The Fight Against Corruption

In Mexico, following the current government’ symbolic first 100 days, we are entering the phase of achieving goals, although there seems to be an endless supply of such goals. Various reforms are on show and we needn’t go into them because they have been well publicised. Key issues have been energy and education, as well as tax and treasury policy. These are not lightweight issues, rather each one is loaded with importance for the country’s immediate future.

One of the fundamental issues, which I discussed in my previous article, is that of the new strategy for fighting corruption. Contrary to what is mistakenly said in certain circles, Mexico is not a country full of corrupt individuals, nor do crooks predominate. If that was the case, the country would have gone to the dogs. In our country, despite how widespread antisocial behaviour has been, there is a strong core of honesty and integrity. The country’s small and medium-sized communities show this unceasingly, even though those places have the highest levels of marginalisation and neglect. This shows that a lack of honesty is not bred by poverty but by exploitation and discrimination. The Mexican people who live in these communities, who are in the majority, are honourable and willing to fight against corruption when their leaders and those in government firmly and credibly strike out along that path, setting a strong, efficient example.

An important gap in the aims of the Pact for Mexico is without a doubt this, the fight against malpractice. It is not a case of applying cosmetic remedies to the situation, with simple words or nothing more than intentions, as was the case under previous governments; rather it is time to develop a real strategy which will allow the country to reduce those terrible practices as far as possible, coupled with profound changes in the education system. Many honest efforts from government, which have always been present, are smothered by the scepticism about their existence, particularly when they are not evenly applied but are selective or motivated by a clearly obsessive and unhealthy political persecution that is not applied to businesspeople or politicians.

Democratic and independent unions, including the miners’ union, have been hindered in part due to this negative image projected by other organisations that do not espouse the principles of honesty or dignity. We have been the victims of a kind of malign and perverse complex that applies the same label to different groups, in a fierce attack on the unions and the working class in general, without pausing to study each individual case with the truth and the facts to hand.

A campaign was recently launched against the miners’ union, which attempted to invent a supposed collaboration with the legal defence of a teachers’ union leader against the criminal accusations she is facing. It must be made clear that it is not the miners’ union nor its leader who have embarked upon this collaboration, but simply the lawyer, who defends us efficiently; he has taken on the case because it fits with his professional interests. Thus miners’ fight is not contaminated by other situations.

Anti-corruption efforts at all levels and in all sectors should have a dedicated section in the current government’s programme. How can it be that the miners’ union has been politically pursued for over seven years, and to date there are no signs of change in this demented aggression? Such aggression is promoted by certain unscrupulous individuals who have made their fortune from mining and who attempt to conjure away the accusations of their own corruption by attributing it to the miners. This absolute minority of businessmen, however, do not represent the opinions nor the political will of the huge majority of companies who operate in this sector, which is strategic in the country’s economy.

The current government must urgently turn its back on escapist approaches and face the problems of the mining, metalwork and steelwork sector head on, above all when we see that certain people in this sector will not desist in their new judicial and eternally shameful persecution of the miners’ union and its leaders, and when a biased judge decides to artificially revive an apprehension order which now tens of judges and tribunals have declared unfounded on more than four occasions on the grounds that it is unconstitutional.

Despite this political persecution the miner’s union has repeatedly been highly successful in its reviews of wages and benefits at the companies with which it maintains labour relations. This, along with the recognition its leader enjoys from workers and the great majority of the sector’s companies, should be proof of the union’s honesty and transparency. So far in 2013 there have been 10 wage or contractual revisions, and in all of those the miners’ organisation has obtained increases across the board of an average 14 percent, well above the rate of inflation and a lot higher than the increases obtained by other unions. This continues the trend of the last seven years.

The judge’s latest accusation, surely motivated by interests that are neither legal nor professional, means that corrupt of mining barons, who have got rich through unchecked exploitation, are cynically and defiantly trying to intimidate the current government so that it will not attempt to impose legal order on the situation in the mining sector and bring justice to the miners and their union organisation. This is a new illegitimate pressure that today’s government must resist and not give in to. By doing so they will show that the strategy for the fight against corruption is a firm goal.

