Translated by Amanda Coe
Some habits never die. In Mexico, every time there is a big crisis, President Enrique Peña Nieto grows smaller. [Peña Nieto is reported to be 5'8" tall.]
Three major events have marked his Presidency: the Ayotzinapa student massacre, corruption allegations after his wife bought a house from a government contractor and El Chapo’s escape. During all three events Peña Nieto has become smaller and has not shown his face.
It is a very particular style of governing. Instead of dealing with crises, he hides. Instead of seeking solutions, he makes excuses. Instead of acting like a leader and take responsibility, he sends others to speak for him.
This is exactly what he did when El Chapo escaped. Instead of returning to Mexico to face the worst security crisis of his term as president, he stayed in France, without even shortening his visit. That is known as a power vacuum.
When Pablo Escobar—the world’s most dangerous drug trafficker in 1992—escaped from prison, Colombian President César Gaviria immediately postponed an important visit to Madrid. Peña Nieto did not do that. He sent someone else to face this international humiliation. But it did not work.
It was embarrassing to hear his Secretary of Government Relations [SEGOB], Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, shamelessly bragging about the Mexican penitentiary system at a press conference. How can you boast about your prisons when the world's most powerful drug trafficker just escaped from one?
At no time did I heard him say, “We were wrong”. I never heard: “I did my job poorly, here is my resignation”. Osorio Chong’s argument was dreadful as he stated that El Chapo was able to escape because they were respecting his human rights and privacy in his cell. No. He escaped because of incompetence, corruption and impunity.
The mistakes made after the El Chapo’s escape are not new. Peña Nieto also went into hiding after the murder and disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa last September. Others spoke for him. Eventually, he gave in to pressure. It was 10 days after the event before he spoke publicly and over a month before receiving the victims’ families.
Peña Nieto did the same (or, more accurately, failed to do it) when journalist Carmen Aristegui and her team reported corruption and conflict of interest in the purchase of the "White House". The President, again, did not face the allegations and continued his trip to China. Later, it was his wife who spoke for him.
Angélica Rivera uploaded a hurried amateur video on social media to explain how she was paying a government contractor for a seven million dollar house. She then promised to sell the house. This has yet to happen. Nor are there details of the alleged investigation that an employee [Secretary of Public Administration, Virgilio Andrade] of the President is carrying out on that unusual and suspicious transaction. (Guatemala, by the way, is giving Mexico an example of how it should face cases of corruption when they point to the Presidency).
Three serious crises, three inexcusable absences. Many Mexicans, who are used to strong and authoritarian presidents, don't recognize a weak and elusive leader who refuses to give press conferences; he has not given a single one in three years. Only this can explain the picture of two young Mexicans in the Spanish newspaper El Pais with a mocking poster saying "El Chapo skipped out on them". The surveys also suggest that people are fed up with and do not trust in the president’s work.
Peña Nieto’s magical belief is that things disappear if you do not talk about them. He is so wrong. He does not like to talk about the drug violence, but since becoming President 42,408 Mexicans have been killed, according to official figures.
Peña Nieto and his advisers believe they are in 1968 [when protesting students were massacred in Tlatelolco plaza in Mexico City] and in 1988 [when election computers "crashed" as leftist Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas was leading in vote count for the presidency. When they were "back up", PRI's Carlos Salinas was declared the winner.] when you could hide reality by keeping quiet or censoring the media. Not anymore. Social media overflow, there are very courageous Mexican journalists who report abuse, and the international press will not let them lie.
The least that we could ask of a president is that he be able to lead, be accountable and not hide. (It's a matter of accountability, as they say in English). Facing Mexico’s great crises, Peña Nieto has been a paralyzed president; almost irrelevant. So not only has El Chapo escaped; so has the future.
Reforma only allows subscribers to access its articles online.
*Jorge Ramos Ávalos is a journalist and author. Born in Mexico, he is a naturalized U.S. citizen, based in Miami, Florida. He anchors the Univision news television program, Noticiero Univision; hosts the Univision Sunday-morning, political news program, Al Punto; and the Fusion TV English-language program, America with Jorge Ramos. @jorgeramosnews
Some habits never die. In Mexico, every time there is a big crisis, President Enrique Peña Nieto grows smaller. [Peña Nieto is reported to be 5'8" tall.]
