Federico Reyes Heroles
The presence of the government is felt. So does the lack of it. Locke dixit. Today, the lack of government parades naked in front of the Mexican people.
In the Lagunas de Zempoala National Park, once a beautiful and pristine area, rampant illegal logging has been ongoing for a couple of decades. Logs are scattered across the roads. Today, drug traffickers have taken over the area. Right under the nose of the capital of the Republic, and there is nothing they can do. Traveling from Cuernavaca to Mexico City can be a terrible experience. When passing the famous “Pera,” in an area with very sharp curves, on certain days of the week, there are serial accidents. Coincidentally, within minutes, the National Guard, a tow truck, and insurance company agents appear. It is strange that so many accidents occur in a stretch of just a couple of kilometers. It is not surprising if oil is thrown on the road. That is where the extortion begins. To get out of the trap, you have to deposit, say, 15,000 pesos into a phone number. And the authorities, have they not noticed?
The Mexico City-Querétaro highway is one of the most dangerous in the country for robberies. They don’t even go there. On average, one city mayor is murdered every month during this administration. The UN highlights that deaths from fentanyl overdose in the United States and Canada are stabilizing and even declining. In contrast, in Mexico, there is a “sustained increase in treatment admissions.”
Not satisfied with the uncontrollable “huachicol” (fuel theft), clandestine refineries are now being discovered. The dismantling began six years ago, and no one noticed. Now, large ships carrying fuel are appearing. The route has been in place for years. There is no control by the authorities. By 2026, Pemex will have to pay 51 million dollars a day to amortize its debt. Assuming this debt would increase the national debt by several points of GDP. It would put us in the crosshairs of the rating agencies. The state-owned company “model” is unviable. Production is falling, and refining is a bottomless pit. Subsidizing with Special Taxes on Production and Services (IEPS) “is kicking the can down the road.”
Present evidence!, the president said in the morning in response to the U.S. Treasury’s attack. In the afternoon, the local treasury authority would intervene in the three financial institutions mentioned. Here, there was indeed information being kept under wraps. The Navy seizes a submarine with drugs, so that can be done. These ingenious vessels have been known about for years. Koldo García, Pedro Sánchez’s shadowy operator, had his branch in Mexico, where high-ranking officials from AMLO’s government paraded.
The federal government ultimately rewards the aggressive teachers’ union (CNTE) by freezing the retirement age. Its cost: around 80 billion pesos. What will they tell other unions? The National Institute for Access to Information (INAI) was eliminated for a pittance. The National Council for the Evaluation of Social Policy (Coneval), another defunct entity, incurred costs of 411 million pesos in 2024. We let the “demographic bonus” slip away. There are only three solutions to the pension problem: increasing the retirement age, increasing contributions, or doing both. Once again, denial of reality.
They don’t have money for pensions or for consulates in the US, which are crucial at this time, but they are announcing more than a trillion pesos in investment in trains. Sheinbaum is pressuring the Court to rule in “favor of the people.” What about the laws? New investment has fallen to its lowest level in 31 years. Nearshoring? The growth forecast is 0.1, if we are lucky. VAT and income tax will not increase. Formal employment is not growing. Informality is rampant. Full steam ahead, they say.
Sheinbaum inherited a disaster: health, education, security, energy, infrastructure, etc. The problem is that she does not want to take responsibility for it. García Harfuch, the only person who is showing results today, was vetoed for Mexico City. Sheinbaum does not have control of the Morena party, either in the Chamber of Deputies or in the Senate. Her party is in the hands of her mentor’s son. Only a handful of cabinet members answer to her.
The beloved “Pepe” Romero Apis put it in these pages: “The photograph of Mexico does not correspond to the X-ray.” The mañanera show cannot hide the reality.
Sheinbaum is in power, but she does not govern. You can feel it.
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