Sinembargo: Jorge Zepeda Patterson*
Translated by Ruby Izar-Shea
It’s not that they didn’t steal before, they just did it on a completely different scale. Or perhaps they didn’t show it off like they do now. The fact is, the frustration and exasperation caused by corruption have become the main topic of after-dinner conversations, newspaper websites or conversations on social networks. Surveys show it has become the most discussed issue when talking about citizen problems, at times even more discussed than insecurity or economic deterioration. And I agree with analysts that think it will be the principal topic of the 2018 elections, a true reflection of voter concerns.
So we should insist on the question. Why has there been an increase in irritation against the rapacity of the political class and crooked businessmen? Is it because the phenomenon has increased in recent years or is it that they receive more visibility and exposure?
I would respond with a categorical yes to both questions. On the one hand, the magnitude of what is being stolen has indeed increased, especially among state governments, thanks to the autonomy acquired from the central government. The indebtedness of the state treasuries reached record levels in recent years: two or three times the average of numbers reached two or three decades ago. And something similar could be said about many municipal governments.
Governors and officials not only brutally increased the size of the pie, but also the piece they keep, particularly when the executive of a state dominates the State Congress. In such cases, there are no limits or control for the governor’s whims or abuse: the cases of Veracruz, Sonora, Puebla, Quintana Roo and Coahuila are the most well-known, but they are simply the standard bearers of the group.
Explaining why they can now divert more resources for their personal benefit than they used to, takes us to the weakening of the presidency. It’s not the only reason, but it’s the most powerful. The top leader exercised a sort of balance between the rest of the powers and made sure nobody’s pie slice was disproportionately bigger than the rest. And the same was true for governors, union leaders or billionaires. Nothing that would jeopardize the balance of the system. It was not a matter of honesty (the saying "a poor politician is a poor politician" was invented long ago), but efficiency of a system that gravitated around a center of balance.
When this center fell as the alternation [of parties holding the presidency] began in 2000 and was not replaced by a network of institutions capable of checks and balances, powers were unleashed. Governors converted into petty kings, millionaires climbed the Forbes list or built their own group of representatives in Congress, union leaders were capable of founding their own party. Not to mention the party elites or deputies and senators who use public resources virtually at will. In short, no limit to the abuses and outrages in the "New Old West" the public state turned into.
It’s also true that this phenomenon has increased public opinion’s exasperation. In part due to the repeated scandals and the magnitude they have reached. But there is more. On the one hand, the alternation itself gave rise to the growth of media capable of airing such scandals at local and national levels. And, more recently, the emergence of social networks ended up catapulting the visibility of the excesses and public conversation about them. The trail of Ladys and Mirreyes [references to wealthy women observed mistreating employees and to those who live like kings] show the darkest and unpresentable side of corruption: the powerful’s privilege, inequality and abuse.
The latter is precisely what triggered exasperation not seen before on the subject. There may be a relative tolerance to the custom of delivering a "bite" [bribe] to avoid a traffic ticket or go to a handler to streamline a bureaucratic process. But there’s increasing irritation with the gross display of wealth and patronage of businessmen and politicians getting rich at the expense of public interest. And on top of it, that they boast about their excesses and transgressions is starting to make the people think enough is enough.
It is impossible to know how this frustration will end. For now, it’s there and the political class should start doing something about it; later could be too late. Spanish original
Jorge Zepeda Patterson is an economist, writer of novels, political analyst and journalist. He holds a Masters in Social Sciences from the Latin American Faculty in Social Sciences (FLASCO) and did studies for a Doctorate in Political Science at the Sorbonne in Paris. He was a journalist for El País in Madrid, Spain. In 1991 he founded the newspaper Siglo 21 (Twenty-first Century) in Guadalajara. He has been a director of the newspaper, El Universal. In 2011 he founded the online news site www.sinembargo.mx, which he directs. He is also a professor at the University of Guadalajara. @jorgezepedap www.jorgezepeda.net