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| Left: Javier Duarte, Governor of Veracruz. Right: and Roberto Borge of Quintana Roo |
Sinembargo: Jorge Zepeda Patterson*
Translated by Ruby Izar-SheaThe problem is not that the Mexican political system has sprouted malignant tumors and harmful excrescences; no, the tragedy is that it has no way to get rid of them. There’s no defense against governors like Javier Duarte in Veracruz and Roberto Borge in Quintana Roo, or against "cowboy" leaders [government co-opted] like the leader of the railroad union, the owners of the Green Party, unpresentable deputies and senators, or a long etc. Don’t misunderstand me. It’s not that the past was better: there have always been corrupt, crooked and inept people. What’s new is that the system has lost its ability to isolate and discard those who are dysfunctional.
The PRI [Party of the Institutional Revolution] held on to power for seventy years thanks to its ability to eliminate that which went against their own reproduction or put at risk their permanence. Carlos Salinas "removed from office" 16 governors during his term, in addition to purging the ranks of the union leaders, starting with "la Quina" [Joaquín Hernández Galicia], from the oil union. In many cases it was settling the score to strengthen one's own faction to a rival’s detriment; but in others it simply eliminated parts that were dysfunctional, inefficient or embarrassing to the party's image. Something similar to what the Chinese Communist Party has been doing in recent years. In other words, the old style of presidential ruling had buttons and levers in the cockpit to get rid of an official whose foolishness, stupidity or insanity damaged the party’s operation.
Enrique Peña Nieto and Manlio Fabio Beltrones, leaders of the executive branch and the PRI, respectively, are aware that a loose satrap like Duarte is a torpedo to the survival of the party in power. The systematic violation of human rights by the governor of Veracruz, his witch hunt against journalists or his disastrous management of public finances have finally become a source of national and international embarrassment. Not that the rest of the governors are a paragon of virtue; but Duarte’s excesses go way beyond the quota of infamies tolerable by a public opinion that already has been very open minded.
The party leaders' problem is that there is no button that allows them to expel the Neros and Caligulas that soar to power. The political costs to bring the Green Party under control, for example, are too high for Los Pinos [The Pines, presidential residence and offices], among other things because the president’s weakened state forces him to add all allies, no matter their flaws. Like a general before a battle of uncertain outcome who prefers to ignore the indiscipline of officers of questionable reputation, getting rid of them and the resources they bring could make him bite the dust of defeat. The executive has chosen to ignore Duarte’s and Borge’s absurd excesses in the face of risking the PRI’s control of Veracruz or Quintana Roo. Although, if looked at closely, right now those states are at risk of being lost precisely because of the calamitous management by these baby dinosaurs. In the end, every general knows that the battle can also be lost by the messes created by an inept officer.
And as we know, the democratic alternative to the weakening of presidential power never worked. Institutional balances have been insufficient to limit the excesses of the political class now that the executive is unable to do it. The governors end up controlling local congresses, the state human rights commissions, their judges. The Green Party has enough members in Congress to decide close votes, which allows it to negotiate waivers for electoral crimes committed (crimes that guaranteed them a certain amount of members in the chambers: a pernicious cycle that feeds on itself).
In short, the political system lacks defenses against its own perversions. And that's one of the main differences between the old PRI and now. Worse, the scandals arising from the president's inner circle [that of the houses of Peña Nieto's wife, the "White House", and of Secretary of Treasury Luis Videgaray built and financed by the Higa Group, a major government contractor] discourages the system’s leader from undertaking a change from above. Partly for convenience and partly because of weakness, the ruling party is forced to display its shame without any chance to wash it away, let alone pretend it has bathed.
Given the excesses, the president prefers to float along; not making waves has become the biggest talent of the current political class. That has helped them become artists but serves them little to govern. 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