One Beige Bus. A City Tour. And a Shift in Thought on Mexican Corruption. Whitney Eulich - The Christian Science Monitor
go to original May 2, 2017

A man talks to one of the organizers of the bus known as the 'Corruptour,' during a tour showing buildings and sites involved in alleged corruption cases in Mexico City (Carlos Jasso/Reuters)

A line of eager tourists curves along a bustling sidewalk here on a sunny Sunday afternoon, waiting to board a beige school bus for a tour like none other. One woman pores over the pamphlet that advertises each stop, elbowing her friend as she reads aloud.

“This is too good,” she laughs, rattling off sites like the “White House” (a $7 million home-buying scandal involving the presidential couple), the Senate (which named an attorney general in November apparently to shield the majority party from investigations), and a giant television conglomerate (which took payoffs in 2012 to promote a presidential candidate).

This is the Corruptour, a 1.5-hour, 10-stop circuit that highlights stories of fraud, mismanagement, and corruption across Mexico City and, in some cases, the country. Corruption is rampant in Mexico, which has ranked in or near the bottom third of nations in Transparency International’s corruption perception index since 2000. In 2016, it placed 123rd out of 176 countries.

Thanks to Corruptour and other factors, Mexicans are talking more openly about official corruption. Mexican Millennials, a generation set to make up some 40 percent of the country’s eligible voters in the 2018 presidential election, appear eager to vote and clean up the nation’s politics. And a few young politicians are working to reform their districts.

This may not be enough. What’s really needed to break up Mexico’s longstanding culture of cozy relationships between politicians and industry, or in some cases, collusion with cartels, reform experts say, are empowered independent prosecutors, a safe environment for the press, enforcement of recent judicial and police reforms, and, perhaps most importantly, continued public activism and scrutiny.

But talking about official wrongdoing – even if only to lampoon it – is a first step.

Read the rest at The Christian Science Monitor

Related: Youth from Remote Mayan Community in Quintana Roo Gives Rousing Address on Corruption to Children's Parliament (Mexico News Daily)

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