Pena Nieto's Last Window of Opportunity to Bring Mexico Together Gustavo de Hoyo - Reforma
go to original January 16, 2017

Gustavo de Hoyo, President of COPARMEX, Employers Confederation of the Mexican Republic (Javier Solórzano)

MV Note: This opinion column, by the president of the major Mexican business organization COPARMEX, constitutes a highly unusal, direct challenge to President Peña Nieto from the business sector.

We were, at first, surprised by the way in which the federal government [of Peña Nieto] initiated its taking charge in 2012. They had the capacity to summon the majority of the political forces to form an agreement that contained, as its primary axes, the strengthening of the Mexican State, the democratization of the economy and politics, and the participation of citizens in the design and evaluation of public policies.

In a short period of two years, from the so-called “Pact For Mexico” [between the three major political parties] there emerged the most important group of legislative reforms that the country has experienced in decades. If anything stood out in this exercise in consensus, it was the generation of space for dialogue and debate, the ability to bring together visions and finally, the ability to come to agreements about main issues in national life.

Four years since the start of this unprecedented and, at the time, successful exercise, it is evident that the dynamics of government management, the replacement of many of its protagonists [changes in the cabinet], the electoral processes that have taken place [mid-term elections in which the PRI, the governing party, lost seven of twelve gubernatorial races], the drastic changes in the international political environment and the anticipated [political] calculations leading up to the next federal election, which isn't far away [presidential and congressional elections in June 2018], have resulted in the gradual deterioration of the capacity of the institutions of the Mexican government to extract benefits from that agreement.

In December 2012, Mexico had government institutions that brought the initiative to the public agenda with a clarity of vision and capacity for implementation. This degraded into a government whose capacities would seem limited, and only effective in responding to the daily crises, some fortuitous or exogeneous, but many self-inflicted. Each crisis weakens the government even further, reducing its dialogue with multiple sectors.

The accumulation of grievances on various fronts, as well as the progressive weakening of government credibility, may be used to explain why the implementation of an economic policy measure, such as the liberalization of fuel prices, has unleashed a social rancor such as the one Mexico has experienced in the last few days.

Translated by Samantha Hoose

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Related: Mexico Government Needs to Protect the Economy and Attend to the Political Dynamics (Mexico Voices)

Related: Employers Confederation Has Courage to Say "No" to Peña Nieto's Useless Pact (SinEmbargo)

Related: Mexico Gasoline Crisis: A Reply to Peña Nieto's Question, "What Would You Have Done? (Mexico Voices)

Related: Peña Nieto's Pact Among Economic Sectors Won't Allay Citizen Anger (Reforma)

Related: Mexico Gasoline Crisis: A Cold Winter for Peña Nieto (Proceso)

Mexico Voices is a blogging endeavor aimed at raising the awareness of U.S. citizens regarding the destructive impact of the U.S. economic policy and the War on Drugs on Mexico - on its people, their economic and physical security and their human rights, on the nation’s dysfunctional justice system, and on the rule of law and Mexico’s fragile democracy. Visit the website at MexicoVoices.blogspot.mx

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!