News (Media Awareness Project) - Mexico: When public morality is in the basement |
| Title: | Mexico: When public morality is in the basement |
| Published On: | 1997-10-12 |
| Source: | Toronto Star |
| Fetched On: | 2008-09-07 21:28:29 |
MEXICO CITY One Mexican politician has a solution to the corruption
which, indirectly, cost Canada's ambassador his job this week and put the
papal nuncio in Mexico under fire for criticizing political ties to the
drug world: Mutilation.
``Cut off a finger the first time, another if it happens again and keep
going until you take off the whole hand, or more,'' opposition mayoral
candidate Carlos Ferr ez, from Jalapa, said in a television debate when
asked how to fight corruption in Mexico.
From the scale of recent revelations about dirty politics, one can imagine
a Monty Pythonesque world in which some of the best folks are suddenly
conducting their affairs sans fingers, hands or arms.
The public laughed at Ferr ez. Nervous release.
Mexico is, after all, a country where mutilation isn't part of the official
legal code.
However, Mexicans from all walks of life say they're drowning in the
corruption, narcotrafficking, absence of real democracy and human rights
abuses that Marc Perron described to a Mexican magazine with the candour
that cost him his ambassadorship.
He resigned Monday after a phone call from Mexican Foreign Relations
Secretary Jos Angel Gurra to his Canadian counterpart, Lloyd Axworthy, as
well as swelling pundit anger over this ``insult to the nation.''
But Perron hit a deep and raw nerve among Mexicans.
It is difficult to adequately convey to Canadian readers how utterly fed up
most Mexicans are with the corruption and political shenanigans they put up
with in daily life.
It's a constant factor, whether it's paying a mordida (bribe) to a public
utility to get something fixed, or knowing the brother of your former
president socked away such breathtaking sums overseas that his wife could
waltz into a Swiss bank and try to withdraw $84 million (U.S.) on a sunny
afternoon.
The frustration and anger with which ordinary Mexicans describe the
outrages of their lives not to mention the soulshattering complications
of this bureaucratic and difficult Third World country seem akin to a
collective cry of rage.
``What the ambassador said doesn't bother me because our government only
appears to listen when foreigners talk,'' says Reynaldo Paniagua, a Mexico
City lawyer and member of a small grassroots democracy group.
``I am totally fed up with the corruption of the government (and) with the
game of silence we play so that nothing ever changes.''
Adds Paniagua: ``I am not a corrupt man. Neither are most Mexicans. It is
the officials and those who get rich through the system. It's a cozy
camarilla (group) of friends that has created institutionalized corruption.''
``Maybe Perron insulted the politicians, but not me,'' says Hctor Sn chez,
a Mexico City veterinarian. ``He said nothing we Mexicans didn't already
know and we are so tired of it.
``I believe we're paying a high price for our lack of interest and activity
over the past 70 years,'' he adds. ``We didn't supervise the (ruling party)
and you can't trust them not to be corrupt.''
Within days of Perron's resignation, top politicians from the ruling
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) were again outraged, insisting the
Vatican remove Papal Nuncio Justo Mullor.
``It's well known, both inside and outside the country, that officials (at
the highest levels of) the attorneygeneral's office and the army are
accustomed to taking narcobribes,'' said Rome's representative, a guest in
this country a mere three months.
His remarks were a bombshell.
_________________________________________________________________
'The message the powerful give to society is terrible'
_________________________________________________________________
``Corruption, unfortunately, has always been part of the political system
in Mexico,'' says Luis Gmez, director of postgraduate studies at the
National Autonomous University of Mexico.
``For all practical purposes, it's a form of life . . . Mexico doesn't lack
laws, but rather a culture that enforces the laws. Respect for the law has
to mean the businessman bidding on a state offer, as well as the cop on the
street corner.''
Perron expressed the anger that's been simmering among Canadian business
people here over a string of inexplicably lost contracts. He called the
treatment of transportation giant Bombardier Inc. ``a barbarity.'' The
company lost a $580 million subway car contract without explanation, after
its technical bid had been accepted.
Examples of the climate of corruption, narcotrafficking and Wild West
political brutality are abundant:
Opposition politicians go on a hunger strike to protest the government's
shutdown of its investigation into Conasupo, the allpowerful agency which
controls commodities. It's alleged Conasupo officials handled money like
drunken sailors, ladling it out to some of the richest people in Mexico.
Nothing is done.
The government appoints Gen. Jesus Gutirrez to head its top drugfighting
institution, then finds out he's tied to drug kingpin Amado ``Lord of the
Skies'' Carrillo Perron says the whole thing's ``a joke.''
A prison official leaves the cell door open so drug capo Humberto Garca
Abregro can stroll out on the same day Mexican and U.S. officials boast
about his capture. A judge praises killer druglord Hctor Luis ``Blondie''
Palma as a ``good rancher.'' Priests mourn drug king Carrillo's recent
death, saying he gave alms to the church.
