Scandal in Mexico: Sex, Politics and a Headache for President's Ruling Party The Economist
go to original April 4, 2014

MEXICO CITY - It didn’t take long for Mexico’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to react to the seriousness of the sex scandal erupting around it on April 2nd. Just hours after Cuauhtémoc Gutiérrez de la Torre, the party’s president in Mexico City, publicly denied a report that he kept a network of prostitutes on the party payroll for his personal use, the PRI put him on leave and called for a police investigation.

The story by MVS News, one of Mexico’s most influential radio programmes, is colorful and the allegations it makes are potentially very sordid. Mr Gutiérrez, as heavy-set as an ox, comes from a family that made a fortune on Mexico City’s rubbish tips. His murdered father (a former PRI stalwart) was known as the “King of Rubbish”. Heading the PRI in Mexico City is the highest office he has held, although the party has not ruled there since 1997. His office issued a statement saying the MVS report was “deceitful, ill-intentioned and slanderous” and that Mr Gutiérrez himself wanted an investigation.

According to MVS, the women at the heart of its report are known as edecanes, or hostesses. In their short skirts and high heels, they are a common feature of political and business gatherings in Mexico. Mostly their job is to hand out brochures or accompany people to their seats.

MVS said that after a tip-off, a female reporter answered an advertisement for a hostess job in Mr Gutiérrez’s office at PRI headquarters in Mexico City.

Read the rest at The Economist

Photo: PRI

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