@roger,
Yes, Roger, but in Mexico it works in a totally different way.
A little history may help.
Mexican independence was as much about ending with caste privileges as about independence itself. The creation of Mexico as a country goes hand in hand with the formal elimination of race distinctions.
Before the independence, "Peninsulares" (people born in Spain) were the only ones who could be members of the Royal Audience, bishops, judges or high ranking military officers. Criollos (whites born in Mexico) and some mestizos were landowners, mine owners, merchants, professionals, officers, but were blocked from political power. The idea of ending all caste privileges was also tempting for the indigenous population, as much as independence itself.
For some of the independentistas, the struggle was similar to the one that happened a few decades earlier in the US: no taxation without representation. For others, it was only a way to take away the Spanish yoke, formally make everybody equal, but keep the privileges for the criollos.
The Mexican Independence War ended with the "embrace of Acatempan" between rebel Vicente Guerrero and former royalist officerm turned independentist, Agustín de Iturbide.
Iturbide tried to become Emperor. Failed and was executed. He was blond. Guerrero was a mulatto. Our second president.
The came a long period of instability: liberals against conservatives, we lost half of our territory during a conservative government. Liberals won the Civil War, and the conservatives appealed to the French, who invaded Mexico.
We had a second Emperor. Maximilian of Habsburg. The French were defeated and Maxi was executed. He was blond, of course.
The winner of the war was Benito Juárez, a pure indigenous Mexican.
After Juárez (who died in office) came another couple of liberal presidents and then Porfirio Díaz, a liberal (also indigenous) who became increasingly conservative through the years and ended up being a dictator (hidden under a thin layer of formal democracy).
In the late "porfirismo", rich Mexico wanted to be like France. Our "belle epoque", with enormous income inequality.
Then came the Revolution. Madero, Villa, Zapata, and the sort. A rebellion mostly -again- from the middle classes who felt left behind. It was also a mass movement with people of all sorts.
The victory of the Revolution meant also the creation of a new ideology, "revolutionary nationalism", which has influenced every Mexican born from 1915 to 1990 , and many before and after that.
Part of this ideology is the concept of "cosmic race".
We Mexicans are the cosmic race, man. We're color blind (we brag about it, but subtly we ain't).
And anyone who thinks of him/herself as part of the cosmic race is part of it, too.
In political practice, the cosmic race is a mixed race, the mestizo or any similar combination.
This leaves out the very white or the pure indigenous people, with the very white having the advantage of being richer than the average Mexican and waaay richer than the indigenous population. Whites are more powerful in Mexico, mostly economically. But being blond or having a foreign-sounding last name is usually a political handicap.
When he talks about "pirrurris" or "whites", AMLO is pressing the "revolutionary nationalism" button. And also the economic-social resentfulness button, especially with the mestizo lower-middle class who feels left behind.
This may sound familiar to some Americans, I presume.
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