Mexico’s greatest obstacle — Corruption

Maria F Reyes
3 min readNov 29, 2020

Transparency International defines corruption as the “abuse of entrusted power for private gain”. Unfortunately, in Mexico is something you can experience every day and has permeated all levels of society and “power”.

I cannot count all the stories I have heard of policeman stopping cars in the street claiming they did something illegal, missing a stop sign or an irregularity with the car, that are far from true, just to ask for money. Sadly, many accept the “bite” (commonly know as “mordida”) because they are in rush or do not know the transit laws. This is the most common example, but I have experienced so many more.

Last year my husband and I were travelling to the US when a member of the airport’s National Guard noticed we were carrying money and tried to extort us through alarming threats. Even though we denounce it to the airport authorities we were too afraid to continue the process since they had our information.

I know from several acquaintances that have been asked for bribes in order to get the necessary permits to establish a business or even build their home. Some have accepted and some have prepared to wait but after more than a year waiting to get things done through the legal path, some regret making the “right” decision. This also happens with big enterprises, a well know case is the one from Walmart, that was discovered that in 2012 paid more than $20 million in bribes to speed the permits to build new stores.

In my opinion, the worst is the corruption within the government and political systems. Millions of dollars stolen by governors around the country, with recent examples of governors deviating more than $3,500 million. Family members of high officials accepting money in exchange of favors, including the current president’s brother.

Corruption represents an enormous obstacle for Mexico’s development. First, direct economic implications that according to the Word Bank can amount up to 9.0% of the GDP. Moreover, it fosters lack of confidence to invest in the country, that summed up with the unfavorable politics of the current administration have further hurt the economic growth. Finally, it has very high societal costs, both in welfare and violence generation.

One of the most disturbing corruption stories is the one cancer patients, specifically children, who in the state of Veracruz, were administered distilled water in their chemotherapies instead of actual medicine. This is simply outrageous! There are not enough Ferraris in the world a politician can buy that can justify this kind of actions. Additionally, in the same state it was discovered the public hospitals had fake HIV tests that gave negative results. Which have been the retaliations for these acts of evil driven by greed? Almost nonexistent.

Mexico is a corrupt country from the bottom to the top and has infiltrated so much in our lives that sometimes is even normalized. The constant increase of it is a threat to our societal and economic development. Let’s try to do what is in our hands to make a change, the smallest action can have an impact in the log-term. You can once go through the inconvenience of have your car impounded instead of giving money to the traffic officials. Stop turning a blind eye on the abuses of power in our surroundings. I know it can be very scary or tedious, but, is this kind of country we want to have? Is this the kind of country we want for our future generations?

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