The New Strategy

In deciding to arrest the leader of the National Education Workers’ Union, the current government has shown its determination to change the country, starting by establishing a policy of combating corruption and impunity. This is the clear message of one of the decisions that has most shaken up our country of late. However, this should not be indiscriminately directed at unions, which have faced the brunt of the basest instincts, but also at innumerable politicians, businesspeople, journalists and media, judges, magistrates and ministers, lawyers’ offices, priests, chambers of commerce and others besides.

The President is taking such action because he made a promise to a nation tired of injustices, inequalities and a lack of rights, heading for failure, just as John F. Kennedy and Barack H. Obama have both made promises to the people of the United States at certain critical times. Moreover, Mexico has no other alternative and the worlds of politics, work, finance and culture are watching it. Confidence is gained by raising the moral standards of a society and its government, and by correctly interpreting and applying justice, which must be transparent.

Their ineptitude and corruption have meant that the PAN (National Action Party) governments led by Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón have been condemned to oblivion and mediocrity. This new government has a unique historic opportunity, and by absolutely no means should it follow the path of the persecution and attacks on the working class and their honest, democratic leaders. They need stronger principles and ethical values than those of many of the people who are attacking the teachers’ union. The message must be clear. It is not a question of political vengeance, but rather of a strategy to control runaway ambition and insulting opulence. As well as this, they must develop strategies, in other ways and in other spaces, to correct the irrational exploitation of the nation’s natural resources through concessions and permits, blackmail, privileged information and trading in influence, which are only accessible to those close to the inner circles of power.

Justice must not be selective because then it is not justice. Therein is crux of the case of some corporate groups that have previously been named here, which pay little or no taxes, as exposed by the data published here in La Jornada by the distinguished columnist Carlos Fernández-Vega in January 2010 when he clearly identified a tax debt from 42 companies amounting to 223,707.9 million Pesos. This includes certain companies from the mining sector like Germán Larrea’s Grupo México with a debt of 11,939.1 million, Alberto Bailleres’ Grupo Peñoles with 6,124.14 million pending payment and Alonso Ancira Elizondo’s Altos Hornos de México which to date owes 6,666 million.

It would be very easy for the Treasury Ministry to demand the payment of these debts, which in many cases are confirmed frauds, going even as far as the non-payment of taxes upon the sale of businesses. Furthermore, some of these same consortiums have received hundred of mining concessions and other sinecures, to the extent that more than 25 percent of the national territory has been given away in concessions to Mexican and foreign companies. That is to say, the hypocrisy of some businesspeople and certain media outlets has turned the strategy of media coverage and social attacks into a web of complicity in business and political influence, in both cases founded on the manipulation and confusion of the population. The truth is that very few of these assailants would pass the test of transparency and social scrutiny, because their hands are stained.

Some of these businesspeople are so cynical and high-handed that they talk about the politicians who are in power disdainfully and sarcastically, and they manipulate them to their own ends. They still take the liberty of announcing big investments that benefit them, so as to impress improvised and superficial politicians who when it comes down to it have no notion or feeling of how to identify and resolve social needs because they are only concerned with power and profits and spare no love for Mexico. They are sinister characters who in one article I called bodies without souls. In the political sphere we have seen the cases of barefaced corruption in recent PAN governments, led by Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón, as well as some led by other parties.

As things currently stand, a single sector of society has been demonised: the working class. Many people forget that the unions have in fact, despite their flaws, been a force for balance, stability and social peace for many decades. They conveniently forget that workers have the right to act in accordance with the Constitution, the Federal Labour Law and Agreement 87 of the International Workers’ Organisation, and that union leaders are workers, just as the heads of companies are shareholders.

Mexico hopes that this high-profile case will be the start of a process of real change to eliminate or combat impunity and ensure that the state of law is respected, and not an isolated case. It is the political moment to establish a visionary strategy for the State, one that avoids unleashing persecution and the worst instincts of Mexicans whose frustration and impotence cause them to react in that way, faced with what is perceived as the lack of a better future for our country.

