Amidst a political climate marked by digital confrontation and a constant struggle for the public agenda, representatives from PAN, PRI, and Morena came together on the same stage to discuss the role that parties play in the country's polarization. The Beers & Politics CDMX event was organized by political consultants José Manuel Urquijo and Carolina Lourdes Muñoz, who promote this format of public conversation focused on strategy, communication, and power. The venue was Espacio Nativo, in the San Miguel Chapultepec neighborhood of CDMX. From PAN, digital activism was defended as a mechanism for citizen mobilization in what they consider an ecosystem dominated by the official narrative. In the PRI, the emphasis was on the need to rebuild party identity in an environment where algorithms reward conflict and reduce complexity to slogans. In this edition, held at Espacio Nativo—a cultural and meeting forum located in San Miguel Chapultepec, an area that has become a point of political and creative dialogue in the capital—the discussion confirmed that the digital arena is today the main battlefield of the party system in Mexico. The panel included Mike Peñaflor, National Director of Digital Activism for PAN; Jorge Garcés, digital strategist for PRI and founder of PropagandArt; and Stephanie Lavalle, economist, communicator, and national congresswoman for Morena. The debate revolved around a fundamental question: are parties managing polarization or encouraging it as an electoral tool? Morena, for its part, championed the use of digital platforms as a direct way to connect with social bases and contest common sense against traditional media. Although there were clear differences, the three parties agreed on one thing: political conversation is no longer defined in press conferences or TV spots, but on TikTok, X, Instagram, and WhatsApp, where speed, emotionality, and segmentation outweigh rational deliberation. The exchange showed that polarization is not just a spontaneous phenomenon, but also a consequence of digital strategies that prioritize reach and interaction over building consensus. And if one thing became clear at the table, it is that no party seems willing to unilaterally disarm in that narrative dispute. Beers & Politics is a conversation format that brings together political actors, strategists, and consultants in a more informal setting than traditional forums, with the goal of opening frank dialogues about the issues that shape the public agenda.
