MEXICO CITY (AP) — Celebrations have run into mounting social tensions in Mexico as the capital prepares to welcome the world in the opening ceremonies of the FIFA World Cup.
Mexico, which is jointly hosting the soccer tournament with the U.S. and Canada, is slated to kick off festivities with an inauguration and opening match Thursday in a star-studded event that will set the tone for the rest of the competition.
The World Cup comes at a time when
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is walking a political tightrope, navigating a deteriorating relationship with the U.S. in the lead-up to July trade negotiations, political scandals and security concerns following a burst of violence in a host city in February.
Pressure has only continued to mount as guests flood into Mexico City, and the government has faced a crescendo of criticisms by protesters and residents who say authorities have prioritized the competition over pressing social needs in the Latin American nation.
“Mexico wants to project an image to the world that doesn’t exactly square with reality,” said Carlos Pérez Ricart, a Mexican political analyst at the Mexican Center for Research and Economic Education. “The World Cup is putting the president in a vulnerable situation … The government is under extreme pressure.”
FIFA's logo, bright orange Mexican marigold flowers, giant soccer balls and other sports decorations line streets across Mexico’s capital and the two other host cities, Guadalajara and Monterrey. Soccer fans buzzed with excitement as they strolled through Mexico City's streets, snapping photos in front of the most famous monuments while donning their teams’ colors.
The sporting competition is expected to bring in $3 billion for hotels, restaurants and sports venues, according to the Mexican Soccer Federation.
The Thursday inauguration and opening match, where Mexico will face off against South Africa, are expected to draw more eyes than much of the competition, with Colombian superstar Shakira and a slate of others scheduled to perform.
If all goes off without a hitch, it will be a feather in Sheinbaum's cap, said Pérez Ricart, showing the world that Mexico is “modern and capable of organizing high impact events.”
For months, Mexican authorities have fortified security in an effort to offset concerns, following several days of violence that paralyzed World Cup host city Guadalajara in February.
More than 100,000 soldiers, sailors, National Guard members and police officers are expected to be deployed across the three cities holding matches, yet simmering social tensions that have been growing for weeks have posed the greatest obstacle, particularly in Mexico City.
Critics in Mexico have said that the government has spent too much money and time catering to international visitors at the expense of residents.
For more than a week, the country’s teacher’s union has blockaded roads and toppled World Cup statues in an annual push to win better working conditions. Families of Mexico’s more than 130,000 missing people have hung flyers of their disappeared loved ones and said that authorities should focus their energies on addressing humanitarian crises ravaging other parts of Mexico.
"We’re not against the ball game,” said Luis Antonio Rosales Narváez, a protest organizer. But “they should be investing in education ... not giving the city a makeover.”
On Tuesday, Sheinbaum brushed off criticisms and denied that there was any social unrest ahead of the tournament.
The political opposition “wants to give the impression that there is chaos, that there are problems, right in the middle of an international event we’ve been preparing for a long time,” Sheinbaum said in her morning press briefing on Tuesday.
Police have largely blocked major protests from taking over main plazas and the area outside of the stadium, but it remained unclear what would happen the day the games kick off and during the month of games that follow.
Airports across the Americas were filled with fans who had doled out money to follow their teams. Panama City's airport — one of the main gateways between North and South America — was a sea of multicolored jerseys from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, Germany and more.
“This year we’re defending the title, and we’ll follow Argentina to the ends of the earth,” shouted Emilio Sosa, a 29-year-old from Buenos Aires on his way to Los Angeles.
David Botero, a 43-year-old Colombian, planned his vacation around the World Cup, and was traveling to Mexico City with his family to watch Colombia’s opening match on June 17 against Uzbekistan after changing their plans to dodge higher prices in Miami.
“What matters is that we’ll get to see our team up close," Botero said.
Others, like 66-year-old Dr. Jose Luis Muñoz, struck a more skeptical tone as he read and smoked a cigarette next to a park in downtown Mexico City that once teemed with street vendors, since cleared out by authorities in an effort to clean up the streets.
Muñoz said some of his fondest memories were taking his 8-, 12- and 14-year-old children to games during Mexico’s 1986 World Cup and celebrating their home team as it was on a winning streak.
“I was so excited, and that joy I passed on to my children,” he said.
This year, though, he was priced out from attending games, where tickets cost hundreds of dollars.
“The prices are sky-high. Many people aren’t going to be able to go unless they’re foreigners with a lot of money,” Muñoz said. “It feels very discriminatory."
Still, he added, he will root for Mexico's national team from home with his children and grandchildren.
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Associated Press journalists Nayara Batschke and María Verza contributed to this report from Mexico City.
