interesting group of, like, 12 to 15 players that play in Europe that I think... 
 
 

Couple that are coming back from injuries. So Chino Huerta who plays in Anderlecht, Julián Araujo who plays on the great Celtic, uh, Celtic FC in Scotland. Edson Álvarez, um, was playing in Turkey. They're all coming back from injuries, so that's... They're all, I think, really important players for, for the national team. 
 
 

Um, there's also a group of, like, Mexican American players. So there's one, there's a local... I'm in Phoenix right now. I live in Phoenix now, and there's a local kid, um, Ri- Richard Ledesma, who plays for Chivas. So he has, he's on the list. He might make it. Obed Vargas, another Alaskan Mexican American who plays on [00:37:00] Atlético Madrid. 
 
 

Agree about him. Yeah. Yeah, no, he's... So he, he, he... I think he'll ma- He should And he plays on the  
 
 

[00:37:04] Miguel: Spanish team. He plays in La Liga, right? So-  
 
 

[00:37:06] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, he plays in Atlético Madrid. He's a really good player. Okay. So he should. So, and that's an, that's actually, like, a really interesting dynamic that we're gonna see more of, I think, in, with future Mexican national teams. 
 
 

Like, if you watch their youth national teams, like, under 15, under 16, some of those teams are majority Mexican American. Um, because they have, Mexico has created a really good network of scouts that, like, n- are going not just to the US, but other parts of the world to find kids who are part Mexican that they can then draw to the national team. 
 
 

So if you look at, like, their- Uh, they're under 15 or they're under 16. They have some, like, baller kids right now that are, like, part Mexican, part Black, part American, and, like, they're trying to convince them to stay through the, the Mexican national team. Um, so that, you know, and the fact that there's, what, 30 to 40 million, uh, Mexicans, Americans of Mexican descent that living in the US, that's, like, that's a huge number to [00:38:00] draw from that I think will only increase the number of Mexican Americans. 
 
 

[00:38:04] Miguel: When we have games in the US where Mexico plays whoever or they play the US, you know, obviously a lot of the stadiums will have the games there where all the Mexicanos are, where all live, southwest or Chicago or somewhere like that, right?  
 
 

[00:38:17] Alexander Aviña: Yeah. We're willing to play  
 
 

[00:38:19] Miguel: in dollar- Everyone turns up ... pay in dollars for bad  
 
 

[00:38:21] Alexander Aviña: performances. 
 
 

Everyone turns up. Yeah, yeah.  
 
 

[00:38:22] Miguel: Yeah.  
 
 

[00:38:23] Alexander Aviña: Oh. So that, I think, you know, uh, the list, I think the base of the group is gonna be the, the guys who are playing in Europe. Um, and-  
 
 

[00:38:32] Miguel: And this  
 
 

[00:38:32] Alexander Aviña: roster  
 
 

[00:38:32] Miguel: is, is a little younger, right, than before?  
 
 

[00:38:34] Alexander Aviña: It is a lot younger, and so we'll see. From 55 do... I can't remember if they have to reduce it to, like, 20-  
 
 

[00:38:39] Miguel: To 26  
 
 

[00:38:40] Alexander Aviña: I think. 
 
 

Yeah ... 26 is the final roster. Yeah. So of those 26, I imagine, like, half are gonna be Europe based or MLS based, right? Like, I think there's a couple that are in MLS. Um, um, so I don't know. It looks pretty strong. I mean, I, I think on paper it looks stronger than the last iteration. Like, the Saudi Arabia, like, squad was, like, awful [00:39:00] and, and I, I, I think it was awful and I didn't like the coach, um, at all, Tata Martino. 
 
 

I like the current coach- Yeah ... El Vasco Aguirre. I like him, but, like, he's just not the most imaginative coach. Like, we know how he plays. He's very defensive, very structured and organized, so he won't give up a lot of goals, but we're not going to be- Well, s- the  
 
 

[00:39:19] Miguel: strategy will be predictable-  
 
 

[00:39:20] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, yeah. Um- ...  
 
 

[00:39:21] Miguel: I guess, to opponents. 
 
 

[00:39:23] Alexander Aviña: But the advantage we have is that we're gonna be playing at home, right? And the, and the last two World Cups where we've played at home we've made it to the w- quarterfinals, so, um, we'll see. Obviously it's different now.  
 
 

[00:39:34] Miguel: And if they get farther they might end up playing the US, and obviously they'll have a lot of home crowd there hopefully. 
 
 

But things are expensive, so who knows- Yeah ... and with ICE, but.  
 
