Scandal in Mexico: government official calls for the death penalty for Mexicans who support Trump on state TV
Paco Ignacio Taibo II, who serves as director of the Fondo de Cultura Económica de Mexico (FCE), said that "he who today declares himself a Trump supporter will assume the consequences of treason to the homeland."
Taibo is general director of the Fondo de Cultura Económica de México/ ENEAS.
A high-ranking Mexican official suggested that supporters of Donald Trump should be "shot" as "traitors to the homeland." Paco Ignacio Taibo II, who serves as director of the Fondo de Cultura Económica de Mexico (FCE), a position he assumed during the presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador and maintains under Claudia Sheinbaum.
Taibo, a writer, biographer of Ernesto Che Guevara, far-left political activist and former Secretary of Arts and Culture of the National Executive Committee of the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), made these statements during an interview with journalist Sabina Berman.
Although the interview has not yet been aired, Berman herself initially published a fragment that soon went viral. She even had to remove the publication due to Taibo's statements, who not only lashes out against President Trump, but also against all those who support him.
"Whoever declares himself a Trump supporter today assumes the consequences of treason to the homeland"
According to the video initially posted by Berman, Taibo, author of more than a dozen books, was severely critical of Mexicans who sympathize with the president of the United States.
"Whoever declares himself a Trump supporter today assumes the consequences of treason. It is as simple as that. And I would say again, there is still land on the Cerro de las Campanas, where Emperor Maximilian (of Habsburg) was shot," expressed the director of the FCE.
"I didn't just make it up, treason is punishable," Taibo continued, to which the journalist asked him what the punishment should be for those guilty of treason. "The death penalty," replied the Mexican official.
The video did not take long to go viral, causing the journalist to delete it from her X account and try to justify her interviewee's statements.
">Ya borró su publicación @sabinaberman, pero afortunadamente guardé el video donde ella y @Taibo2 dicen orgullosamente que quien no piense como ellos debe ser perseguido y fusilado.
— América Rangel (@AmerangelLorenz) February 11, 2025
La maquinaria autoritaria trabajando a través del @CanalOnceTV. pic.twitter.com/IzIe43Lc8a
"Paco Taibo's statement about the traitors to the homeland lacked context. That's why we took the clip down. You will be able to see it in context in Thursday's 'Largo Aliento'. But make no mistake: it does refer to those who today assume themselves to be Trump supporters," said Berman.
In anticipation of the publication of the full interview, the journalist shared a second fragment in which Taibo describes Trump as a mix between a "savage proto-capitalist and an idiot." In turn, he paired him with "fascism" and "racism."
Who is Paco Ignacio Taibo II?
Already as president-elect, Sheinbaum confirmed that Taibo would remain in office and described him as a "compañero and friend." In turn, he founded the civil association Para Leer en Libertad in Mexico City and has served as director of several Mexican publishing series. Some of his novels have even been mentioned among the "books of the year" by The New York Times, Le Monde and Los Angeles Times.
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