A year ago,
Mexico's new President Pena-Nieto was enjoying all of the international
recognition of pushing energy and education reforms. The
Economist is now down on him and Mexican
historian Enrique Krause wants him to go on TV and admit some
errors.
Down in South
America, Brazil was getting ready to host The World Cup a year ago and present
itself as a rising economic power with political stability.
To be fair,
President Pena-Nieto did a good job in passing the reforms and Brazil has a huge
economy. However, both countries today are suffering from structural
corruption, and specially "crony capitalism" in the case of Brazil.
Jaime
Daremblum, a respected diplomat, wrote
an excellent summary of the problems affecting the two big economies of Latin
America:
"Now, Pena Nieto is in full damage control mode.
His wife cancelled her mansion purchase. And,
more seriously, Pena Nieto has announced an anti-corruption reform plan that
will, among other steps, allow the central government to dissolve local police
forces that have been infiltrated by drug cartels.
“Mexico cannot go on like this," the 48-year old
president said in announcing the plans, "After Iguala, Mexico must change."
He’s right – though it remains to be seen whether
fundamental change is possible in a country with such a rich and long history of
endemic corruption.
Further south, Brazil has similar problems – a
major corruption scandal involving the state-backed energy giant Petrobras is
raging.
The Brazilian Federal Police are currently
conducting “Operation Car Wash,” and what they are finding is astounding.
Executives at Petrobras, the world’s sixth
largest energy company, are alleged to have paid bribes to Brazilian government
officials totaling as much as $1.6 billion in exchange for lucrative government
contracts.
The bribe money was allegedly siphoned off of
company profits.
Senior executives at the company have been
arrested, as have bosses of construction and engineering companies who work with
Petrobras.
More heads are sure to fall as the case
develops."
The two
countries are worth watching, specially Mexico with a population of 100 million
people on our southern border. Brazil is far away but could descend into chaos
at a moment's notice.
The bad news
is that both countries have a history of corruption. In Mexico, it was 70
years of one-party rule and the billions of dollars that finance the drug
cartels. In Brazil, the "cozy" relationship between government and business
leaders gives "crony capitalism" a Portuguese definition.
The good news
is that the local media is covering the story. We congratulate local
journalists who are asking questions and demanding answers.
I worked and lived in Mexico during the last two years of the
very corrupt Lopez-Portillo administration. There was corruption everywhere but
no one in the media touched it.
That's not the case anymore. Just read the front pages of
Mexican and Brazilian newspapers. I am happy to see that Mexican and Brazilian
journalists are alive and kicking.
P. S. You can
hear CANTO TALK here & follow
me on Twitter @ scantojr.
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