 

[00:39:42] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, one of my worst experiences as a soccer fan was watching the US beat Mexico in the 2002 World Cup in the knockout rounds. I... That was... I'm still, I'm still angry about-  
 
 

[00:39:54] Miguel: I think I was- Uh ... I was visiting, like, my family, like some family in Vegas where I was watching it. 
 
 

'Cause [00:40:00] that was, was that the, that was the World Cup in Japan or Korea or- Japan  
 
 

[00:40:03] Alexander Aviña: and South Korea, yeah ...  
 
 

[00:40:04] Miguel: Japan, Korea, right? Yeah.  
 
 

[00:40:05] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, yeah, yeah.  
 
 

[00:40:06] Miguel: I was in high school.  
 
 

[00:40:08] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, yeah. I was, I was in college, and it's, it was not, it was not, it wasn't fun. It wasn't a fun day. Um, but yeah. So I think, you know, like, there's some players who are coming in. 
 
 

So there's a lot of, like, the base of the team, they're c- they're recovering from injuries. Someone like Santi Gimenez, right? Who plays in AC Milan, but, like, this year hasn't played a lot. He's been, had a lot of injuries. His transition to AC Milan- Well, I think yeah,  
 
 

[00:40:31] Miguel: but there might, there might be some questions as far-  
 
 

[00:40:33] Alexander Aviña: Yeah 
 
 

[00:40:33] Miguel: as coming back from injury.  
 
 

[00:40:34] Alexander Aviña: Yeah.  
 
 

[00:40:35] Miguel: Yeah.  
 
 

[00:40:35] Alexander Aviña: Um, and then you have... So I think it's, like, I think you're right. It'll be a good mix of, like, youth and experience. Um, and I, I, I think at least half of the team will be European or, or foreign-based, which I think if Mexican soccer is able to, ever able to get to, like, the next level, it's going to have more players need to leave behind the, the easy money and the comforts of playing in Mexico, [00:41:00] and to take a chance in, in Europe. 
 
 

I mean, they're, they're facing a lot of structural difficulties because of the way Liga MX is set up, the power of the owners. Um, but also, like, the perceptions, right? Like, perceptions in Europe about Mexican players that then get built into assessments of value, right? So, like, they think that a Mexican player, um, is worth less or should cost less than a player of equal ability from, like, Argentina or Brazil. 
 
 

Like, that's just another structural thing that's built into the, the global market of, of, uh, of, of soccer in Europe in particular. So there's... But I think, um, you know, if we, that's where the best club soccer is played, so, um, but we'll see. That's always, it's, that's been an ongoing conflict, um, in Mexico for decades now. 
 
 

The, the owners have a, a, a lot of power, and they can determine whether they will sell or allow their p- domestic players to leave and play in Europe. And then once they get to Europe, then these players [00:42:00] face a whole assortment of other challenges as well  
 
 

[00:42:03] Miguel: It's that just those, those myths about certain players or, right, those same issues. 
 
 

Um, do you ha- hey, I don't think I've ever, I don't, you might have mentioned in podcasts before, other podcasts, but do you ha- do you have a European team you follow?  
 
 

[00:42:19] Intro Music: Yeah. No,  
 
 

[00:42:20] Alexander Aviña: I do.  
 
 

[00:42:21] Miguel: Which one? Which one?  
 
 

[00:42:23] Alexander Aviña: All right.  
 
 

[00:42:23] Miguel: I'll- Mine's Liverpool, so-  
 
 

[00:42:24] Alexander Aviña: Oh, no ... mine's Liverpool, so. Okay, so this one is very easy. For me, it's very easy to expl- so it's Real Madrid, but it's- Okay 
 
 

because Hugo Sánchez. So I grew up, the, the, the first soccer I remember watching was, like, late '80s, and it was when Hugo Sánchez was rack- he racked up five scoring titles with Real Madrid in Spain, and-  
 
 

[00:42:42] Miguel: Dang ...  
 
 

[00:42:43] Alexander Aviña: so every Saturday my dad and I would sit there and watch Hugo Sánchez and yeah. No, the, like, the teams I root for are, like, I, I'm a bundle of contradictions, let's just say, right? 
 
 

Grew up American- That's how  
 
 

[00:42:54] Miguel: I am ... Real Madrid and- I'm, I'm from SoCal. Like, I'm a Lakers and Dodgers fan. Like-  
 
 

[00:42:57] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, see, me too,  
 
 

[00:42:58] Miguel: so- ... lot of, see, right? So- I just, [00:43:00] yeah. Yeah,  
 
 

[00:43:00] Alexander Aviña: I'm with you on those two teams, so.  
 
 

[00:43:02] Miguel: The, the only team my, the only team everyone... We still pretty popular, but we suck is my Raiders, but football, but American football. 
 
