Draft:Mario Arriagada Cuadriello

Mario Arriagada Cuadriello (Mexico City, 1976) is a Mexican political scientist, writer, journalist, and activist known for his work on racism, identity politics, U.S.-Mexico relations, and social movements. He is a founder of several organizations, including Democracia Deliberada, the journal Horizontal, feminist collective Aúna, and Ruta Cívica. He has also contributed to public discourse through journalism, academia, and political advocacy.

Arriagada Cuadriello's career spans international relations, security, governance, and human rights, with a focus on Latin America. He has addressed inequality, security, and cultural identity, blending academic research with activism. His work critiques structural instability in the region while advocating for inclusive policies. He is also a moderator, interviewer and media presenter. He has moderated political debates, interviewed candidates as well as Nobel laureates.

Early life and Education

Mario Arriagada Cuadriello was born to Mario Arriagada Tapia, a Chilean political exile and educator, and María Guadalupe Cuadriello, a social worker from Mexico City. He is the nephew of Mexican art historian Jaime Cuadriello. Arriagada studied International Relations at El Colegio de México, where he completed his thesis Golpe de timón en la nave de la Iglesia: la política exterior mexicana hacia el Vaticano, 1970-1982 (2005), a political biography of bishop Samuel Ruiz and the indigenous diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas. In the mid-1990s, he participated in peacebuilding efforts after the 1994 Zapatista uprising, collaborating with the Catholic diocese and human rights group CIDECI-Conai during the Diálogos de San Andrés Larrainzar (1995). He later pursued postgraduate studies in Political Science at the London School of Economics. His research has been supported by the Ford Foundation, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the H.F. Guggenheim Foundation, and the Dorothy Hodgkin Award in the UK.

Journalism and Commentary

Arriagada Cuadriello has written for Nexos magazine, Milenio, Animal Político, and The Ideas Letter. He was also a weekly collaborator at the news talk show La Hora de Opinar, discussing inequality, foreign relations, security, political economy, and cultural identity.

From 2011–2014, he was an editor at Nexos where he analyzed Mexico’s security crisis and grassroots movements like Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad. His essays, such as "Quién no es quién" (on class discrimination) and "Indio Maniquí"* (on nationalism and indigenous identity), sparked public debate in Mexico and abroad.

He has been a regular at the Hay Festival leading Keynote presentations and dialogues with luminaries such as peace Nobel prize winners Kailash Satyarthi and Oleksandra Matviichuk.

Advocacy and Political Involvement

Arriagada Cuadriello has publicly identified with democratic socialism. He has advocated for the left's renewal and transformation, emphasizing the need for a more inclusive and deliberative coalition that is more incisive on issues related to economic and social inequalities. He co-founded Democracia Deliberada, which had an influence on the left’s 2018 electoral victory in Mexico.

In 2015, he ran as an independent candidate in Mexico City, testing new electoral laws. He has also promoted political reform through #ReformaPoliticaYa.

Arriagada has collaborated with the Open Society Foundations, focusing on economic justice and global affairs through the foundation's Latin America and Caribbean program and the Ideas workshop. After the attacks of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to NGOs and civil society, Arriagada wrote “Reflexiones desde la sociedad civil fifí” as a self critical assessment which suggests a path towards a more egalitarian civil society as the best guarantor for an open society.

Academic Work

In 2010, Arriagada coordinated a research network on Religion and International Affairs and co-edited El fin de un sueño secular: religión y relaciones internacionales en el cambio de siglo (2013), which examines the role of religion in global politics. He co-authored a chapter with María Celia Toro in Embajadores de Estados Unidos en México. Diplomacia de crisis y oportunidades [U.S. Ambassadors in Mexico: Diplomacy of Crisis and Opportunities] (2021), analyzing the tenure of U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual in Mexico.

His academic research includes social stability in multi-gang environments in Mexico and Catholic transnational aid networks in East Africa and Central America.

Public Service

Arriagada served in the Mexican civil service under Presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón. During Fox's administration, he liaised between the Ministry of the Interior and Congress. Under Calderón, he was director for national security at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, overseeing security policies for telecommunications, roads, ports, and airports, and serving as the liaison for Mexican-American cooperation under the Merida Initiative. He later criticized the initiative for its militarized approach, arguing it failed to address the root causes of organized crime.

He has also worked as a senior consultant for LPD Risk Management and Circle K2, focusing on business and human rights in Latin America’s extractive industries.