CENTRO UNIVERSITARIO UTEG

PLANTEL TLAJOMULCO

Essay: The perfect dictatorship

Student: Cesar Oswaldo Gomez Vazquez 2-BM
Tutor´s name: Christian De Leon

Tlajomulco De Zuñiga, Jal

25 de noviembre de 2021
 Carlos Salinas De Gortari (1988-1994)
Salinas' term began in the best possible way, an electoral fraud was committed that
gave him the presidency and his six-year term saw important economic changes,
including the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement, massive
privatization of state-owned companies, including banking, and the implementation
of the National Solidarity Program. some of the key points of his term were:
1. Signing of the Free Trade Agreement
The signing of TLCAN between
Mexico, the United States and
Canada was perhaps one of the
highlights of his administration, as
it formalized the trade relationship
between the countries.
Negotiations began in 1990 and
continued for three years.
However, analysts point out that
the results in terms of trade and
foreign investment had a positive
aspect.
2. Reduction of foreign debt
By 1982, the annual interest payment on
the foreign debt was 14 billion dollars.
Between 1983 and 1988, almost 7% of
the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was
destined to its payment and at the
beginning of Salinas' six-year term, the
debt was 45% of the GDP. However, in
1992 he reached an agreement with the
IMF and other countries for a reduction
of more than 7 billion dollars, which
resulted in a reduction of the debt to 20
billion dollars.
 3. Beginning of the 1994 economic crisis
In the final stretch of his Donaldo Colosio,
six-year term, the investors got scared,
former president exchanged their
presented a high Tesobonos in cash and
government spending Banxico's reserves
in public works. To deal were emptied. Faced
with a current account with this, the former
deficit, Salinas decided president did not
to issue Tesobonos implement any strategy
that ensured payments and his successor
in dollars and with could not contain the
which he was able to financial crisis known
raise funds from the However, after political as the December
Bank of Mexico. situations such as the mistake or the Tequila
assassination of Luis effect.
4. Creation of the agrarian reform and uprising of the EZLN
In 1988, Article 27 of the Constitution established that the government had the
obligation to give land to anyone who requested it. However, due to population
growth in rural areas, it was decided to end the massive distribution of land and it
would only be available through sale.
The discontent was greater, as the
indigenous populations ran the risk of
losing their lands. This reform caused
the uprising of the Zapatista Army of
National Liberation (EZLN) on January
1, 1994 in Chiapas, as they demanded
justice and the vindication of the
indigenous peoples.

5. Increasing poverty in the country

Although Salinas de Gortari's economic reforms helped to momentarily stabilize the
country, their cost was the increase in the number of people living in poverty.
According to data from the Secretary of Social Development (Sedesol), now the
Secretary of Welfare, at the end of the Salinas administration the percentage of the
population living in poverty was 52.4 percent.
 Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (1994-2000)
August 1994. Ernesto Zedillo wins the elections, marked by the indigenous
insurrection in Chiapas and the assassination of PRI candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio
only a few months earlier.
In the midst of this environment, Zedillo inherited a country in chaos.
After the Zapatista insurrection, the newly inaugurated president has
to face an unprecedented economic crisis. He barely has time to take
a breather upon his arrival at the presidential office.
Only 20 days after the inauguration of Zedillo's government, in December 1994, the
"inheritance" of his predecessor, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, exploded: an economic
"bomb" that caused multiple wounds in the battered country with the devaluation of
the peso against the dollar and the maturity of a short-term debt of 28 billion dollars
("Tequila Effect").

But not everything was negative. Zedillo also inherited from his predecessor
the North American Free Trade Agreement to create a large common market that
could compete with the EC and Japan.
The keys to Zedillo's mandate
1. Politics in Chiapas
The incumbent president leaves the issue of Chiapas pending. A conflict that he
describes as a social, political and cultural problem, but never as a war.
In this sense, Zedillo promised not to use violence and, although he strictly has not
done so, he has increased the number of military personnel in the area. A measure
that has increased tension in the area. The media and the opposition accuse him of
not having taken firm steps towards the solution of the conflict, and of not complying
with the San Andres Larrainzar Agreements.

2. His achievements
Among his achievements are the signing of the treaty with the European Union,
macroeconomic data and record oil exports, with high prices.
To this feat, Zedillo has to add a "tanto mediatico". He has been able to conquer
public opinion through the media. The president is the predominant political figure
on Mexican television and radio, the most talked about and the one who pays for the
most publicity.

