The Mayor the Rich Love to Hate

Why Mexico City's mayor is painting the whole city purple and driving the rich insane

Mexico City is, in a meaningful sense, two cities. In the west, behind the walls of gated neighborhoods like Lomas de Chapultepec and Santa Fe, families live in a version of the capital that resembles an affluent European suburb. In the east, in places like Iztapalapa and Tláhuac, the same metropolitan area looks entirely different: dense, loud, colorful, and largely ignored by the people who run things. For most of the city’s history, the people who run things have come from the west.

Clara Brugada, the current left-wing mayor of Mexico City, comes from the deep east.