Mexico’s Gaping Deficit Shows Signs of Election-Year Splurge
- Spending on anti-poverty program swelled 35% from last year
- Finance Ministry says it’s following rules for election money
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It’s handout day in Atlacomulco, a couple of hours west of Mexico City. One white-haired woman zips past to catch the bus back to her village, bent under the weight of a boxful of free food that’s almost as big as she is.
Alicia Reyes brought a shopping trolley, and has time to chat. She said her government-supplied package of rice, tuna, lentils and oil is twice the size it was three months earlier. She also noticed that officials in charge of the monthly distribution showed more interest than usual in her voter ID card, even jotting down a few details. Reyes, who’s 64, suspects that both changes have something to do with the elections due in less than two weeks.