3. His failures
Mexico's political analysts are not so condescending. They accuse Zedillo of having
left many of his promises in abeyance. They praise the good macroeconomic results
but recall that the purchasing power of Mexicans has not reached the pre-1994 level.
Moreover, salaries are far below the standard of living, and the standard of living is
already very low.
 Vicente Fox Quesada (2000-2006)
Scandal and accusations of illicit enrichment
In September 2007, he resurfaced on the national political scene, after Quien
magazine published a report on the life of the politician from Guanajuato and his wife
Marta Sahagún de Fox, in the recently remodeled San Cristóbal ranch, a year before
the end of his six-year term.
After the appearance of the extensive report in the Mexican magazine
dedicated to the social affairs of important people, voices arose in the
Mexican Congress to investigate his fortune, for which there was even an
attempt to create a special commission of investigation; at the same time, a
PRD senator -Ricardo Monreal Ávila- filed a lawsuit before the Attorney
General's Office for the presumption of various crimes, among which illicit
enrichment stands out.

In this context, in addition to some statements made by some politicians and former
close collaborators, such as Lino Korrodi, who presided over the organization
Amigos de Fox, now the former president is involved in accusations regarding the
use of resources to remodel his ranch in the state of Guanajuato. Lino Karrodi has
a daughter named Karla Karrodi married to a magnate from Ciudad Juarez and one
of the many supporters of Vicente Fox's presidential campaign, his fortune has been
investigated by the DEA for being suspected of money laundering, his father-in-law
is the financial architect of the club Los Amigos de Fox.
On October 16, 2007, Vicente Fox walked out of an interview with Ruben
Luengas of the Telemundo network, when he did not want to answer
questions about accusations of his multiple properties and those of his wife,
Martha Sahagun.

In the same month, deputies of the PRD presented alleged evidence and a complaint
before the PGR, for concealing accusations of illicit enrichment of the Bribiesca
family for close to six billion pesos, and frauds to PEMEX using the company
KILATE. Fox has also been pointed out as an alleged accomplice or responsible for
the financial fraud of 400 million dollars of the company Oceanografía, the largest
contractor of Pemex during his administration, after Pemex found irregularities in
contracts with the firm during an internal review. For this he was questioned by some
political figures, such as López Obrador, who in the face of the case mentioned that:
"if the rule of law existed, Fox would have already been called to testify".
 Felipe Calderon Hinojosa (2006-2012)
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa was president of Mexico during the six-year term
2006-2012; he became president with 36.69% of the votes, which implied that
63.21% of voters did not want him as president of Mexico at that time (Navarrete,
2012). Calderón is a lawyer and has two master's degrees, one in Economics and
the other in Public Administration. His professional studies were carried out in highly
recognized private institutions both in Mexico and abroad.
Apparently, this would imply an optimal planning and execution of presidential
policies on his part. However, I will give brief summaries, mainly statistical, of
5 lines of his government (among many others) that resulted in negative
effects for Mexican society and that continue to this day.

1. Abrupt increase in current spending

In 2007, a Tax Reform was implemented in Mexico in which a focus was placed
mainly on the instrument called Single Rate Business Tax (IETU). This was
supposed to imply an increase in tax collection. However, tax collection only reached
11% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at the end of Calderón's six-year term.
Furthermore, during that six-year term, public sector services absorbed nearly 70%
of the federal government's tax revenues and the salaries of the high bureaucracy
became the highest in the world, occupying the second place in real annual
remunerations (Gutiérrez, 2014); in addition, many administrative positions in the
public sector had already been doubling or tripling since 2000.

2. Abrupt increase in poverty

In 2013, one out of every four poor Mexicans had become poor during Felipe
Calderón's six-year term. From 2006 to 2012, there was a 32% increase in income
poverty in Mexico and a 26% increase in patrimonial poverty.

During Felipe Calderón's six-year term, the resources allocated to

social development increased by 167%, which indicates that the economic
policy was ineffective since Mexicans progressively ceased to be
economically self-sufficient and began to depend more on government
assistance. In addition, the population with incomes below the welfare line
increased by 25.4% from 2008 to 2012 (ITESM, 2013).
 3. Beginning of the privatizing Energy Reform
Regarding oil production, the
administrative adjustments created in
2004 did not help to improve the
sector. Afterwards, an Energy Reform
was implemented in 2008 which,
among other aspects, resulted in the
fact that from 2001 to 2011 the
Government had transferred almost all
of Pemex's investment commitments
to the private sector, initiating the
implementation of contracts with third
parties. In addition, Pemex's total debt
increased by 97% from 2006 to 2012
(Gutiérrez, 2014).
4. Abrupt increase in violence
According to INEGI, there were 121,000 deaths related to organized crime in the six-
year term of Felipe Calderón, which implied a murder every 30 minutes. A 2014
report by the Attorney General's Office (PGR), published by Excélsior newspaper,
mentioned the following regarding violence during the six-year Calderón
administration:
in the war against drug trafficking, from 2006 to 2012, in our country there
were more deaths than in the conflicts in Iraq (2008-2009), Sri Lanka (2010-
2011) and Libya (2012). With 25,371 deaths due to internal conflicts, Mexico
surpasses Pakistan, with 9,153, Iraq, with 5,574 and Yemen with 5,295
deaths.
As a result, in 2012 a survey by Consulta Mitofsky showed that 42% of Mexicans
considered that the main problem in their country was insecurity (Navarrete, 2012).

