GNV News November 23, 2025

On November 15, 2025, an anti-government protest against crime and corruption took place in Mexico. In the capital, Mexico City, demonstrators stormed the National Palace, where President Claudia Sheinbaum resides, and 100 police officers and 20 civilians were injured.

Like the protests held in 2025 in Nepal and Madagascar, Morocco, and elsewhere, this protest appears at first glance to have been a spontaneous demonstration led mainly by Generation Z (※). The organizers position it as a youth-led movement representing young people, but such claims are questionable. For one thing, it has been pointed out that many participants were not members of Generation Z. In addition, according to a public opinion poll conducted in October by the newspaper El Financiero (El Financiero), the approval rating for President Sheinbaum among those in the Generation Z age group, while slightly lower than the overall average, stands at 66%.

Furthermore, according to an investigation by the fact-checking division of Infodemia, many opposition politicians and businesspeople appear to have been involved in promoting the protest online. The protest began with posts by Mexican influencer Carlos Belló and was organized through an account on the social network X calling itself “Generación Z México.” These accounts’ posts were endorsed by wealthy businessman Ricardo Salinas Pliego, former president Vicente Fox Quesada, and politicians from the opposition National Action Party and Institutional Revolutionary Party, and were amplified on TikTok and Facebook. A number of accounts appear to have been newly created since October 2025 or to be managed by foreigners. The Atlas Network, organized by Pliego’s cousin and conducting negative campaigns against the left-wing government, also appears to have been involved in the amplification, suggesting that the promotion of the protest was artificially orchestrated.

President Sheinbaum is, following former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, continuing to address the problem of poverty. This protest was actively supported by right-wing politicians and wealthy people who oppose that, and it has become clear that it was not a spontaneous protest movement by Generation Z.

※ Generation Z refers to those born from the mid-1990s to around 2010 who grew up with digital tools.

Learn more about Mexico→ “Reforms advancing in Mexico”

Learn more about protests around the world→ “Was the ‘Year of Protests’ reported?”

The National Palace, which is also used as the president’s official residence (Photo: Israel Bernal / pexels)