In Mexican Politics, the Greens Are 'Corruption Turned Into a Party' David Agren - VICE News
go to original June 4, 2015

It votes in favor of fracking, runs socialites and sons of the elite as candidates instead of erstwhile environmentalists — or even anyone looking "hippie" — and plies peasant farmers with herbicides in exchange for support.

The Mexican political party that calls itself Green is notorious for championing the death penalty, courting ties that are closer with the country's telecommunications industry than with environmental groups, and putting a low priority on issues such as deforestation and climate change.

Mexico's Green Party, in short, acts in ways that are anything but green.

And as Mexicans prepare to vote for hundreds of offices in elections on June 7, its scorched-earth advertising presence is reminding voters with the reasons the Green Party has become a potent symbol for corruption in Mexico's electoral politics.

"The only thing it has that's green is the name," said Raul Estrada, spokesman for Greenpeace Mexico. "It hasn't taken up national topics that have to do with the environment or the big environmental problems still pending in the country."

Its poll numbers are small — in the high single digits — but the Partido Verde remains the most prominent among Mexico's smaller parties, and still takes in millions of pesos in public financing money.

Read the rest at VICE News

Photo: Eduardo Verdugo/AP

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