 

Um, all right, let's get to more, some of this recent news, a lot of this, the issues. We already, you know, it's, the US has been making a lot of threats to Mexico since Trump's gone back to power. Um, same thing with just, you know, their whole plan with Latin America. Um, but right now, those current tensions between Mexico and the US, uh, that artic- those news articles came out this week is CNN, New York Times, on the whole, uh, bombing, the CIA-linked assassinations. 
 
 

Um, it's not directly t- related to the World Cup, but I kinda feel like the timing when they're happening right now is right before the World Cup is kinda curious. Yeah. Um, but yeah, just wanted your thoughts on that current situation, what's happening  
 
 

[00:43:56] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, I think i- in general, I think Latin America as a [00:44:00] whole is in a really precarious situation, uh, um, facing off against this Trump administration. 
 
 

Um, you know, we're witnessing the strang- the slow genocidal strangulation of Cuba, um, the revelations of Honduras gate that talks about how you have, you know, a right-wing international and Israel working to destabilize more progressive governments in Latin America, like, um, Sheinbaum in, in, in Mexico and Petro in Colombia. 
 
 

We have presidential elections coming up in Colombia and Brazil that are really tight. Like, Colombia looks not very good for the left. Brazil probably looks a little better. So like, this is a really precarious moment for Latin America. Uh, in terms of Mexico, you know, when, when Trump, um, r- decided to run again and during the primaries, was it 2023? 
 
 

Like, I don't know if you remember, but almost every single Republican nominee was trying to outdo each other in terms of what they were gonna do to Mexico to stop the narc- the so-called narcos, right? Like, and they took an idea, which in the 2010s was really [00:45:00] fringe, a couple of ideas, um, and they became... A- and they, like, mainstreamed it into the very center of the Republican Party, right? 
 
 

Which is milit- some, some form of direct military or covert operation in Mexico as a way to stem the flow of illicit drugs into United States. So like, it's, like, very, like, Taylor Sheridan Sicario shit that's become normalized, um, in, in American politics, particularly on the right within the GOP. And, and Trump has been pre- Since he entered office, Trump has been pra- placing a lot of pressure on the Mexican government to quote unquote, "Do more on drugs," right? 
 
 

Which any sane person would think, "Well, actually, we should think about why Americans represent such a small percentage of the global population, but it consumes, like, 80 to 85% of all licit and illicit opioids," for instance. Like, why is that the case? No, they don't wanna do that. What they wanna do is they will continue this militarized war on drugs so they can kinda control the Mexican government and get the Mexican government to do what it wants in terms of economics, in terms of interdiction of migrants, et cetera. 
 
 

Um, [00:46:00] so what we had earlier this year was the Like the, the, this operation that the Mexican government carried out against the, the head of the Jalisco cartel, right? Um, the Jali- el cart- what is it? Si, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, right, and they killed the leader- Bring up the generation too. Yeah, yeah. 
 
 

Um, and they, they captured, located, and killed the leader, El Mencho. Um, we... And we know that in that operation the US did provide some sort of backup support, probably intel, maybe drones, et cetera. But the Mexican government under Morena has been very cagey about, you know, they, they love to talk about sovereignty, and we're defending sovereignty. 
 
 

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But then what's going on underneath, right, particularly when we get into the world of, like, covert operations and CIA assets, et cetera. Um, and then, and then we got this, like, bombshell report that the CN- that CNN reported on, like, a couple days ago that, that there's been this, like, low-level assassination campaign against kinda like middle management of drug trafficking organizations. 
 
 

Like, they're not trying to take out, like, the [00:47:00] drug kingpins, but they're trying to take out, like, financial launderers, the middle guys of these organizations, and that these assassination campaigns were... CNN said it was CIA operatives who were actually launching the assassination attempts or the assassinations. 
 
 

Then a day later, the New York Times came out and said, they did a similar report, but they said, no, the CIA people were not directly involved. They were in the background, but, like, they were some- they, they were not the ones pulling the trigger or pressing the, the button to bomb people, car bomb people, which is... 
 
 

There's a in- there's one incident that really, uh, revealed this operation, which was a guy who supposedly worked for Jalisco cartel, I think, and was car bombed a couple months ago. Um-  
 
 

[00:47:38] Miguel: That was the one in Chi- Was that the one in Chihuahua? That's before-  
 
 

[00:47:40] Alexander Aviña: Oh, I didn't even, so I didn't even mention the one in Chihuahu- So the one in Chihuahua- That's okay. 
 
