Alan Larson A01194290
Activity B: Democratic consolidation in Mexico: the greatest challenge
I think that the greatest challenge for democratic consolidation in Mexico so far is
corruption. Corruption has been present in Mexico for a long time, and it’s something
that affects every member of a society. What is corruption exactly? Corruption is defined
by the World Bank as the abuse of power due to one’s position in the government for
personal gain. Corruption, by definition, interferes with the correct enforcement and
exercise of State duties.
In Mexico, corruption is very noticeable when dealing with authorities, mainly
police officers and transit police. It is very common for cops to accept bribes of citizens
instead of fining them, a lot of Mexicans do this since it is cheaper and less
time-consuming. Transparency.org, a global organization focused on ending corruption,
stated that in 2020 in Mexico 34% of all public service users paid a bribe. They also
found out that 44% of all Mexicans thought that corruption increased in that year. The
World Bank has stated that corruption makes up 9% of all of the country’s gross
domestic product (GDP). Furthermore, the INEGI has found out that the country’s
population has been impacted by corruption at a higher level than Mexico’s businesses.
In 2014, the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) placed Mexico among the 70 most
corrupt countries in the world, in a scale from 0 to 100 (0 being the highest level of
corruption) Mexico scored 35 points.
In Mexico, most of the population is aware of the corruption in the country,
generating a defeatist culture of reluctant acceptance. All over the country, phrases like
“el que tranza no avanza” (“who doesn’t cheat doesn’t win”, used to justify bribes and
corruption in general), “con dinero baila el perro” (“the dog dances when given money”,
meaning that with money, you can have your way in most situations and jump over any
legal or bureaucratic obstacle), “lo dejo a su criterio” or “ayudame a ayudarte” (these
phrases are used mainly by authority to imply that the person in trouble can get out of
the current situation by paying a bribe, which is known as a “mordida”, this is most
common with transit violations).
With each new term of the Mexican government, more promises are made to
fight against corruption, but this problem only appears to increase with time. Corruption
is tied at its core with the country’s institutions and the lack of punishment for politicians,
authorities, and officials who abuse their power and participate in corruption. With a lack
of punishment for this crime, many government members have no reason not to be
corrupt, since it's in their best interests. The only kind of reprimand is the verbal kind,
politicians simply acknowledging that the problem exists but not doing anything about it,
with some even participating in it. Currently, as of 2021, the Mexican government is still
not doing anything about this problem. It only seems that corruption is being fought
against by words from politicians and government officials, but we have yet to see or
hear about any strategy being implemented to fight it. Actually, in the first year of Lopez
Obrador’s presidency, the numbers of corruption soared.
Our current president has promised to fight corruption and bring an end to it, but
he has only shown the contrary. It is known that various people surrounding the
president, including his own family, have benefited or been accused of participating in
acts of corruption. The president’s cabinet members, many of them being from PRI,
have also been accused of being corrupt. For example, Olga Sánchez Cordero, the
Secretaria de Gobernación (Secretary of Interior) owns an undeclared department in the
state of Texas. Every day, Lopez Obrador shows us that everything that he has
promised is not being worked on and has been a lie. Another important thing to note is
that the president’s administration has little to no interest in keeping track of information
and archives of administrative transactions, this will probably hide the tracks of
corruption of the current presidency in the future.
With all of this information, it is clear that the current government has no interest
in actually fighting corruption. Now we have to hope that the next term will do something
about this massive problem in the country. Even if the next term tries to fight against
corruption it will still take years to reduce the levels drastically. I don’t think that it’s a
problem that just one term will solve, but I definitely think that the country deserves
politicians and government officials that implement strategies to actually try to solve this
problem, instead of profiting off it.
Buenrostro, J. (2016). Corrupción: Un gran lastre para México. Nueva Sociedad.
Retrieved
April
30,
2021,
from
https://www.nuso.org/articulo/corrupcion-un-gran-lastre-para-mexico/
Huther, Jeff; Shah, Anwar. 2000. Anti-Corruption Policies and Programs : A Framework
for Evaluation. Policy Research Working Paper;No. 2501. World Bank, Washington, DC.
Retrieved April 30, 2021, from
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/19753
Molina, H. (2020). Dos años de gobierno de AMLO: cómo va el combate a la
corrupción. El Economista. Retrieved April 30, 2021, from
https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/politica/Dos-anos-de-gobierno-como-van-las-acusaci
ones-20201125-0152.html
Najar, A. (2015). 10 frases que reflejan cómo es la corrupción en México. Animal
Político. Retrieved April 30, 2021, from
https://www.animalpolitico.com/2015/04/10-frases-que-reflejan-como-es-la-corrupcion-e
n-mexico/
Our work in Mexico. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/mexico
What is corruption? (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.transparency.org/en/what-is-corruption