Is it possible that a country’s leader whose corruption level is one of the highest in the world dares to attend uninvited to the Security Council of the United Nations to lecture on how to fight corruption effectively? Well, mm…, yes.
Corruption is over! he shouted as his audience roared enthusiastically. It was the most significant plea of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s speech as he assumed the highest office in México’s government. And so, the story began.
Two months before, not yet in office, he ran a poll among his followers, a charade to justify the cancellation of the largest project of the previous administration: a new airport for metropolitan Mexico City, on the basis that there was rampant corruption. Regardless of the project’s 30% progress and cancellation cost (15 billion dollars), he decided instead to replace it by remodeling an old military base a few miles away. The same contractors were awarded the new project under the supervision of military engineers. Still today, there are no complaints filed against anybody for corruption in the original project.
Three years later, the World Justice Project published its Rule of Law Index 2021[1]. In it, Mexico is one of the world’s worst evaluated countries in compliance with the rule of law and corruption, ranking 113th out of 139[2]. In Absence of Corruption, one of the main components of the index, Mexico ranks 135th out of 139 nations, only surpassed by four countries: Uganda, Cameroon, Cambodia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Let’s see why.
At the beginning of the López Obrador administration, on March 5, 2019, the Mexican State Oil Company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) filed a criminal complaint about corruption involving the acquisition of two fertilizer companies, representing damage of hundreds of millions of dollars.
This was, by far, the most significant corruption case inherited from the previous administration, hence the attention centered on these transactions. Pemex bought Fertinal in strange circumstances for 635 Million Dollars, whose assets were worth only 15 Million Dollars. Its stalled operation was in urgent need of a significant cash infusion to resume production. In similar circumstances, Pemex also bought a second fertilizer company, Agronitrogenados, only in this case the transaction was for just 216 Million Dollars.
The Attorney General’s office, allegedly independent, promptly managed to issue arrest warrants against the then CEO of Pemex, Emilio Lozoya Austin, and the seller of Agronitrogenados Alonso Ancira. Both were captured in Spain and extradited to México. In the case of Lozoya, he was granted leniency in exchange for his testimony involving other perpetrators at a higher level. He enjoyed it until he ridiculed his protectors by showing off in a fancy restaurant, popular among Mexico City’s elite, and was discovered by a journalist he had mentioned in the list of people who allegedly received bribes. Ancira was in prison in Mexico City for a few months before reaching an agreement that freed him from charges in exchange for reimbursing the 216 million dollars. After signing an IOU, he flew to San Antonio, Texas.
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Surprisingly, the Attorney General erased the Fertinal case from the complaint without any explanation, and the man behind the transaction, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, was not even bothered with an interrogation. Quite the opposite, López Obrador not only operated the cover-up but rewarded him with multibillion contracts without bidding: from the dispersion of public funds through his bank; advertising in his media holdings; public infrastructure projects to the construction arm of his conglomerate and; mining rights, and giving a blind eye to his multibillion unpaid taxes, among other benefits.
Also, one of his minions was appointed Secretary of Education to absorb a large operation of music orchestras funded with taxpayer money but branded with his commercial name. Once he accomplished his mission, he moved to Washington as Mexico’s Ambassador, where he lobbies the causes of his boss with the diplomatic investiture. And there is a good reason for it.
Salinas Pliego has a long history of wrongdoing in the United States. He was charged with fraud, penalized with disgorgement, fined with a multi-million dollar penalty, and is permanently enjoined by a Federal Court in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which revoked his companies’ registrations for violations of NYSE security trading rules and practices.
Currently, according to some media reports, he is again under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC, among other cases, for his involvement in the fraudulent transaction of Fertinal given that Pemex trades its bonds in the United States markets, making it subject to the rules and regulations of the SEC. By the way, Pemex is the oil company with the highest debt globally, currently over $116 Billion.
What makes the president grant this cumulus of benefits and cover-up that not even his own family enjoys?[3] The only reasonable explanation is: Salinas knows something bad, seriously bad about the president. It is easy to speculate that he knows how his campaigning of 18 years was funded. Most likely, his companies were instrumental in this process, including laundering the proceeds and concealing sources and amounts, among other wrongdoings.
When confronted with reality, López Obrador always has “other data”, be it the economy, crime and violence statistics, pandemic-related deaths, or corruption. He lies, attacks, disqualifies, and insults all those who do not think like him. He is an astute man who knew how to make people believe that he was an honest democrat, foreign to commitments with those who controlled the enormous corruption apparatus that he denounced and attacked in every speech, promising to finish them and to put an end and to corruption, which he blamed for the widespread poverty throughout the country.