Conciliation: The Path to Follow

The national miners’ union has taken the first step – through conciliation based on dialogue and respect – in the process of repairing the profound differences that prevail in labour relations between employers and workers in Mexico. This took place on 8 November 2012, when the union invited companies from the mining, metalwork and steelwork sector to an exchange of ideas in Vancouver, Canada, to revise the state of these relations. Over 40 businessmen and women attended this meeting, and together with union leaders and advisers they took an active part in the analysis of the issues that were raised. It is worth mentioning that the number of companies represented make up the biggest possible nucleus of the companies in this sector that is crucial for Mexico’s economy.

The results of this exchange were very positive and supported the common perception that the path to follow both for companies in the sector and workers can be no other than the path of rational, civilised and constructive understanding between both production factors, with full mutual respect for the interests of both parties. It was made clear that the wrong path, which would lead to disaster, is that of rigid confrontation between workers and employers.

Now, at the beginning of 2013, the constructive example set by mining, metalwork and steelwork employers and workers stands out in the social and economic panorama of Mexico. We must remember that the aim of this meeting was to reach a compromise that would allow stability and certainty in labour negotiations within the sector, and thus contribute to Mexico’s sustained economic development, based on justice and fairness. The businessmen and women in attendance responded positively to this meeting convened by the union, and with their contributions they ratified their will to move in the same direction now that new political perspectives are opening up in this country.

Mexico needs something similar, but with much larger scope, covering the whole country. The experience from Vancouver shows that this path is the correct one not only for this specific sector, but also for labour relations across the entire country. There is no other path that will make plans such as the Pact for Mexico bear fruit, and to ensure that their suggestions do not get pushed to the margins in big decisions about the change that is needed. This is the way to abandon once and for all the irresponsible improvisation of the National Action Party governments, who for 12 years corrupted Mexico’s true economic, social, political and legal development, as well as the previous exclusive policies that bent electoral preferences towards conservatism.

At the Vancouver meeting it was confirmed that consultation with and agreement of all social groups in Mexico must be the fundamental tool of all new government policies. The decision to move along this path should be put before all other considerations. This country is in desperate need of a real politics that corrects our existing serious imbalances and inequalities, based on ongoing, responsible, serious and in-depth consultation. This is the wind of change that should blow through Mexico.

We miners, and workers in general, are waiting for this inclusive politics to materialise. We want absolutely all social or employment conflicts to move towards solutions through a new governmental conduct a clear change in the judicial system. Workers, the middle classes, campesinos, indigenous people, students, women, and young people must not be excluded. The interests of a wealthy few should no longer be have the privilege of government protection, and a fair, equitable politics of wealth distribution must really, truly be set in motion. In Mexico we are hungry and thirsty for justice.

If this does not happen, the country can only expect prospects like those in certain European countries at the moment, where social equilibrium and fairness between all sectors of society have been forgotten. These are the notable cases of Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal, with unemployment rates at around 26 percent, and around 56 percent among young people without opportunities for education or employment. In those countries, the crisis needs only a nudge to become a social uprising. But there are also examples from other continents, where underdevelopment and need have continued to prey on their populations and institutions. And where the major world financial organisations only concentrate on cutting budgets and reducing consumption, tightening the belt of the most needy. They fail to see that very close to them there are real models of stability and growth, like the Scandinavian countries – Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark – where a fairer social balance enables government efficiency linked to the common benefit of the population, as well as high standards of education, unionism and justice, which translates into social peace through ongoing dialogue for the resolution of difficulties and conflicts.

Mexico has already voted for the path it will follow in this six-year presidential term. Our elected representatives must now assume their roles with a sense of true political responsibility towards the population, and enable Mexico to rise from the ashes to which it was reduced by previous governments. Conciliation is of utmost importance in the first steps that the government must take. The alternative path is that of social, political and  personal confrontation, which would lead to continuing crises.