``The truth is they won't succeed in combatting drugtrafficking as long as
they refuse to cut the links between politicians and drug lords, and end
their political and military protection,'' says academic Gmez.
``As long as this unholy marriage exists, so does the political clout of
the narcos.''
Nobody solves political murders. Cardinal Juan Jess Posadas Ocampo is
gunned down in 1993, and PRI presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio is
assassinated a year later. A top PRI party official is killed, political
organizers are wiped out and an honest Mexico City judge is gunned down in
his office after getting death threats and publicly begging for help.
Other human rights abuses worsen, according to Amnesty International.
Extrajudicial executions, torture and disappearances increase rapidly.
_____________________________________________________
`There is an exasperation in Mexican society'
______________________________________________________
``Today, public morality is in the basement,'' political scientist Javier
Aguilar told La Reforma last year, after an international corruption index
pegged Mexico as the world's eighth most corrupt nation.
``The message the powerful give to society is terrible,'' said Aguilar.
``Anything goes. No matter who gets crushed.
``If the most important public figures steal and involve themselves in
political murders, it would seem the whole system is being pushed so that
people become corrupt and cynical,'' he said.
Mexico has slipped further. The annual Transparency International
Corruption Perception Index, released recently in Berlin, slotted Mexico as
the world's sixth most corrupt nation.
In scores of Star interviews, people identified key factors in the climate
of decay that includes corruption and brutality. Among their reasons:
There's a sense of noblesse oblige among certain elites. They believe
payoffs should accrue to them in the natural order. It results in an
amazing concentration of power and wealth.
Professor Aguilar describes how money rained down on certain bankers and
business people during recent government privatizations. As he explains:
``The formula used most often is, `I, the government, loan to you, my
friend, so that you can buy from me and, then, when you profit, you look
after me.' ''
There seems to be a sense of disconnection a themversusus feeling
between elements of society that mutes public outrage at horrific human
rights abuses, particularly among landless peasants.
Veterinarian Snchez describes a weariness that cuts to the heart of the
third, and perhaps most important, factor.
Mexicans are exhausted. Crime and corruption is directly related to the
peso crisis, and it's getting worse, especially in the big cities.
``There is an exasperation in Mexican society over insecurity,'' says
Sergio Sarmiento, vicepresident of Azteca TV, and a political columnist.
``The crime rate is so high there's hardly anyone left in Mexico City who
hasn't been held up, robbed or kidnapped.''
Still, in a bleak landscape, there have been small changes.
``Look, I am optimistic. Little by little,'' Sanchez says. ``The worse the
problem gets, the angrier the people are and, ultimately, something has to
give.''
which, indirectly, cost Canada's ambassador his job this week and put the
papal nuncio in Mexico under fire for criticizing political ties to the
drug world: Mutilation.
``Cut off a finger the first time, another if it happens again and keep
going until you take off the whole hand, or more,'' opposition mayoral
candidate Carlos Ferr ez, from Jalapa, said in a television debate when
asked how to fight corruption in Mexico.
From the scale of recent revelations about dirty politics, one can imagine
a Monty Pythonesque world in which some of the best folks are suddenly
conducting their affairs sans fingers, hands or arms.
The public laughed at Ferr ez. Nervous release.
Mexico is, after all, a country where mutilation isn't part of the official
legal code.
However, Mexicans from all walks of life say they're drowning in the
corruption, narcotrafficking, absence of real democracy and human rights
abuses that Marc Perron described to a Mexican magazine with the candour
that cost him his ambassadorship.
He resigned Monday after a phone call from Mexican Foreign Relations
Secretary Jos Angel Gurra to his Canadian counterpart, Lloyd Axworthy, as
well as swelling pundit anger over this ``insult to the nation.''
But Perron hit a deep and raw nerve among Mexicans.
It is difficult to adequately convey to Canadian readers how utterly fed up
most Mexicans are with the corruption and political shenanigans they put up
with in daily life.
It's a constant factor, whether it's paying a mordida (bribe) to a public
utility to get something fixed, or knowing the brother of your former
president socked away such breathtaking sums overseas that his wife could
waltz into a Swiss bank and try to withdraw $84 million (U.S.) on a sunny
afternoon.
The frustration and anger with which ordinary Mexicans describe the
outrages of their lives not to mention the soulshattering complications
of this bureaucratic and difficult Third World country seem akin to a
collective cry of rage.
``What the ambassador said doesn't bother me because our government only
appears to listen when foreigners talk,'' says Reynaldo Paniagua, a Mexico
City lawyer and member of a small grassroots democracy group.
``I am totally fed up with the corruption of the government (and) with the
game of silence we play so that nothing ever changes.''
Adds Paniagua: ``I am not a corrupt man. Neither are most Mexicans. It is
the officials and those who get rich through the system. It's a cozy
camarilla (group) of friends that has created institutionalized corruption.''