 

So I, I, I meant to mention that. So in between El Mencho's killing in February and what just was reported last week, uh, c- a few weeks ago in Chihuahua, there was CIA agents, at least four of them, who op- who were involved in, uh, um, the locating and destruction of, of, um- [00:48:00] illicit drug laboratories in the northern state of Chihuahua. 
 
 

Somehow, we still don't have a lot of information, allegedly in a car accident, two of the four CIA agents died. And the Me- the Mexican government, the federal government, Morena said, "Listen, we didn't have any sort of knowledge about this," and they put the blame on the governor of Chihuahua, who, uh, Maru Campos, who's a member of the right-wing party, the PAN, who's very antagonistic to Morena. 
 
 

And it does seem like, it does seem like she was cutting out the Mexican federal... There's suggestions that she was cutting out the Mexican federal government and directly negotiating with the United States. Um, which would not be a surprise, because if we go back even a little bit back, I think 2023, is that the Sinaloan state government did something similar with US security agencies and El Chapo's son when they collaborated to trick El Mayo Zambada, one of the historic leaders of Sinaloa cartel. 
 
 

They tricked him essentially into, uh, flying, getting on a plane and flying. He thought he was gonna be checking out ranches [00:49:00] in northern Mexico. El Chapo's son essentially tricked him and, and that plane ended up flying to United States, and El Mayo was arrested. Yeah, extradited. Yeah. Extradited. Um, it, it was a, a form of ex- extraordinary rendition. 
 
 

The Mexican government at that point also said, "We did not have knowledge of this operation. This was something that the state government did with the Americans." And one of the consequences of that in Sinaloa has been this horrific civil war between Los Chapitos, the, the people who were assigned, um, took sides with El Chapo Guzmán and his sons, and then La Maiza, which were people who took sides with Mayo Zambada. 
 
 

And, like, more than 2,000 people have been killed since late 2023. Um, so as always, right, the war on drugs, the consequences of the war on drugs, it's a lot of bloodshed for, in this instance, on Mexicans themselves, right? Like, everyday Mexicans who are not exactly at the forefront of d- American imperial calculus when it comes to using the war on drugs, not really to get rid of drugs, but to exercise control over countries like Mexico. 
 
 

[00:49:58] Miguel: Yeah, and like we were [00:50:00] mentioning, the, the government, the Mexican government has been kinda... It's kind of that, that line's been blurring 'cause of the, you know, the whole, yeah, we got some intelligence sharing from February from the US, but now this is happening. They're like, "Hey, we didn't have... We didn't know anything about this." 
 
 

So there's, the lines are kind of blurring between intelligence sharing between these count- and then like, I guess, foreign intervention. So obviously these questions of sovereignty keep popping up. Like, what, what do... A lot of things could happen, but what do you think might happen next on this saga right here? 
 
 

[00:50:36] Alexander Aviña: I don't know. It's, it's hard. I mean-  
 
 

[00:50:38] Miguel: It is ...  
 
 

[00:50:38] Alexander Aviña: for historians, we should never, we should never be predicting. But the- So the Mexican government categorically denied that, that they were in, that the CIA was operating in Mexico in this way, and they denied that they were involved in what amounts to be, like, campaigns of extrajudicial executions, right? 
 
 

Like, that's illegal under Mexican law. You're not supposed to go and assassinate people [00:51:00] that are al- alleged or accused of a crime. Like, you have to give them due process, put them through the legal system. So they've been pretty adamant that this thing is, that this operation, that this reporting is inaccurate. 
 
 

The CIA, unsurprisingly, also rejected that this was a thing, 'cause that's what the CIA does, plausible deniability. Um, the thing, though, that, that Trump and his people need to be really careful with is that if they destabilize Mexico, the backlash for the US is a lot bigger and a lot quicker than them destabilizing Venezuela or them destabilizing Cuba. 
 
 

I mean, and they also, they were smart enough to recognize in Venezuela that if they went further than just kidnapping President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, if they went further and actually tried to, like, you know, send in María Corina Machado on top of a tank, that was gonna be a shit storm, right? 
 
 

So they were smart enough to be like, "No, we are just going to remove President Maduro and his wife, um, and then leave the structure more or less in place, and then we can kinda find other ways to, other pressure points that [00:52:00] we can exercise against President Delcy Rodríguez and the Chavistas that are still in power." 
 
