With something like two million residents, Iztapalapa is the largest Mexico City borough. It’s also the poorest. The Utopías were promoted most significantly by Clara Brugada, who was Iztapalapa’s mayor before winning the election to be the next mayor of all of Mexico City
Brugada is a member of Morena (Movimiento Regeneración Nacional), the left-wing populist party founded by AMLO (Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the recent President of Mexico). It’s also the party of Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president-elect. Brugada has a long history in politics & social movements in Iztapalapa and Distrito Federal more generally.
The name UTOPÍAS is an acronym for Unidades de Transformación y Organización Para la Inclusión y la Armonía Social, or Units for Transformation and Organization for Inclusion and Social Harmony. I was told Iztapalapa currently has 12 up and running and another 4 in the works.
The idea is a network of safe, free, public sites that provide poor and working class people with what they need for the maintenance, enhancement, and enjoyment of everyday life. Food. Health. Elder care. Child care. A cheap laundromat...
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