In a sensational press conference, the PAN broke its implicit alliance with the PRI by presenting [thirteen hours of] tape recordings of officials from the SEDESOL [Secretariat of Social Development] and from the Veracruz government discussing procedures for using massive resources from federal programs. The crown jewel of these efforts is the Crusade Against Hunger to promote PRI candidates in the upcoming [July] elections.
It is clear to all that the "Crusade" is not a social policy designed to increase social unity, employment or development. It is about targeting benefits in communities where the PRI can buy votes and weaken the opposition. It is clear that the PRI will continue to use public funds to undermine the democratic process, as it did for seventy years. It continued doing the same thing in the states where it held governor-ships during the twelve years of PAN [Vicente Fox, Felipe Calderón] administrations, and as the PAN also did. SEDESOL's head [Secretary Rosario Robles] will not resign. The PRI and its allies will block the investigation.
We'll see how the electronic media mount a campaign to reduce effects of the political bomb. The corruption will go unpunished, as always.
Alejandro Encinas* has made public an analysis which shows that among the 400 municipalities selected for the first phase of the Crusade, at least half would not be classifiable for food shortages. In Mexico City there is no hunger, but the PRI needs to create a client base. The opposition is stronger in many municipalities arbitrarily selected. For example, Atlixco and San Andrés Cholula, in [state of] Puebla, are PAN bastions that the PRI wants to penetrate. Although no one believed Rosario Robles, the brutality of the revelation has shocked everyone: the pretense has become evident.
The virtuous purposes of the program hide the political truth. Simulation is a profound defect. We are accustomed to legal facades and political rituals that do not match reality. No mechanism is more powerful mechanism for clouding public awareness and eliciting disillusionment and cynicism. So it would be very important that the opposition parties stop pretending [that nothing has happened] and, instead, denounce the Pact [Pact for Mexico] that is the mother of all simulations and tune in to the growth of consciousness and dissatisfaction.
It will not be easy to remove simulation from our life. But we are getting there. As we get closer to the truth, the more we modernize. We must dispel the half-lights of half-truths and half-lies in which we are accustomed to living. Spanish original
It will not be easy to remove simulation from our life. But we are getting there. As we get closer to the truth, the more we modernize. We must dispel the half-lights of half-truths and half-lies in which we are accustomed to living. Spanish original
*Alejandro Encinas, economist (UNAM) and politician (PRD), is a former mayor of Mexico City who has twice been elected to the Chamber of Deputies. Encinas has also held numerous international posts, including with the Inter-American Institute of Cooperation for Agriculture and with the United Nations.