 

Uh, in Cuba, it's an ongoing process. We'll see what happens, right? Um, I still- Yeah,  
 
 

[00:52:08] Miguel: we just saw, you saw the news about Raúl- Yeah ... that they wanna extradite him. Like-  
 
 

[00:52:11] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, it's, I think they're trying to re- ... this traitor grandson ... redo the, they're trying to re- redo the, the, the Maduro playbook, right? They, they- Yeah 
 
 

they'll arrest him. He's 94 years old. They're gonna arrest him, but then leave the structure intact. Because if they don't leave the structure intact, then you're going to have a lot of destabilization that's gonna lead to refugee flows, migrant flows, et cetera. With Mexico, it's like we share a 2,000-mile-long border with them, right? 
 
 

So if you destabilize this country- Like, the blowback's gonna be insane, like you're saying, right ... insane, yeah. 'Cause neighbors. There's no, there's no distance. Yeah. So, you know, they already, I mean, under AMLO, Mexico cut o- kicked out the DEA and the FBI. They're like, "We're done working with you." AMLO actually preferred, um, there's some good, uh, reporting that came out earlier this year by Reuters, um, that talked about how AMLO preferred the CIA because they were secretive, right? 
 
 

And he could... [00:53:00] So he publicly, he could be like, "Oh, we're all about protecting Mexican sovereignty." But then covertly, like, he could work with CIA on terms that he dictated, that Mexico dictated, in terms of how to go after drug trafficking organizations. And that's been a long hallmark of, like, Mexican politicians, right? 
 
 

Publicly, they talk about Mexican sovereignty. They wrap themselves in the flag. They pretend like they're gonna be, you know, Juan Escutia, El Niño Héroe, and they're gonna jump off Castillo Chapultepec wrapped in the flag. And then secretly, we ne- decades later find out with declassified documents that there were CI- you know, we have four Mexican presidents who were CIA assets from 1958 to 1982. 
 
 

Um, so I just hope that there are, that the people within, the people who are around Trump who are advising him on how to deal with Latin America are astute enough to recognize that if they keep pushing Mexico in this way, they're going to generate a backlash that's much bigger in scale and intensity than any other part of Latin America. 
 
 

Um, [00:54:00] so we'll see what happens, man. I, I, I think it's, it's, like I said, it's a precarious moment for Mexico. Uh, now Mexico has certain advantages that other Latin American countries don't have, right? That border does give Mexico leverage. Uh, Mexico is the US' biggest trade partner and vice versa. That's another form of leverage. 
 
 

So it just depends on how much, how much of that leverage does Morena and, and Sheinbaum at this moment want to use to kinda stave off Trump. For Mexico, it's really easy to take out a drug kingpin like El Mencho if that then gives them space vis-a-vis the Americans. The thing is Trump wants more, so how do you kind of keep pushing him off is, is, is a real question. 
 
 

But if they pu- but if Trump pushes too far, then he's going to trigger unexpected consequences.  
 
 

[00:54:45] Miguel: That whole Don Rowe doctrine bullshit- Yeah ... like the new Monroe Doctrine, um, strategy, uh, it just seems like they're just gonna go hard at Lat- Lat- Latin America. We've already seen Venezuela, after Cuba, now Mexico [00:55:00] obviously. 
 
 

Just an- another of the main targets, and then all the other stuff, like, happening in Ecuador and all,  
 
 

[00:55:06] Alexander Aviña: all the other They have a right-wing, they have a right-wing political project in mind for Latin America, right? And this is what the- And they- ... Honduras gate stuff kinda reveals, right? Like, they want, they... 
 
 

And it's not just, they want a specific- Kinda reverse that  
 
 

[00:55:19] Miguel: pink tide that was going for a while, you know?  
 
 

[00:55:22] Alexander Aviña: Y- yeah. Well, they wanna reverse that and, like, bury it, right? And, and, and, and the way that they, they think that they can do it is to use a particular, use a far right. I mean, this is not just like a right wing in Latin America. 
 
 

Like, they're aligning themselves with a far right, like that, that is Zionist, right? They see themselves as al- somehow allied with, with Israel. This is one of the, one of the, the way that politics is, is, is being divided in Latin America, right? Like, you know, it's no accident that in a place like Brazil, Bolsonaro supporters also wave Israel flags. 
 
 

Why? Because they are Zionists, and they're also Christian Zionists, because Pentecostal evangelical Christianity has had a big impact in [00:56:00] Brazil in the last several  
 
 

[00:56:00] Miguel: decades. That, that's the other thing, just in Latin America too. Yeah. In Mexico, like that, that's been, the evangelicalism has grown and grown throughout Latin America Um, yeah, I thought it was an- another kinda interesting thing with all this is was, isn't the ambassador to Mexico from the US, like wasn't he former CIA or something, Johnson? 
 
