CNN
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The word “leave from Mexico” is still visible in the windows of one shop as protesters were kicked hard with glass boards. In another clip, “Kil Gringo” is spray painted on the walls of Mexico City as protesters carried placards demanding “stop stealing our homes” and Western foreigners.
These were some of the impressive scenes last week in massive protests over gentrification and increased cost of living in the Mexican capital.
The demonstrations were largely peaceful and reflected a growing rage over inequality in the Mexican capital, but those who destroyed stores in the city’s wealthy areas and used anti-immigrant languages were criticized by Mexican President Claudia Sinbaum as xenophobic.
“In discrimination, racism, classism, xenophobia, Matismo, no discrimination, all humans, men and women are equal, and we can’t treat anyone less,” Sinbaum said at a press conference on Monday.
The US Department of Homeland Security, which is suppressing US immigrants, responded to Friday’s protest with a sarcastic post about X.
The Mexico City rally mirrored protests that erupted against rising costs in cities like Barcelona and Paris. This has been criticized for overtourism, short-term housing rentals, and the influx of people and businesses with higher purchasing powers.
Frente AntiGentrificaciónMX, one of several groups that helped organize the protests on Friday, compared the gentlemanship of social media to a new form of colonization in which “both foreign and local businesses provide discriminatory treatment to people with greater purchasing power.”
Thousands of people in the Mexican capital have been kicked out of their homes in recent years as they have taken over popular areas like Rome and Condesa, as tourists and remote workers are believed to be Americans.
However, a spokesman for Frente Antigentrificación MX opposed Shainbaum’s proposal that their campaign was xenophobia.
“In Mexico, housing costs have risen by 286% since 2005, while real wages have fallen by 33%,” spokesman Yessica Morales said, citing data from the National Institute of Statistical Statistical Institute and the Federal Mortgage Association.
“We are not opposed to migration because gentrification is not a matter of migration (this is human rights). We are opposed to violence as a government model,” Morales told CNN.
She admitted that many people have moved to Mexico for a variety of reasons, from the appeal of the culture to the relative affordability of the home. At the same time, she urged potential newcomers to consider how such a move would affect the community.
Immigration is not the sole cause of the gentlemanship of Mexico City. Experts say this has been happening for decades.
“The debate has confusion about gentrification when foreigners arrive. That’s not true,” said activist and lawyer Carla Escoffier.
“Not all foreigners become gentlemen, not just those who make foreigners gentlemen, nor do they require the migration process that is important for gentrification to occur. Gentification is based on inequality that isn’t the same,” she added.
However, the arrival of short-term rentals like Airbnb and remote working policies during the pandemic have imposed a turbo charging debate in recent years.
“Since 2020, a new phase of gentrification has begun and it’s gotten worse,” Escofier said. “This is driven by digital nomads and short-term rental platforms like Airbnb.”
Airbnb defended its activities in Mexico City on Tuesday, saying it helped generate more than $1 billion in the local economy last year, claiming that guests who booked accommodation also spent money on shops and services in the capital.
The Mexico City government signed an agreement with Airbnb and UNESCO in 2022 to promote the capital as a “global hub of digital nomads and creative tourism.” Shanebaum, then mayor of Mexico City, presented the initiative as a way to boost the local economy.
Experts say this appeal was particularly appealing. For Americans, it was particularly appealing to be able to stay in Mexico for less than six months without a tourist visa before requesting a special temporary residence permit. In 2022, Mexican foreigners were granted 122,758 temporary residence permits, according to the National Institute of Immigration, starting from 97,825 in 2019.
But for many residents, the Mexico City initiative was another sign of evacuation taking place around them.
The anger over gentrification is not unique to Mexico City. Local governments in European tourist destinations, including the Canary Islands in Spain, Lisbon and Berlin, have announced short-term rental restrictions over the past decade.
Jaume Collboni, the mayor of Barcelona, said by November 2028, the government will scrap the licences for 10,101 apartments currently approved as short-term rentals for popular tourist destinations.
Residents of the Catalonian capital have documented that by that month, landlords are more profitable than renting that month.
“I am part of the Barcelona tenants association and I see many instances of people who are kicked out by landlords and use their facilities for tourism,” Adrian Trinidad, who lives in Les Coates, a neighbour in the Catalonian capital, told CNN previously.
In Mexico City, Airbnb has over 26,500 listings, many of which are concentrated in areas most affected by gentrification, according to the rental platform. According to Inside Airbnb, a project that provides data on Airbnb’s impact on the residential community, these listings are concentrated in central regions of Condesa, Roma, Juárez and Polanco.
In response to rising criticism and the 2022 protests, local governments have introduced new regulations, but experts have argued that they are far short.
Meanwhile, Airbnb says the city needs regulations to support housing sharing, not banning it. Many people in Mexico City claim to be dependent on the platform. 53% of hosts say the service helped them stay at home and 74% of hosts helped cover important expenses.
Activists are now brave when Mexico opens the door to football fans for the next World Cup in 2026. “Who came up with this given the important situation we are in?” she asked.