Once in power, López Obrador emerged as a megalomaniac caudillo[4], with a minimal intellect, profoundly resentful and ignorant albeit impressed with himself by his own factious version of local history. He opposes everything that is not part of his gospel. He swept away professionals in public service, experts in their fields, and replaced them with his gang in positions for which they are not qualified, except for their loyalty to the capo, establishing the most accomplished kakistocracy[5] in charge of the destruction of the institutions of the State. The morning press conferences are an exercise in political propaganda based on lies, confrontation, and disqualification, in which he preaches, pontificates, and disseminates propaganda with words full of anger and fire.
There is a plausible explanation for part of his behavior. Aside from his skill in the management of cognitive dissonance[6], López Obrador is affected, among other maladies, with the Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)[7] defined by the Mayo Clinic as “a disorder marked by defiant and disobedient behavior, frequent and persistent pattern of anger, irritability, arguing, and vindictiveness toward authority figures. … They defend themselves relentlessly when someone says they’ve done something wrong”.[8] It is impossible to hide it when he spends two hours every morning improvising, without script or filters, revealing everything that goes through his head.
“Adults with ODD display a pattern of negative, hostile, and defiant behavior that includes four (or more) of the following symptoms: Often loses temper; Often argues with family and coworkers; Actively defies or refuses to comply with rules and laws; Deliberately annoys people; Blames others for his or her mistakes or misbehavior; Easily annoyed by others; Angry and resentful; Spiteful or vindictive”. They are swift to anger, are impatient, and have a low tolerance for frustration. They see themselves as mistreated, misunderstood, and unappreciated. They see themselves as the victim rather than the cause of the pain[9].
It is sad and shameful for many Mexicans to see an impudent man affected by this and other limitations seeking global prominence, who dares to go to the international forum par excellence, to speak on behalf of México on a subject for which he is disqualified. Apparently, he is the only one who does not realize it. Corruption has flourished as never before during his administration, and he is his leading promoter. Fortunately for many Mexicans, his visit will pass unnoticed as there are no issues in the Security Council deserving media attention. Still, he skipped two world stages which were invaluable opportunities to make his voice heard, the G20 meeting and the COP26 Climate talks. That was a relief.
SEPGRA Political Analysis Group
[1]https://sepgra.com/rule-of-law-index-2021/
[2] https://sepgra.com/rule-of-law-mexico-2020-2021
[3]At least one of his brothers is, allegedly, under investigation after being exposed in a widely circulated video receiving cash “for the cause” (actually, two of his brothers have been exposed publicly in videos receiving cash, counting it, and packing it in paper bags)
[4]“The caudillo of Spanish America was both regional chieftain and, in the turbulent years of the early nineteenth century, national leader. His power base rested on ownership of land and control of armed bands. He was the rival of constitutional rulers and the precursor of modern dictators. His is a dominant figure in Latin American history. This book explores the changing perception of the caudillo — bandit chief, guerrilla leader, republican hero — and examines his multi-faceted role as a regional strongman, war leader, landowner, distributor of patronage, and the ‘necessary gendarme’ who maintained social order. It traces the origins and development of the caudillo tradition and sets it in its contemporary context. Its scholarly analysis of this central theme in the history of Spanish America is underpinned by detailed case studies of four major caudillos: Juan Manuel de Rosas (Argentina), José Antonio Páez (Venezuela), Antonio López de Santa Anna (Mexico), and Rafael Carrera (Guatemala). This is an important contribution to our understanding of political and social structures during the formative period of the nation-state in Spanish America.” Caudillos in Spanish America 1800–1850 John Lynch, Oxford University Scholarship Online October 2011
[5] A kakistocracy (/kækɪˈstɒkrəsi/, /kækɪsˈtɒkrəsi/) is a government-run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens. The word was coined as early as the seventeenth century. The word is derived from two Greek words, kakistos (κάκιστος; worst) and kratos (κράτος; rule), with a literal meaning of government by the worst people.
]6]Cognitive dissonance describes when we avoid having conflicting beliefs and attitudes because it makes us feel uncomfortable. The clash is usually dealt with by rejecting, debunking, or avoiding new information.
[7] The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), published by the American Psychiatric Association, lists criteria for diagnosing ODD. The DSM-5 criteria include emotional and behavioral symptoms that last at least six months. Angry and irritable mood: Often and easily loses temper; is frequently touchy and easily annoyed by others; is often angry and resentful. Argumentative and defiant behavior: Often argues with adults or people in authority; often actively defies or refuses to comply with adults’ requests or rules; often deliberately annoys or upsets people; often blames others for their mistakes or misbehavior; often actively defies or refuses to comply with adults’ requests or rules. Vindictiveness: Is often spiteful or vindictive; has shown spiteful or vindictive behavior at least twice in the past six months.
]9] https://www.additudemag.com/oppositional-defiant-disorder-in-adults/