Prospects For 2013

2013 starts in just a few days. And this is not just a the start of a new calendar year, it is an important reference in terms of circumstances and experiences. 2012 closes with a series of injustices, crimes, errors, deviations and impunities that the PAN (National Action Party) government have committed from their position of political power. A lot of water will have to flow under the bridge before Mexico can shed the awful image that the National Action leaders have given to an entire nation which in no way deserved it, much less the disgrace of having to carry it.

Mexico has treated these political figures with the utmost benevolence, much more than was proper. It seems that the nation was too tolerant with them, and there were no serious consequences, until now, for any of the people responsible. The political history of modern Mexico is that of progress and the fight to move forwards, as well as the engagement of the people. PAN leaders and their allies totally lacked these qualities, and instead they had deformed views of reality with which they unfortunately managed to infect some politicians from other parties.

Calderón’s useless war on organised criminal gangs and drugs trafficking; the spilling of a huge amount of Mexican blood; the failure of the economy for the great majority of people; the using manipulated media propaganda campaigns to cover up the terrible conditions in which the PAN left our society; increasing poverty, with a further 15 million people in six years falling into in poverty (a jump from 45 to 60 million between 2006 and 2012); the lack of opportunities and the corruption and impunity of the chosen few – among them businesspeople devoid of all sense of social conscience and solidarity towards the country – and the cynical, shameless failure to keep electoral promises, particularly Calderón’s promise that he would be the ‘jobs president’, all cast a shadow over Mexico for 12 long years, which today are rightfully called the tragic dozen.

It is worthwhile remembering these terrible experiences and their tragic results so that we can design a completely different strategy. Faced with such disgraceful acts it is impossible to simply draw a line under things and move on, because the nation was seriously offended and we must now fully recognise that in order to move forward in the immediate future, which started in December 2012. This situation should motivate the effort to not repeat previous mistakes in the application of the government’s new plans and programmes. The necessary remedy must arise from an awareness of reality, so that present and future changes are closely linked to our needs as a nation and as a society.

Of course, we need new strategies to undo the harm done to Mexicans in each area of the national agenda, and so that we do not fall back into improvisations. We must implement social policies in education and national security, as well as in work, tax, environment and agriculture, in urban development and in all the country’s other spheres of activity.

Prospects for 2013 could be positive as this new six-year term begins, but only if realistic and concrete policies are drawn up for each of Mexico’s sectors and problems. We do need individual objectives but we also need an overview that allows us to channel the work of different sectors so that they converge in a single direction. In short, we urgently need a change that will enable us to transform the economic and social model that under neoliberal dogma has dominated life in Mexico for the last thirty years, and has only brought further economic and social disorder and greater exploitation of the workforce and of natural resources. The State must regain its effective authority in all sectors and must operate sensitively and skilfully in the medium and long term.

Such prospects for 2013 will be promising, positive and encouraging for Mexico, provided that a fundamental government tool is to listen to the voices of those who have been neglected: workers in industry and services, the middle classes, campesino and indigenous communities, young people and students, women and marginalised groups. Their real demands should be met by government policies. The prospects could be dreadful, however, if we do not proceed to this permanent consultation of the people, if there is no desire to listen to them, and if the lesson of the last 12 years of incompetence, ineptitude and corruption in government is not learnt. The PAN never consulted Mexican society about anything they intended to do, as illustrated by the improvised war against the organised criminal gangs that they could never control.

The nation must change the economic and social model that has prevailed and must restore growth rates fairly and reasonably, based on an economic and social policy that transcends short-term interests and steers our country towards a future of increased wellbeing, security and new opportunities for all Mexicans.

Calderón’s Legacy: Corruption and Impunity

The end a government’s term in office must surely be traumatic, daunting and uncertain for the person who has led that government. Even more so if he is aware of the grave mistakes and social debts that he is leaving behind. In no time at all he will realise just how superficial and ephemeral his actions were and how short-lived his enjoyment of power. This must be what is happening or about to happen to Felipe Calderón, because from the beginning of his administration he was seriously criticised for the illegal means and possible fraud that installed him as the manager of private interests, and his actions once in government confirmed this suspicion.