 

[00:56:19] Alexander Aviña: Right. Oh man, we didn't even mention Ronald Johnson. Yeah, I mean, this guy has a super nefarious past. Like, he was, he made it to the rank of colonel within the Special Forces, and he was in El Salvador in the '80s. Like, what, what were US Special- So he was there training the death squads. Yeah ... yeah, what were US Special Forces doing in Salvador? 
 
 

The tech- supposedly their limit was 55. The US government capped the number of Special Forces military advisors, in quotation marks, uh, in El Salvador. What were they doing there? They were training death squads. They were training the Atlacatl Battalion that was, that waged El Mozote massacre, that executed Jesuit professors, and priests, and their housekeepers in, in El Salvador, in San Salvador in 1989.[00:57:00]  
 
 

They, I mean, they were there to train the, the torturers, the murderers, the disappears, the, the death squads that, that, um- prevented El Salvador from fully going FMLN in the, in the civil war from 1980 to 1992. So then this guy retires cor- I mean, who knows how he retired, but he leaves the Special Forces and he enters the CIA, Ronald Johnson. 
 
 

Um, and then he gets picked to be, by Trump, he gets picked to be ambass- US Ambassador to Mexico. And he's, one of the last things he did, right, we also, another thing we didn't talk about is that the, the US is alleging, presented an indictment against the sitting governor of Sinaloa for being a- Yeah ... a, a collaborator of the Sinaloa cartel, right? 
 
 

And, and right after that happened, Ronald Johnson, I think right before or right after that happens, like Ronald Johnson's giving talks in Mexico saying like, "We're gonna do this to more politicians," right? "Expect more of this." So this guy who was Special Forces, death squad trainer, then CIA spook, is now the US [00:58:00] Ambassador to Mexico and he's, he's doing stuff within Mexico that he shouldn't be doing. 
 
 

That's like what, you know, Henry Lane Wilson was trying to do maybe in, in, during the Mexican Revolution against Francisco Madero. Hopefully it doesn't, you know, we don't have a repeat of that. But like this guy is doing a lot of shady shit in Mexico that he shouldn't be doing, but it shouldn't be surprising because that's, that's his past. 
 
 

That's where he's coming from, and that's precisely why he was picked to be US Ambassador to Mexico.  
 
 

[00:58:25] Miguel: And wasn't that what they were trying to do with Maduro, like trying to, you know, charge him with saying he's a drug narco and all that? Yeah. Um, kind of the, this seems like that's the strategy, right?  
 
 

[00:58:36] Alexander Aviña: Well, yeah. 
 
 

So like for what- Part of  
 
 

[00:58:38] Miguel: the strategy ...  
 
 

[00:58:39] Alexander Aviña: for five years, since 2020, they had accused Nicolás Maduro of being the head of a drug cartel, um, the head of a mythical drug cartel called El Cártel de los Soles. Which is no lo- If you read the indictment against him, they took all that shit out. No longer- They, yeah, they took it out. 
 
 

Yeah ... is he being... Yeah, they took it out. Because why? Because El Cártel de los Soles doesn't exist in the way [00:59:00] that the US says it exists. The one time that Cártel de los Soles actually existed, it was a CIA operation in the ear, uh, late '80s, early '90s that facilitated the entry of like tons of cocaine into Miami with the help of like two CIA agents and then a couple of r- uh, corrupt Venezuelan generals. 
 
 

That was El Cártel de los Soles, and they kinda like dusted that off and reinvented it and applied it to Nicolás Maduro, um, since 2020. But if you look at the indictment now, that's, and that's, they took it out, right? Because it's not, it's not real. Um, so yeah, it's, this is why in, in some, a couple of pieces I've written that, like, we under- we should understand the US-led war on drugs, um, as a form of, of, of advancing US imperial designs, whether it's in Latin America or whether it's Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, or whether it was, uh, the, the Pakistan-Afghanistan tri- um, um, borderlands during the, the late '70s and early '80s, uh, when they were, like, working with Mujahideen, right? 
 
 

Like, it's, uh, [01:00:00] the war on drugs is, is, is bullshit, but it doesn't mean that it's not productive politically or economically. Like, it does certain things for US empire, but one thing it doesn't do is stop the flow of illicit drugs. That's not the point  
 
 

[01:00:15] Miguel: Um, and then, uh, we're almost done here. Um, but I know, I think it was last week it came out that the, uh, US State Department announced they're gonna review 53 Mexican consulates. 
 
 

Um, and if the State Department moves to closing these consulates, what are the long-term social and economic cons- consequences? 'Cause th- they're there for services to provide for Mexi- Mexicanos in the US. So like, what's, what's, what do you think are gonna be the consequences? And then, um, also I think it's kinda just interesting that this is coming out also before the World Cup, and with, uh, ICE going crazy, like I just think it's interesting timing. 
 
