Gasoline Prices, Social Uproar... and President Pena Nieto's Little Balls Martin Moreno - Sinembargo
go to original January 5, 2017

Peña plays golf in Nayarit to "overcome" tragedy of Iguala (Proceso)

A statesman would not be playing golf while the citizens protested throughout, virtually, the entire country. The public is rioting over the fuel price hike. And where is the President? Playing golf!

It is not the first time that Peña Nieto has done this: when there is a serious social conflict in the country, he goes off playing golf. He would rather play with his little balls than face his people’s fury. Making like an ostrich.

He did it on September 27th and 28th 2014, when the then Attorney General of the Republic, Jesús Murillo Karam, warned him that in Iguala a confrontation between police officers and Ayotzinapa students had occurred. There were dead young men, and disappearances too. Peña Nieto heard him, but didn’t listen to him, and for two consecutive days, he played golf in his favorite spot: Ixtapan de la Sal Golf Club. Surrounded by his friends. Protected by his own people, while Iguala burned.

Yesterday, Peña did it again.

Faced with the inevitable and irrepressible social outrage caused by the brutal increase in the price of gasoline, the President would rather flee and shut himself away with his favorite game: golf, this time in Mazatlan. He opted for his little balls instead of tackling what we now see everywhere: a country enraged by protests due to the soaring costs of fuel prices.

A statesman would not be playing golf whilst the citizens protested throughout, virtually, the entire country.

A statesman would have sent a public announcement on national television trying to explain the hike in fuel prices, along with the causes, consequences and some attempt to calm things down.

A statesman would have cancelled his vacation and headed emergency cabinet meetings to deal with the threat of social riots.

But we are forgetting something: Enrique Peña Nieto is no statesman. He is simply a PRI politician from the State of Mexico who, thanks to money and promotion by Televisa, managed to get to Los Pinos. He does not feel. He does not tremble. He does not understand.

Peña, with his little golf balls. The public, with the angst that comes with the newly arrived 2017.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

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