LAT: Mexico: The Bite of Corruption

[DeepModem Mom]

The Bite of Corruption
Kickbacks, embezzlement and bribery are a way of life in Mexico, stunting the economy and poisoning the public trust. Some regions are cleaning up, but the capital remains a quagmire.
By Marla Dickerson, Times Staff Writer
August 6, 2006

....Corruption remains a huge obstacle to Mexico's advancement. It is a hidden tax that stifles job creation, retards economic growth, erodes respect for law and order, and poisons citizens' trust in their institutions.

To be sure, corruption is a global phenomenon plaguing rich nations as well as poor ones. Witness the billions in waste and fraud that have accompanied federal payouts from Hurricane Katrina in the United States.

But in Mexico, it is an ongoing disaster. Mexican officials have estimated that as much as 9% of Mexico's gross domestic product is siphoned off annually to corruption. In 2005 that would have amounted to $69 billion, or more than the nation spends on education and defense combined....

***

....Corruption in Mexico remains endemic and takes myriad forms, including kickbacks on government contracts, funds looted from social programs and drug money that has compromised courts, cops and political candidates. One out of every 5 businesses in Mexico admits to making "extra-official" payments to win public contracts, speed government paperwork or skirt regulations, according to a 2005 report by the Center for Economic Studies of the Private Sector in Mexico City.

The average Mexican's most frequent brush with the system is la mordida, or "the bite." Those are the small bribes, "tips" and other extracurricular handouts that public servants and others squeeze out of the citizenry to perform routine functions....

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mordida6aug06,0,2979042.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Judi Lynn]

1. Unbelievable information!

A big point I would have NEVER learned too soon unless I had read it in this article is this information which has been deeply buried and away from American news sources:

One of President Vicente Fox's first acts upon taking office in late 2000 was to create a Cabinet-level position for an anti-corruption czar. A landmark transparency law was implemented under his watch to give average citizens more access to public records.

Yet election authorities in 2003 slapped nearly $50 million in fines on Fox's Alliance for Change, the political coalition that helped get him elected, for campaign finance violations that included failing to disclose millions in donations and accepting money from prohibited sources. The scandal tarnished his image as the maverick who was going to clean up Mexican politics.
(snip)

This is also surprising:

The bite of la mordida is particularly painful for the poor. The average payout is about $16, or more than four times the daily minimum wage. But far from being hapless victims, some Mexicans admit that they sometimes willingly work the system, helping to sustain the very practice that most deplore.
(snip)

.....Mexico City residents no longer have to pass a written exam or road test to get a driver's license. The bribing of test officials was so rampant that authorities reasoned that scrapping the exam could eliminate a huge source of chicanery with little effect on the overall quality of the city's maniacal drivers.
(snip)

If our barely breathing media would stir themselves long enough to do just a modest amount of investigation, it's so likely we'd be hearing all KINDS of reports on conditions right here, in the same vein with this article.

Thanks, DeepModem Mom.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. I learned a lot, too. If there were more interest in foreign news...

maybe there would be more coverage. On the other hand, if there were more coverage, there might be more interest!