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| President Enrique Peña Nieto |
During the same week as the escape of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman [through a tunnel], the federal government experienced another tremendous failure: only 14% of the oil fields that were opened to private investment were awarded [two of fourteen fields to Mexican consortiums: no foreign companies bid]. The Secretariat of the Treasury predicted it would receive 18 billion dollars in Round One [of bidding] and will only get 2.6 billion in investment.
Suddenly, in less than a week, the two principal operators in Enrique Peña Nieto's government were exposed internationally. The Secretary of Government Relations, Miguel Angel Osorio Chong--against whom not just a few within Peña Nieto´s inner circle have wanted to strike a blow--was exposed once again by the escape of Guzman Loera. Secretary of the Treasury, Luis Videgaray, who, since the decline in international oil prices, has not had a single success, is now humiliated in the face of the dismal premiere of the "mother of all reforms", that of energy [opening State-owned oil to exploration and extraction by private corporations].
In short, Peña Nieto enters the second leg of his weakened administration without changing one iota his policy of "damage control". From Ayotzinapa to El Chapo's escape, through the real estate scandals of the "White House" [president's wife's house, built and financed by the Higa Group, major government contractor], he has only enlarged the tunnel his government is in. No one clearly sees light at the end of this downward slide.
In the tradition of the Mexican political system, the president enters the second half of his term putting in place the key pieces for his own succession and holding the strongest cards. The tradition of "tapping" [the president directly choosing his successor] died with the old hegemonic model of the PRI [Party of the Institutional Revolution] in 2000, and new rules have not yet been written at a time when the federal government is going through a severe crisis of legitimacy and image control.
Excess over caring for their image led Peña Nieto and his team to blow themselves up in a number of delayed responses to crises. Peña Nieto and his government took 10 days to respond to the challenge of the disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa students; more than a week to give his own version of the scandal of the White House with which he saddled his wife, Angelica Rivera, resulting in the consequent decline of "La Gaviota"[her nickname as a soap opera star]; and he delayed another week before asserting that "having tantrums" over the escape of Guzmán Loera would accomplish nothing.
No one asked him to demonstrate anger, only efficiency and accountability.
When the president fails, his two main guardians ought to step up: those responsible for domestic policy and economic policy. However, in the personal style of governing used by the Atlacomulco Group [hometown of Peña Nieto and many PRI politicians in the State of Mexico] no one assumes responsibilities; all of them are missing and hide behind the new maximum of Bucareli [building housing the Secretariat of Government Relations]: "crises are for confronting, not for giving up".
Jesus Silva Herzog Marquez, in his article for the newspaper Reforma, "On Political Responsibility" raised the dilemma of the Peña Nieto government in a very clear way:
"I know that speaking about political responsibility is to speak in an incomprehensible language for the ruling group. No jail for Osorio is being requested; his unemployment is being requested.
"In a government where no official assumes the consequences of his stupidity, it is the head who appears weak, vulnerable, dependent. When officials remain in their posts despite ostentatiously displayed incompetence, it's the boss who deserves the blame. "By following the path of incompetence, Peña Nieto is closing his own escape valve and his succession.
For whoever is still gambling in the succession pools, the gameboard is completely altered. Right now, neither Osorio Chong nor Videgaray have the strength, charisma or necessary networks to convince anyone that there will be continuity to the Peña Nieto governmnent.
The rest of the cabinet is broken, confronted and suspicious in the absence of clear signals:
- In SEDESOL [Secretariat of Social Development], Secretary Rosario Robles, who organized the celebration of Peña Nieto's birthday in Guerrero [he dropped his piece of the cake], feels she can be relieved at any time to make room for Osorio Chong.
- In the Secretariat of Economy, the owner, Ildefonso Guajardo, walks around like a zombie [because his is overshadowed by Videgaray].
- In SEP [Secretariat of Public Education], Emilio Chuayfett, remains in command "rain or shine" [his words, in face of dissident teacher opposition], despite the discredit of an ill-conceived and implemented educational reform.
- In the Secretariat of Foreign Relations, Jose Antonio Meade is expected to leave at any moment to go to the Mexican Embassy in Washington or to stay to organize mass presidential tours [Peña Nieto has been on state visits to the U.K., Germany and France], while the crises in relations with the United States and the Vatican remain unresolved.
- In Sagarpa [Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fishing and Food Supply], Secretary Enrique Martínez, is more concerned with his many businesses and his possibly becoming the national leader of the PRI.
- In the Secretariat of Labor, Navarrete Prida keeps a low profile.
- In the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation, Ruiz Esparza survives the very audio scandals that he, himself, prepared [The leaked audios attributed to him are conversations in which government highway construction plans are made known to OHL, a Spanish construction firm building highways in Mexico, particularly in the State of Mexico].
The Peña Nieto government is in this tunnel and El Chapo's escape only accelerated what was already a constant: the lack of damage control. Spanish original
*Jenaro Villamil Rodríguez is a Mexican journalist and writer specializing in politics and mass media. He completed undergraduate studies in political science at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He began as a reporter for El Financiero (1989-1994) and was editor of El Financiero Sureste (1994-1996) and Coordinator of Special Affairs for La Jornada. Currently, he is a reporter for Proceso. He is also a contributor to the news portal sinembargo.mx and the magazine Zocalo. Since 2011 he has maintained a blog specializing in communications and telecommunications at homozapping.com.mx Twitter: @jenarovillamil