Mexico’s Lopez Obrador Is Stoking Corruption, Not Fighting It
His shady associates and wrongheaded policies are making a bad problem worse.
Watch what he does, not what he says.
Photographer: Hector Vivas/Getty Images South America“Corruption is a bigger threat to Mexico than organized crime.” So says President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. He asserts that under his watch “corruption has ended, [officials] will no longer steal.” He took Mexico’s recent one notch rise in Transparency International’s rankings, now besting Russia (though still below Ukraine, Pakistan, and Gabon), as vindication. Yet on corruption, voters’ hopes and the president’s rhetoric seem to have left rationality and reality behind. Not only has his administration overlooked high-profile cases of public graft, it is dismantling the institutions that could make Mexico more transparent and accountable.
Corruption hits Mexico hard. Surveys show one in three Mexicans pay a bribe every year for basic services, nearly half of businesses say they lost out to others offering kickbacks. This takes an economic toll, estimated at some 9% of gross domestic product. Corruption resonates with voters too, topping their concerns. Indeed, it helped to launch Lopez Obrador into office.