 

[01:00:57] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, I think it's another way to, to, [01:01:00] for the US government under Trump to exercise some power and, and pressure on, on Mexico. I mean, the craziest thing about this is that, um God, what is his name? There is a far right conspiracy theorist, I cannot fr- remember his name. There's a far right conspiracy theorist who wrote a book about... 
 
 

His, the thesis of the book is that MORENA is invading the US, essentially. That MORENA is destabilizing US po- politics, that MORENA is doing all sorts of nefa- nefarious techniques to influence, shape, and undermine US politics, and one of the ways that they do it is through those 53 consulates. Um, so this guy writes a book, and then produced a documentary that came out, I think late last year, early this year, and that seems to be the inspiration for then the US government to say, "We're gonna review all 40, 53 consulates." 
 
 

So it's th- this, this came- Which, which that's usually what the Trump  
 
 

[01:01:56] Miguel: admin's been doing. Yeah, yeah. They're, like, always going off these influencers stuff and, like, oh, I remember when that whole thing in Minnesota with the, uh, fraud. It was just some- Yeah ... YouTuber guy, right? And they just went with it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 
 
 

It's f- they keep doing[01:02:00]  
 
 

it. That's  
 
 

[01:02:08] Alexander Aviña: a, that's a good conne- yeah, it's exactly right. That's a great connection. Um, cannot remember this guy's name. Same. I'm kinda, I'm kinda glad I don't have his name in my mind. I don't wanna waste brain space on this idiot. But yeah, this is, like, a far right conspiracy theory that, as you no- as you noted, right, like, it, it, there's people in the Trump administration who believe this shit, and they bring it into their policies, and that's, that seems to be really the only, the main reason why they're gonna re- so-called review these 53 consulates. 
 
 

But you're right. Like, these consulates provide key services for Mexican nationals who are in, who are in the US, or dual nationals as well. Um, and these, these consulates do all sorts of things, right? So yeah, I think it's just another way of exercising pressure and, and, and trying to influence MORENA i- in ways that Trump and his people want them to, to do. 
 
 

I mean, what they want is MORENA to say, "Yes, you guys can come into Mexico and do whatever you want when it comes to fighting [01:03:00] drug cartels." I, I mean, that's essentially what Trump wants, right? That he wants, I think he would want to make those, like, as I mentioned earlier, those Taylor Sheridan sicario dreams to become a reality. 
 
 

Um, and then Trump could use that, the spectacle of this as a way to kinda fortify his political position within the US. Um, but that's not gonna happen. 
 
 

[01:03:23] Miguel: Before we go, uh, do you have any final thoughts just on the Mexico team, the hosting of the mega event? Um, I know at least just from the tournament, the-- they're in Group A, right? I think Mexico should be favored as part... The teams, I don't know, the other teams are just South Africa, South Korea, and I think Czech Rep- Czech Republic. 
 
 

[01:03:45] Alexander Aviña: Yeah.  
 
 

[01:03:46] Miguel: Yeah, 
 
 

we should- Um, so I think Mexico got a favored, well, group in that way. But yeah, any last thoughts on, uh, mega events, the politics- Yeah, I think- ... or just the tournament?  
 
 

[01:03:55] Alexander Aviña: Mega events Um, mega events are bad. [01:04:00] Even though we enjoy watching them, there's gotta be, you know, there's like one thing that we should think about for those of us who are f- sports fans is how can we con- what can we do to turn these sports into the people's game? 
 
 

Like, what can we do, right? Like, um, and it might seem like a super quixotic, unrealistic thing, but I, I think we need to rethink some of this stuff, and maybe that can generate some sort of political action or organization. Um, in terms of like, you know, Mexico has the dreaded, what are they... It's the curse of the, the fourth game, right? 
 
 

Like, they haven't been able to get beyond the first knockout round game. Um, now it's different because it's a bigger tournament. It's, uh, it's 48 teams. But for me, it's I wanna see, um, just speaking sports-wise, like I wanna see if they can advance be- if they can actually win one knockout round game. And they, yeah, I think you're right. 
 
 

The group, their group doesn't, on paper, doesn't look too scary. Um, and we're also at home, right? Like, uh, [01:05:00] hopefully they schedule all the games at like 2:00, uh, in Estadio Azteca at the altitude with the pollution and the heat and the sun. Um, and we'll see how these other teams can handle it. Um, I'm not sure. 
 
 

I mean, I think to stay in the Azteca, I think they have to, they have to win out. They have to finish first, I think. Um, yeah  
 
 

[01:05:18] Miguel: I think so. I think they have to go to like one of the knockout rounds. It might be the... They might host, they might host the semifinal. I can't remember. Okay I know there was a, like one more game after that, and it was, it's at Azteca. 
 