The most conservative and reactionary corporate groups let him pretend to call the shots, despite all his limitations and incapacities, improvising wars with the military strategies they dictated to him. However, thanks to growing impunity and corruption, he ended up alone and rejected like few in history, even by the very people he thought were his friends, whom he served unconditionally and immeasurably. I am aware of the scornful, rude and sarcastic comments, some direct and others indirect, made by mining businessmen to whom Calderón handed over 25 percent of the national territory in concessions, for example Germán Feliciano Larrea, of Grupo México, Alberto Bailleres González of Peñoles, Alonso Ancira Elizondo of Grupo Acerero del Norte, and Julio Villarreal Guajardo of Grupo Villacero. In his best years at the beginning of his six-year term they said he was resentful, hung-up about his indigenous appearance, incompetent, short-tempered, and alcoholic. Who knows what they will say now, in the wake of a government that failed to find solutions for the nation’s problems and left even its own allies unsatisfied.

Calderón worked obediently to do their bidding right up until the last moment with a labour reform project, drafted by members of his administration and corporate lawyers, which drove the working class and their families to the brink. He didn’t care about the consequences of this reform initiative for Mexico in terms of greater unemployment, exploitation and uncontrolled ambition, which in time will translate into instability and threats to Mexico’s social peace. Surely he never thought or even noticed because be was blinded by ignorance, or because his insensibility, the same that he showed in government, stopped him from seeing beyond the short term. Neither he nor his collaborators see the deep wounds and crises that similar measures have left in certain European countries like Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy and Ireland, all due to vested interests, whatever it were that went on, as he famously said after he came to power. Poor Felipe Calderón, alone, betrayed and abandoned to his fate, Lord help him!

Even the briefest of glances shows the impunity that bred complacency and allowed the criminal acts of many of the people who supported him to flourish, both inside and outside government. Dishonesty went beyond all previous levels. If you probe into Calderón’s government, its decomposition is patently obvious. Impunity and disloyalty were the two central characteristics of his government and his politics. A total blunder, which his media strategy, costing millions and millions of pesos each year of his six-year term, could not overcome, in fact it made it more visible. A media strategy that bulldozed the freedom of the press and freedom of expression, using the shady mechanisms of budget management with the aim of silencing or muffling the free voices of journalism, and rewarding the most submissive.

His irresponsible strategy was that whoever is in opposition or does not obey must be eliminated, and precisely for this reason he unleashed political persecution and public attacks, products of his frustration and impotence in the face of the country’s free and democratic unions and their leaders.

Betrayal and disloyalty were the other two constant factors in his government, and particularly notable is Calderón’s personal weakness of believing in those people who insulted him behind his back, and continuing to believe in them until the end of his presidency. There is a lot of evidence to show that those interest groups are the ones who really governed Mexico, not him, as he presumed. Otherwise there is no way to explain the perversity and impunity of those disloyal allies and their constant attacks on social organisations. Calderón criminalised social protest as much as possible, along with all leaders who did not bow to his accomplices’ interests, and this explains the villainous political and judicial persecution of those of us who opposed that political practice and acted accordingly, with dignity and consistency.

The dustbin of history is where that politics will end up; it must not be allowed to continue to damage the country. It is crucial at this point in Mexico’s history that society’s healthiest powers and minds ensure that corruption and impunity cannot be used again to lead our country, because with those patterns of behaviour the nation will not advance: a new strategy based on a new social pact must be established instead. It seems that this might already be moving up the agenda, and it will include the Mexican people, responsible businesspeople, unionists, women, young people, politicians, parties, students, intellectuals, academics and all sectors of society.

We must be confident that Enrique Peña Nieto’s government will learn from previous experiences and see that corporate hypocrisy, which is exempt from loyalties and a sense of social responsibility, can lead to serious errors in the management of the nation’s politics. They must necessarily, urgently listen to the majority of the Mexican population and not just a few isolated voices.