This morning MVS News political analysts Sergio Aguayo* and Lorenzo Meyer** spoke about corruption in Mexico, which they described as "eternal" and considered that it is "extremely rare" for it to be investigated in Mexico.
"If you scratch the surface, a similar pattern in found (across different cases)," observed Aguayo.Aguayo exposed issues like the alleged mismanagement of resources by Ernesto Cordero (PAN-National Action Party); an alleged bribe by the delegate Mauricio Toledo (PRD-Party of the Democratic Revolution); and the financial embezzlement in the administration of [former governor] Andrés Granier (PRI-Party of the Institutional Revolution) in Tabasco.
"They are quite rare--cases of corruption that come to a stop and are investigated. There is a lot of public complaint that is of no consequence," he stated.He questioned the moral authority of the PRD leader, Jesús Zambrano, to publicly denounce corruption in other scandals when he has neither sanctioned nor investigated the "corrupt delegate" [in his own political bloc].
"Sometimes it is frustrating to expose corruption because the results are so rare, they hard to get ... one observes that corruption pervades every crack and crevice of public life," said Sergio.Lorenzo Meyer, meanwhile, analyzed the case of former governor Andrés Granier. He recalled that former candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador stated that money diverted in Tabasco could come to rest in the campaign of Enrique Peña Nieto, about whom he added "we have a right to have our doubts."
The historian made a comparison with the case of Elba Esther Gordillo and observed that she is in jail not for corruption, but because "she did not subordinate herself" to President Enrique Peña Nieto, who drove education reform.
Meyer observed that because of the Gordillo case, others should be investigated, but that did not happen. Regarding Granier, Meyer added:
"they would have to build a strong case against him", and if they do not do it,
"we can suspect that the money went to the PRI campaign."Nevertheless, he estimated that Granier "can be sacrificed without anyone feeling affected" because Granier is virtually outside the party.
"The issue of corruption is eternal; it is from the beginning of our times," he said.
*Sergio Aguayo is a professor of political science in the College of Mexico and a leading political analyst and commentator in Mexico. He is president of Civic Alliance and a leader in the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity. He obtained his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. His thesis was on the history of Mexican-U.S. government relations in the twentieth century, published as Myths and MisPerceptions: Changing U.S. Elite Visions of Mexico (U.S.-Mexico Contemporary Perspectives Series.
**Lorenzo Meyer is an academic and columnist. He earned a bachelor's degree and a doctorate in international relations from the College of Mexico. He also carried out postdoctoral studies in political science at the University of Chicago. Author of several important works on Mexico's foreign relations and on the Mexican Revolution, he has also written on the Mexican political system, its authoritarian forms of power and the democratization processes of the twentieth century. He has taught in Mexico, the USA, Spain and England. He has been a columnist for NOTIMEX, Excelsior and currently Reforma.