5. Enormous production of unworthy and uninhabitable housing

Article 4 of the Mexican Constitution states that Mexicans have the right to enjoy
"dignified and decent housing". That said, a habitable dwelling depends on its
construction materials, its surface area, and its availability of water and electricity;
but it also depends, in large part, on its proximity to products, services and
employment opportunities.
 Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018)
"The Mexico we are handing over is better, with better infrastructure, with more
progress and with conditions of greater well-being than the one we had six years
ago".
The phrase caused controversy. According to some polls, at least 80% of Mexicans
believe that now the country is worse off than in 2012, when the current
administration began. In fact, Peña Nieto is the president with the worst evaluation
of a president since the 90's, when the measurements began.
1. White House and corruption
It is a problem that appears in almost all measurements and surveys on Peña Nieto's
government.
The scandal that triggered this perception was the purchase, by his wife
Angélica Rivera, of a mansion valued at US$7 million.
The case was known as La Casa Blanca (The White House) and represented a drop
of at least eleven points in the president's popularity, according to a survey by
Reforma newspaper. In August 2014 his approval rating was 50%. After the scandal
it dropped to 39 points.

"White House": Mexico's president apologizes for the scandal of the

purchase of a luxurious mansion.
The image of corruption associated with his government worsened with the
accusations of misappropriation of public resources by some governors, such as
those of Veracruz, Quintana Roo or Chihuahua. All three were defined by Peña Nieto
in the 2012 election campaign as "examples" of the new Institutional Revolutionary
Party (PRI), which had nominated him. Afterwards, a journalistic investigation carried
out by Animal Político and the organization Mexicans Against Corruption and
Impunity (MCCI), revealed a series of strategies to divert public resources. The case
was called "The Master Swindle" and involved presidential cabinet secretaries,
public universities and state governments.

In 2017, Mexico ranked 135th out of 180 countries evaluated in the Corruption
Perception Index, which is carried out every year by the organization Transparency
International.
 2. The missing students of Ayotzinapa
On September 26, 2014, 43 students from the Isidro Burgos Rural Normal
School in Ayotzinapa disappeared during an armed attack.
It is, according to civil organizations, one of the most dramatic cases
in the recent history of the country. The Attorney General's Office
(PGR) determined that the students were killed and their bodies
incinerated by a drug gang. But the parents of the victims did not
accept the official version. The case was investigated by the
Interdisciplinary Group of International Experts (GIEI), appointed by
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Its conclusion was that "the historical truth", as the PGR investigation was
called, could not be sustained.
The GIEI presented two reports that were accepted by the authorities, but its
recommendations have not been fully implemented according to human rights
organizations.
The Peña Nieto government did not renew the experts' stay in Mexico. Last
June a federal court ordered to redo the investigation, and to create a truth
commission to determine what really happened on September 26, 2014.
President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador pledged to establish this
commission. The Ayotzinapa case became one more symbol of the problem
of missing persons in Mexico, one of the most serious human rights issues in
the country.

The actual number of missing persons is not known. The Ministry of the Interior
states that there are 37,485 but civil organizations claim that there may be many
more.
 3. Unstoppable violence
According to projections such as those of the Reforma newspaper, more than
125,000 murders were committed during Peña Nieto's term, the highest figure in
history.
Violence is one of the most questioned issues for the current government, which at
the beginning pledged to end the escalation of insecurity in the country.
In the first two years the homicide trend dropped. But then began an upturn that has
not been contained.
Violence increased even in Mexico crime were 21.6 million according to
City, which since the beginning of the INEGI.
war against drug trafficking declared
by former President Felipe Calderon in
2006 remained a safe zone. The
government's National Institute of
Statistics and Geography (INEGI)
states that, in 2017, more than 25
million Mexicans were victims of at
least one crime. In 2012, at the
beginning of Peña Nieto's
administration, the victims of some
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