Leaders’ Pledges Fall Short as Graft Remains ’Heart of Mexico’s Political System’ David Agren - The Guardian
go to original July 20, 2017

Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto, has told reporters that corruption is ‘a matter of culture’ (Edgard Garrido/Reuters)

It was billed as an unprecedented weapon against Mexico’s endemic corruption, and a fresh start for a scandal-plagued government.

One year ago, President Enrique Peña Nieto signed into law a new national anti-corruption system as he apologized over a damaging conflict of interest scandal in which he, his wife and his finance minister purchased properties from crony contractors – then appointed an ally to investigate the deal.

Over the next 12 months, however, the government and its allies have undermined the mechanism (known by its Spanish initials as the SNA), according to the academics and anti-graft campaigners who helped draft the legislation.

Anti-corruption activists have been harassed and spied on with surveillance only sold to national governments, civic organizations have been targeted for investigation, and congress has failed to name a new anti-corruption prosecutor or specialized judges.

The delays and harassment have prompted uncomfortable questions over the government’s commitment to stopping graft. And the failure to implement the SNA as it was designed has led to accusations that Mexican politicians are more keen to cover up for each other than to crack down on kickbacks.

“There is an enormous resistance in the political class,” said Juan E Pardinas, director of the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, a thinktank. “Many politicians cannot imagine being politicians without using mechanisms associated with corruption,” he said. “It’s the very heart of the political system.”

Corruption costs Mexico between 2% and 10% of GDP, according to estimates. Hardest hit are the poor, who have been calculated to spend about 14% of their income on “extra-official” payments – everything from paying for bureaucrats to process paperwork to giving “tips” for garbage collection. Police routinely demand motorists give them a “mordida” (little bite) to escape traffic tickets.

Perceptions of corruption have worsened since the country ended one-party rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, PRI, in 2000. Many ordinary Mexicans feel that corruption has stopped lubricating the body politic and is now corroding the state – fueling the violence which has reached levels not seen since the country started keeping statistics 20 years ago.

Read the rest at The Guardian

Related: Systemic Corruption of the Government and Its Allies Triggers Attacks on New Anti-corruption System (Mexico Voices)

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