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