 

Well, I, I- I'm pretty sure the rest of the finals is still US, obviously. Yeah,  
 
 

[01:05:33] Alexander Aviña: yeah, yeah. I will... You know, this team has made me cry. This team has made me very angry, disappointed, um, cynical, but I end up, you know, I end up rooting for them, and, and like I said, I, even with all the contradictions, um, like I still look forward to watching the World Cup, and I hope they do well, and I hope... 
 
 

You know, I'll be rooting for certain individual players. Um, I forgot to mention that Julián Araujo, the [01:06:00] guy who plays for Celtic, he's Mexican American as well. He grew up in a town- Yeah, he's from, I think he's from  
 
 

[01:06:04] Miguel: SoCal, right?  
 
 

[01:06:05] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, he's from a town called Lompoc, and Lompoc is actually about an, not too far from where I grew up, and they, we actually used to play their high school in our league. 
 
 

So, and he plays for Celtic, which, um, Celtic, at least their fan base, their Ultras, have been some of the most vocal, most committed- For real ... most steadfast supporters of left-wing causes, in particular the Palestinian case. So, um- I, I, I love it One of my  
 
 

[01:06:28] Miguel: favorite anti-fascist, uh, supporter groups  
 
 

[01:06:30] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, they're the be- they're awesome. 
 
 

They're great. So I've learned, um- All the  
 
 

[01:06:33] Miguel: banners  
 
 

[01:06:35] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, I have a, I have a good comrade, a historian in Belfast, Barry Shepherd, who has taught me really how to be a proper Celtic fan, 'cause he's been a Celtic fan, like, generations in his family. So shout out to Barry. Um, but I'll be rooting specifically for Julián because of where he's from and because he's playing for, uh, for Celtic. 
 
 

Hopefully he'll stay. He's on loan, but, uh, hopefully he, he's able to stay permanently.  
 
 

[01:06:57] Miguel: I know for a while he was in the MLS with the LA [01:07:00] Galaxy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, technically that's my MLS team. Yeah. A lot of... I know a lot of people in LA started, they s- they went to, uh, LAFC, but technically still a Galaxy fan just 'cause they were the first, so. 
 
 

You're still, you're sticking with Galaxy  
 
 

[01:07:11] Alexander Aviña: till the end.  
 
 

[01:07:11] Miguel: Okay. Yeah, but a lot of people left. Not that I'm, like, I'm still very ba- I'm not a... I'm casual with the Galaxy, but like I can't leave my allegiance, um-  
 
 

[01:07:22] Alexander Aviña: No, you can't. That's  
 
 

[01:07:23] Miguel: a hard thing ... since like '95 or '96, right, when MLS started, but not that it's the greatest league, but. 
 
 

It's hard to discard,  
 
 

[01:07:29] Alexander Aviña: it's hard to dis- discard allegiances like that.  
 
 

[01:07:31] Miguel: I'm, I'm a Raider fan, and so, you know, there's- That's what you know, yeah ... just shows my loyalty to my team. Yeah, yeah. Um, but yeah, man, appreciate you coming on the podcast, talk about the politics- Oh, for sure ... of what's going on with US, uh, imperialism and the tensions with Mexico, and then just related to some of the World Cup. 
 
 

Definitely would love to have you on the podcast again. Um- Hell yeah ... I'll put some... If you have any recent stuff, I'll post it on my show notes. Um, and I'll put your book [01:08:00] and website link on there. So if you guys wanna check out Alex's website and know more about him, I think it's alexandraveniA.com, right? 
 
 

[01:08:07] Alexander Aviña: Yeah. No, n- the, no tilde, no N, no ñ. So just alexandravenega.com.  
 
 

[01:08:12] Miguel: Okay, just the regular A. Okay. And  
 
 

[01:08:12] Alexander Aviña: then I'm on Twitter all the time, so.  
 
 

[01:08:14] Miguel: Yeah, Twitter. Still, I'm gonna go- Follow his... He follows my podcast page on Twitter, so- Hell yeah ... some of you already probably follow him.  
 
 

[01:08:19] Alexander Aviña: Yeah, yeah.  
 
 

[01:08:20] Miguel: Um, so yeah, follow him on there, but appreciate you coming on the podcast, man. 
 
 

Um, yeah, good to have another, uh, Chicano, Mexicano on the podcast. Um, appreciate it, man. So have a good one. Thank you for coming on the podcast.  
 
 

[01:08:36] Alexander Aviña: Thank you.