Guest Column
The Journalist, the King and the Gov
- By Kelly Arthur Garrett
- The Herald Mexico/El Universal
- Contact Kelly Arthur Garrett at: kellyg@prodigy.net.mx
- The Herald Mexico/El Universal article at: http://www2.eluniversal.com.mx/pls/impreso/web_columnas_sup.detalle?var=29000
The current scandal-of-the-month in Mexican politics will reverberate longer than its allotted month. We may be used to public figures getting caught in flagrante delicto on audio- or videotape, but the exposure of Puebla Governor Mario Marín’s conspiratorial telephone conversation with embattled clothing magnate Kamel Nacif is ultimately more disturbing than the garden-variety, suitcase-stuffing ignominies that preceded it.
The reason for its special place has nothing to do with the especially sordid nature of a scandal that originated with the exposure of a sophisticated pedophilia ring, and now includes a “legal” kidnapping, a thwarted punitive rape, and gutter-mouthed threats against the entire profession of journalism and all who practice it.
Nor is it simply a logical result of the undeniably melodramatic story line, populated as it is with a strong, beautiful heroine, loathsome politicians, unscrupulous business magnates, and enough back story to fill a thousand restaurants with screenwriters and producers doing lunch. No, what’s truly disturbing about Marín’s public disgrace is what it tells us about how most of this country is still being governed, about who’s really calling the shots, and about what the democratic opening of the last decade really amounts to. This scandal will probably affect the presidential race, but its major impact won’t be what it changes but rather what it re-exposes.
THE WORST LIVES ON
After losing its seven-decade grip on the presidency to Vicente Fox’s National Action Party (PAN) in 2000, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) continued to win most of the governorships in off-year elections, including the big prize of the State of Mexico as recently as 2005. Significantly, the party pulled this off without making much of an effort to revamp its image or purge itself of the corrupt, authoritarian and greedy remains of its Jurassic era incarnation.
So, as the historian and political analyst Lorenzo Meyer recently put it, the worst of the old system lives on, with the PRI’s historical ways of doing things alive and well. The tap on Marín's phone gave us a glimpse into what that can mean.
To review, the respected journalist and women’s rights activist Lydia Cacho published a book last year exposing a network of traffickers in minors operating in the state of Quintana Roo. Because he was mentioned in the book as an acquaintance of the alleged ringleader, Nacif (known as the Denim King) sued Cacho for defamation and libel, criminal offenses in Mexico. Suddenly last December, she was surprised in her Cancún office, and driven by Puebla (not Quintana Roo) cops 20 hours to a Puebla jail.
What the taped conversations revealed is that Cacho’s arrest was initiated not by judicial authorities but by Marín in solidarity with Nacif. The tapes also indicate that the arrest reeked of revenge, its purpose being to teach Cacho a lesson. She was even reportedly to be raped immediately upon her internment, but somebody tipped her off.
To show his appreciation for the arrest, Nacif offered his “precious Guv” a bottle of expensive liquor. Even in long-established democracies, few of us are so naive as to believe that all executives always act within the law, uninfluenced by the rich and powerful. But Marín’s maliciously extra-legal behavior and shameless servility to a fat cat caught the nation’s attention. It was like opening a sewer; you already knew it stinks in there but you’re never quite prepared for the real thing.
Marín, who is said to have entertained presidential ambitions for 2012, doesn’t act like a man caught doing anything wrong. He denied the taped voice was his, and characterized the episode as an attack on his constituency. Then he warned his accusers not to “provoke” the good people of Puebla. (Before it became a handy label for any politician who doesn’t genuflect to the neo-liberal Washington economic consensus, this kind of manipulation of the masses is what the term “populist demagogue” used to refer to.)
LOYALTY OVER DECENCY
The internal PRI reaction is also revealing. You might assume that every living soul would shout “run away!” and retreat as fast as possible from anything even peripherally related to a child abuse scandal. But PRI leaders have mostly closed ranks with Marín, and scolded the few — such as the influential deputy Emilio Chuayffet — who have criticized the Puebla governor. PRI presidential candidate Roberto Madrazo, whose campaign is hardly helped by all this, belatedly distanced himself from Marín, without overtly condemning him. Inside the PRI, it seems, loyalty is still worth more than decency.
Not surprisingly, all three major parties are trying to spin events to their own advantage. The Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) can pretty much just sit back and watch the PRI destroy itself further, but it’s also joined the PAN in calling for Marín’s resignation. That may or may not happen, but there will be an investigation led by the Supreme Court.
The PRI’s Chuayffet, meanwhile, has chided the Fox administration for maintaining Miguel Ángel Yunes (actually a priísta) in a high Public Security Secretariat position, even though his name was mentioned in Cacho’s book. Another attempt to soil the PAN with what’s essentially a PRI scandal comes with allegations that first lady Martha Sahagún’s charity Vamos México accepted money from Nacif. And some say that PRD fundraisers tried unsuccessfully to hit Nacif up for a campaign donation.
TRUTH VS. ‘HONOR’
This has all gone on before the real fireworks start. That will happen when the alleged head of the pedophilia operation, Jean Thomas Succar Kuri, is brought to trial and the file on the case opened up. Succar Kuri's extradition from Arizona is reportedly in the final stages.
The flip side of the scandal is the way it came to light — via electronic eavesdropping. We don’t know who bugged the governor’s phone. But we do know that illegal wiretapping and videotaping are out of control in Mexico, and there doesn't seem to be any way to stop it. The privacy rights implications of this phenomenon are at least as disturbing as cowboy governors. Still, the uncomfortable irony is that these illegal tapes are uncovering juicier official wrongdoing than the new open government laws and free press have been able to do.
Which brings us to a final issue. Lydia Cacho is no longer behind bars, but still faces a defamation rap that could translate to some serious hard time. Proving that she had her facts right will not help her; the issue is whether Nacif’s “honor” was compromised. As was pointed out here when this issue first took off last year, as long as a journalist faces criminal charges for printing the truth, freedom of the press still has a way to go in Mexico.
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