The Corruption Crackdown in Guatemala Is Making Mexico Jealous David Agren - VICE News
go to original September 22, 2015

The Self Show - Mexico Guatemala Connection (teleSUR English)

Guatemala seldom makes the news in Mexico, where the population largely looks at Central America with a sense of suspicion and superiority — if it looks at all.

Then Guatemalans took to the streets in steady protests over the spring and summer, impeached their president, and imprisoned him on corruption charges. And Mexico started paying attention.

The sight of Guatemalans protesting corruption and pushing President Otto Pérez Molina out of power and into a prison cell has provoked envy in Mexico, where impunity is rife and top politicians are seen as untouchable. The popularity of President Enrique Peña Nieto has plunged over corruption and conflict of interest scandals, and the clumsy handling of the government's investigation into the case of the 43 missing students.

"If a country with deficiencies as abysmal as Guatemala in matters of justice [...] can do this, what's impeding Mexicans from aspiring some day to have a clean-up that starts at the top?" wrote columnist Jorge Zepeda Patterson in the online publication Sin Embargo. "If Guatemala could, why are we not going to do this ourselves?"

The unflattering comparisons between the countries are highlighting the shortcomings of Mexico, where public protests tend to peter out and corruption cases almost always go unpunished.

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