usatoday24
In recent weeks, Mexico City has been the scene of a wave of protests that have put in the center of the debate the coexistence of its inhabitants. The increase in housing prices, due to the gentrification of the most popular neighborhoods in the city, and the uncontrolled tourist They have put the Digital nomads In the spotlight causing an unprecedented social reaction in the Mexican capital.
Mexico City is thrown out. Thousands of people went to protest through the streets of the most central and busy colonies (neighborhoods) like Rome and Countess, where rental prices have increased above 100% In the last three years. What began as a peaceful manifestation against the gentrification and the increase of life in those colonies, soon took a more violent look: Several businesses frequented by tourists and digital nomads were attacked under slogans From “Gringo, go home!”
Some protesters carried banners with “gringos written messages, stop stealing the house”, while demanding laws to regulate the tourist and policies that allow access to a home at affordable prices for the premises. “They are expelling us from our own neighborhoods,” the protesters shouted.
The government responds and the US does not lose Comba. The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, He expressed his outrage before the violence registered in the demonstrations and condemned Xenophobic attitudes that the protesters showed against the digital nomads and tourists who found in their path. “It cannot be that due to a lawsuit, however legitimate, that is gentrification, the demand is ‘any nationality of our country,'” said Sheinbaum. “Mexico is a country open to the world and is not discriminatory; then xenophobic attitudes cannot be justified.”
The increase in tension against digital nomads, mainly Americans, also have a response component from citizenship to deportation policies That the Government of Donald Trump is applying, expelling many Mexican citizens from the US, while these digital nomads now occupy the homes in which the protesters lived. “Gentrification is colonization!” Some of the banners exhibited in the demonstration.
For its part, far from showing a conciliatory message, the US National Security Department, on which mass deportations depend, threw more firewood by the fire by publishing In his X profile The message: “If you are illegally in the United States and want to join the next protest in Mexico City, use the CBP Home application to facilitate your departure.”
THE ORIGIN OF THE PROTEST: Gentrification. Such and As I pointed out The president of Mexico in her speech, the origin of the discomfort of the population of Mexico City has as a backdrop Gentrificationa process that has accelerated in recent years.
During this period, the local government promoted the investment of foreign real estate funds and the Use of platforms such as Airbnbracing the way for the arrival of professionals with high purchasing power from the global northern.
As a result, the price of housing in central colonies It has doubled In the last decade, and the cost of living has become unsustainable for many residents resulting from the pressure of investment funds for removing maximum profitability to their real estate investments. “When talking about real estate cartels, it is rightly said, because between cartels there are disputes over a territory or square, and today the (colony) Juarez is the center of a similar dispute,” assured In 2023 a BBC Neighborhood activist Sergio González.
The average rental of an house in Mexico City went from 16,100 pesos per month (about 738 euros to change) in January 2018 to 20,426 pesos (about 936 euros) five years later, although this figure shoots more than double in colonies such as the Countess. The minimum monthly salary in Mexico City is around 8,364 pesos, the equivalent of just less than 384 euros.
Digital nomads are not the (unique) responsible. Although US digital nomads have become the main objective of protests, Expert voices like that of the lawyer and activist Carla Escoffié indicate that her presence is only A part of the problem. The mere presence of a few thousand people with high purchasing power in a city like Mexico City does not elevate prices alone, explains Escoffié in his book ‘Country without a roof’.
The true Gentrification Motor They are the real estate fundsthe greats LESSORSand the Tourist Rental Platformswhich modify the nature of the neighborhoods building luxury homes and replacing the local trade by multinational chains.
President Sheinbaum pointed out that foreigners rejection is a response to mass arrival of digital nomads After the pandemic, mainly from the United States. These “visitors” have much greater purchasing power than the local population and its presence It increased In 60% compared to figures in 2019, and currently, some 700,000 Americans live in Mexico.
The precedent: Portugal. Lisbon would have served of Canarian in the mine For the Mexican government to anticipate what would happen in the colonies of Mexico City, since Lisbon has suffered the same symptoms that the Mexican capital now presents.
Such and as analyzed in The Guardian The researcher at the University of Lisbon Agustín Cocola-Gant, Portugal promoted for years a low taxation for real estate investors foreigners and launched “golden visas“To attract digital nomads and investors, granting tax advantages over local inhabitants.
These policies caused a 105.8% increase in the price of housing in Lisbon between 2015 and 2023, according to published data by The confidential. The result was the expulsion of thousands of Portuguese of its traditional neighborhoodsunable to face the increase in life and housing. As Cocola-Gant explained, Portugal went from occupying the 22 of the 27 countries with the most expensive housing in 2015, to occupy first place today.
Image | Unspash (Keith Helfrich)
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings