Politics: Lozoya, corruption and show trials
A longstanding 20th century practice in Mexican government involved administrations arresting, upon taking office, a "big fish" from the preceding government to give the illusion of the new president’s anti-corruption priority objective. Sometime after the case faded from the headlines, the “scapegoat” would be quietly released, apparently without giving up so much as the name of a single accomplice nor any of the fruits of his alleged graft. Deeply entrenched corruption was left fully intact.
With the recent return of former Pemex CEO Emilio Lozoya Austin to face charges of criminal conspiracy, graft and money laundering, the big question is whether this is no more than a supercharged revival of those political histrionics of yore or might also entail a serious institutional effort to prosecute the complete corruption network of public officials and private sector actors who engaged in fraud committed inside Pemex during the years of Enrique Peña Nieto’s time in office. We can expect political stagecraft galore from an administration that was swept into office by the public’s repulsion of government malfeasance, but which now enters the 2021 campaign amid unprecedented economic, health and security crises.
But is that where the story will ultimately end? Prosecutors have remained very tight-lipped about what deal they presumably cut to convince Lozoya to abandon his failing attempts to avoid extradition back from Spain, much less why they appeared amenable to his quick release from custody. And when Lozoya pleaded innocent before the supervisory judge it undermined the legal basis for any transactional immunity against prosecution. We may not have any inkling of the answer to that question until Lozoya’s case moves to formal trial, at best sometime next year, when the campaign will be well underway.
The two major cases most widely discussed at this point, Pemex’s purchase of a fertilizer company at vastly inflated prices, and Odebrecht bribes that have been linked to PRI election campaigns, implicate many "big fish" at Pemex throughout Peña Nieto’s administration, numerous politicians from various parties, and businessmen. But so far, leaks have been tightly focused on politicians who at the time were legislators from parties staunchly opposed to AMLO, especially the PAN.
Same old political theatrics, or just some collateral damage before a serious prosecution of embedded corruption networks?
Now read on...
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