Ricardo Pascoe Pierce
Reality weighs more heavily on the national mood than the cheerful and optimistic figures on security and violence issued by all Morenista leaders. Pro-government communicators are following the example of Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister. His formula? Repeat your lie a thousand times, and eventually, people will believe it is inevitably true. But today, discredit and social unrest weigh more heavily on Mexican thinking than artificial official optimism. Reality is the crushing blow that kills official credibility.
As if they were an attacking army, all Morena officials repeat the same mantra: we have managed to reduce crime and violence throughout the country! They offer optimistic data, accompanied by comparative graphs, year after year, to support their claims. Using data from INEGI and the National Survey on Victimization and Perception of Public Safety (ENVIPE), the government seeks to give scientific credibility to its data on the decline in crime and violence in Mexico. This data reflects a reality that starkly contrasts with the government’s politicized narrative: it measures unreported crimes (the dark figure). This allows us to conclude that only one in ten crimes is reported in Mexico. Ninety-three percent of crimes leave open wounds in society’s life, unresolved.
This gap between reality and official data, which claims “substantial” reductions in crime, discredits the government’s voice and actions, especially those of the president herself. If the official data does not account for 93% of the crimes in the country, how reliable is the government’s claim of progress? Every day, the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP) publishes crime statistics based on investigation files and reports filed in the country’s 32 states. This is the daily and monthly source most cited by the authorities to maintain their narrative of improvement in the country’s crime situation. However, given the results of the ENVIPE, which reveal the significant underreporting of crimes throughout the country, the official SESNSP data is severely questioned, especially given the government’s tendency to promote a narrative that protects its political interests.
There are other technical questions regarding the official data, as different categorization criteria are used among state authorities, which are the primary source of information for the SESNSP. These differences in criteria mean that the data are often not comparable. Many civil society organizations also collect information and compare it with official data, finding serious flaws in the data released by federal and state government agencies. But it is reality itself that most forcefully refutes the government’s claims. In the last two weeks, Mexico has witnessed a spate of killings of leaders in a variety of fields, from agriculture and transportation to teachers, party members, and now the mayor of Uruapan, Michoacán. The trail of their blood is what tears at the nation’s heart on the Day of the Dead.
The case of Uruapan is the most categorical refutation of the federal government’s supposed achievements in controlling organized crime and violence. It comes just two days after García Harfuch’s grand event in Apatzingán, accompanied by hundreds of Army and National Guard troops, as well as state and municipal police, for his personal protection, because he can fool the rest of the country, but he cannot fool himself—all that apparatus to protect one official. Fortunately, nothing happened to him.
The government now absolves itself of any responsibility for the murder of the mayor of Uruapan, claiming that he had federal protection. Yeah, right. He’s dead now, despite federal protection. This is proof that reality offers a categorical and tragic refutation of the government’s claim to control criminal elements in the country. Reality refutes not only the government’s narrative about its supposed “improvement” in the country’s violence situation. It also refutes its perverse game with official figures, seeking to deceive with a narrative about a non-existent country of optimism. It also refutes the idea that the government is capable of addressing the problem of providing security to the citizens of this great country. It is notoriously unable to protect its citizens.
The murder of Carlos Manzo is another nail in the coffin of this government, which prefers to deceive with false narratives rather than face the reality of violence and crime and act accordingly. It also confirms that the president’s popularity in the polls will not save the government from its progressive collapse and discredit.
@rpascoep
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