``Maybe Perron insulted the politicians, but not me,'' says Hctor Sn chez,
a Mexico City veterinarian. ``He said nothing we Mexicans didn't already
know and we are so tired of it.
``I believe we're paying a high price for our lack of interest and activity
over the past 70 years,'' he adds. ``We didn't supervise the (ruling party)
and you can't trust them not to be corrupt.''
Within days of Perron's resignation, top politicians from the ruling
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) were again outraged, insisting the
Vatican remove Papal Nuncio Justo Mullor.
``It's well known, both inside and outside the country, that officials (at
the highest levels of) the attorneygeneral's office and the army are
accustomed to taking narcobribes,'' said Rome's representative, a guest in
this country a mere three months.
His remarks were a bombshell.
_________________________________________________________________
'The message the powerful give to society is terrible'
_________________________________________________________________
``Corruption, unfortunately, has always been part of the political system
in Mexico,'' says Luis Gmez, director of postgraduate studies at the
National Autonomous University of Mexico.
``For all practical purposes, it's a form of life . . . Mexico doesn't lack
laws, but rather a culture that enforces the laws. Respect for the law has
to mean the businessman bidding on a state offer, as well as the cop on the
street corner.''
Perron expressed the anger that's been simmering among Canadian business
people here over a string of inexplicably lost contracts. He called the
treatment of transportation giant Bombardier Inc. ``a barbarity.'' The
company lost a $580 million subway car contract without explanation, after
its technical bid had been accepted.
Examples of the climate of corruption, narcotrafficking and Wild West
political brutality are abundant:
Opposition politicians go on a hunger strike to protest the government's
shutdown of its investigation into Conasupo, the allpowerful agency which
controls commodities. It's alleged Conasupo officials handled money like
drunken sailors, ladling it out to some of the richest people in Mexico.
Nothing is done.
The government appoints Gen. Jesus Gutirrez to head its top drugfighting
institution, then finds out he's tied to drug kingpin Amado ``Lord of the
Skies'' Carrillo Perron says the whole thing's ``a joke.''
A prison official leaves the cell door open so drug capo Humberto Garca
Abregro can stroll out on the same day Mexican and U.S. officials boast
about his capture. A judge praises killer druglord Hctor Luis ``Blondie''
Palma as a ``good rancher.'' Priests mourn drug king Carrillo's recent
death, saying he gave alms to the church.
``The truth is they won't succeed in combatting drugtrafficking as long as
they refuse to cut the links between politicians and drug lords, and end
their political and military protection,'' says academic Gmez.
``As long as this unholy marriage exists, so does the political clout of
the narcos.''
Nobody solves political murders. Cardinal Juan Jess Posadas Ocampo is
gunned down in 1993, and PRI presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio is
assassinated a year later. A top PRI party official is killed, political
organizers are wiped out and an honest Mexico City judge is gunned down in
his office after getting death threats and publicly begging for help.
Other human rights abuses worsen, according to Amnesty International.
Extrajudicial executions, torture and disappearances increase rapidly.
_____________________________________________________
`There is an exasperation in Mexican society'
______________________________________________________
``Today, public morality is in the basement,'' political scientist Javier
Aguilar told La Reforma last year, after an international corruption index
pegged Mexico as the world's eighth most corrupt nation.
``The message the powerful give to society is terrible,'' said Aguilar.
``Anything goes. No matter who gets crushed.
``If the most important public figures steal and involve themselves in
political murders, it would seem the whole system is being pushed so that
people become corrupt and cynical,'' he said.
Mexico has slipped further. The annual Transparency International
Corruption Perception Index, released recently in Berlin, slotted Mexico as
the world's sixth most corrupt nation.
In scores of Star interviews, people identified key factors in the climate
of decay that includes corruption and brutality. Among their reasons:
There's a sense of noblesse oblige among certain elites. They believe
payoffs should accrue to them in the natural order. It results in an
amazing concentration of power and wealth.
Professor Aguilar describes how money rained down on certain bankers and
business people during recent government privatizations. As he explains:
``The formula used most often is, `I, the government, loan to you, my
friend, so that you can buy from me and, then, when you profit, you look
after me.' ''
There seems to be a sense of disconnection a themversusus feeling
between elements of society that mutes public outrage at horrific human
rights abuses, particularly among landless peasants.
Veterinarian Snchez describes a weariness that cuts to the heart of the
third, and perhaps most important, factor.
Mexicans are exhausted. Crime and corruption is directly related to the
peso crisis, and it's getting worse, especially in the big cities.
``There is an exasperation in Mexican society over insecurity,'' says
Sergio Sarmiento, vicepresident of Azteca TV, and a political columnist.
``The crime rate is so high there's hardly anyone left in Mexico City who
hasn't been held up, robbed or kidnapped.''
Still, in a bleak landscape, there have been small changes.
``Look, I am optimistic. Little by little,'' Sanchez says. ``The worse the
problem gets, the angrier the people are and, ultimately, something has to
give.''
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