Three major events have marked his Presidency: the Ayotzinapa student massacre, corruption allegations after his wife bought a house from a government contractor and El Chapo’s escape. During all three events Peña Nieto has become smaller and has not shown his face.
It is a very particular style of governing. Instead of dealing with crises, he hides. Instead of seeking solutions, he makes excuses. Instead of acting like a leader and take responsibility, he sends others to speak for him.
This is exactly what he did when El Chapo escaped. Instead of returning to Mexico to face the worst security crisis of his term as president, he stayed in France, without even shortening his visit. That is known as a power vacuum.
When Pablo Escobar—the world’s most dangerous drug trafficker in 1992—escaped from prison, Colombian President César Gaviria immediately postponed an important visit to Madrid. Peña Nieto did not do that. He sent someone else to face this international humiliation. But it did not work.
It was embarrassing to hear his Secretary of Government Relations [SEGOB], Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, shamelessly bragging about the Mexican penitentiary system at a press conference. How can you boast about your prisons when the world's most powerful drug trafficker just escaped from one?
At no time did I heard him say, “We were wrong”. I never heard: “I did my job poorly, here is my resignation”. Osorio Chong’s argument was dreadful as he stated that El Chapo was able to escape because they were respecting his human rights and privacy in his cell. No. He escaped because of incompetence, corruption and impunity.
The mistakes made after the El Chapo’s escape are not new. Peña Nieto also went into hiding after the murder and disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa last September. Others spoke for him. Eventually, he gave in to pressure. It was 10 days after the event before he spoke publicly and over a month before receiving the victims’ families.
Peña Nieto did the same (or, more accurately, failed to do it) when journalist Carmen Aristegui and her team reported corruption and conflict of interest in the purchase of the "White House". The President, again, did not face the allegations and continued his trip to China. Later, it was his wife who spoke for him.
Angélica Rivera uploaded a hurried amateur video on social media to explain how she was paying a government contractor for a seven million dollar house. She then promised to sell the house. This has yet to happen. Nor are there details of the alleged investigation that an employee [Secretary of Public Administration, Virgilio Andrade] of the President is carrying out on that unusual and suspicious transaction. (Guatemala, by the way, is giving Mexico an example of how it should face cases of corruption when they point to the Presidency).
Three serious crises, three inexcusable absences. Many Mexicans, who are used to strong and authoritarian presidents, don't recognize a weak and elusive leader who refuses to give press conferences; he has not given a single one in three years. Only this can explain the picture of two young Mexicans in the Spanish newspaper El Pais with a mocking poster saying "El Chapo skipped out on them". The surveys also suggest that people are fed up with and do not trust in the president’s work.
Peña Nieto’s magical belief is that things disappear if you do not talk about them. He is so wrong. He does not like to talk about the drug violence, but since becoming President 42,408 Mexicans have been killed, according to official figures.
Peña Nieto and his advisers believe they are in 1968 [when protesting students were massacred in Tlatelolco plaza in Mexico City] and in 1988 [when election computers "crashed" as leftist Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas was leading in vote count for the presidency. When they were "back up", PRI's Carlos Salinas was declared the winner.] when you could hide reality by keeping quiet or censoring the media. Not anymore. Social media overflow, there are very courageous Mexican journalists who report abuse, and the international press will not let them lie.
The least that we could ask of a president is that he be able to lead, be accountable and not hide. (It's a matter of accountability, as they say in English). Facing Mexico’s great crises, Peña Nieto has been a paralyzed president; almost irrelevant. So not only has El Chapo escaped; so has the future.
Reforma only allows subscribers to access its articles online.
*Jorge Ramos Ávalos is a journalist and author. Born in Mexico, he is a naturalized U.S. citizen, based in Miami, Florida. He anchors the Univision news television program, Noticiero Univision; hosts the Univision Sunday-morning, political news program, Al Punto; and the Fusion TV English-language program, America with Jorge Ramos. @jorgeramosnews