Reforma: Eduardo R. Huchim*
Translated by Rachel Alexander
After the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE, [which became the National Electoral Institute, INE after electoral reform in 2013]) and the Federal Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF) shamefully closed the case of the Monex money cards, which were part of the gigantic operation led by President Enrique Peña Nieto, it has again gained notoriety. This is due to the documented revelation by Aristegui Noticias (AN) that these banking instruments, used to dispurse PRI [Party of the Institutional Revolution] resources, were allegedly funded with money from the Juarez Cartel.
According to AN, the Conclave Marketing Group contributed money to the aforementioned cards and was also a consultant to the PRI and a supplier for the Crusade Against Hunger program [initiated by Peña Nieto shortly after he took office]. The Group was directed by Rodolfo David Dávila Córdoba, "The Consul," one of the Juarez Cartel operators, and was part of the complex network of companies, some shell, with which the PRI tried to hide reality. It was a pretense similar to a money laundering operation, but was accepted by the General Council of the IFE, with the opposition of directors Alfredo Figueroa, Benito Nacif, María Marván and Lorenzo Córdova. In favor were Valdés, García Ramírez (who first excused himself and then cast the deciding vote), Baños, Guerrero and Macarita Elizondo.
Thus, despite the insufficient and unsatisfactory performance of the suspicious Audit Unit, directed by PRI ally Alfredo Cristalinas, the IFE declared the proceedings against the PRI unfounded, which was essentially validated by the TEPJF. Supposedly, the Audit Unit investigated the origin and destination of the money disseminated through Monex cards, but failed to actually determine either one. It did not establish beyond doubt where the money came or on what it was actually spent.
The Peña Nieto campaign's enormous expenses were calculated at about 4.6 billion pesos [US$262 million] by the Monex Investigation Commission of the Chamber of Deputies. I fear that the commission fell short, as there are informal calculations that place the actual cost of the campaign as more than double that, to which the IFE and TEPJF closed their eyes. They refused to do what is necessary to investigate the elevated spending which would have forced them to declare the 2012 election invalid, due to the breakdown of equity [in spending] and violation of various laws.
What Aristegui Noticias reveals now is not the only criminal link to PRI electoral spending. At the end of 2013, Reforma published that a federal investigation found at least 23 million pesos [US$1.3 million] disbursed in the 2012 PRI campaign came from a network of "virtual" companies linked to Edicom, the Building, Engineering, Construction and Materials company, whose suspicious financial transactions have been reported on for years (Reforma, 11/12/13).
In a country governed by a genuine rule of law, this situation would have generated deep investigation into electoral and criminal justice authorities, with consequences that have elsewhere led to placing them in check and/or the removal of those in the government. But not in Mexico. Not in a country where the rule of law lacks comprehensive validity. Here, reported information will remain as anecdote and as information for the investigators and historians of tomorrow.
In addition to this pitiable lack of action, the media revelations clearly reflect the fragility, deficiency and insufficiency of IFE (today INE) management. It will be said that the Monex case is an issue of the past, when the current electoral body and auditing arrangements did not exist, and that's true. But it's also true that although the [congressional] elections of 2015 are less relevant than those of 2012, things did not improve substantially in the review of 2015 campaign spending, while the arrogance and lack of self-criticism of several directors impededed progress in overcoming that fragility.
They do not accept the errors and insufficiencies, and, at the height of petulance, they have extended a sort of certification of good conduct to the parties. As the president of the Audit Committee, Ciro Murayama, said candidly "the [2015] campaigns were financed with clean money. The parties and candidates spent their money for legal, planned and permitted purposes" (Revista R, 07/26/15). And at such an assertion, many party leaders and candidates must have released a loud laugh.
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*Eduardo R. Huchim is a journalist, writer and, from 1999 to 2006, member of the General Council of the Electoral Institute of Mexico City, where he presided over the Audit Commission. His books include The System Crashes (Grijalbo, 1996), The Plots (novel, Grijalbo, 1997), New Elections (Plaza y Janés, 1997), Media (Santillana, 2002) and What's Up With the Vote (Terracotta, 2006). @EduardoRHuchim