Out with Pe帽a Nieto? For Mexicans, missing students case overshadows all.
| Mexico City
Mexico鈥檚 President Enrique Pe帽a Nieto kicked off his third year in office this week, expressing pride in the passage of landmark reforms like education, energy, and听迟别濒别肠辞尘尘耻苍颈肠补迟颈辞苍蝉. But during a speech in the southern state of Chiapas Monday, he noted that 鈥渨e鈥檙e not satisfied.鈥�
Neither is the public.
The grisly case of 43 students kidnapped and presumed massacred in Iguala this fall聽still hangs over President Pe帽a Nieto, his government, and the entire nation. The brutal event became a national symbol of the depth of corruption, the power of criminal groups, the weakness of governance, and police impunity. With presidential approval ratings faltering and violence once again taking center stage, the government is under pressure to actively address the problems at the root of the Iguala case.
Mexico has seen months of mass protests, including another nationwide round last night. Demonstrators in the capital carried signs with photos of a confused-looking president with text that read 鈥淥ut with Pe帽a!鈥�
鈥淭he level of public indignation is so deep, and the credibility of the president 鈥� and really of all major political parties 鈥� is more at stake than any government before,鈥� says Claudio Lomnitz, director of Columbia University鈥檚 Center for Mexican studies in New York. "It could impact his ability to get things done, and with four more years in office, that's a problem."
According to a , 50 percent of Mexicans don鈥檛 approve of Pe帽a Nieto鈥檚 work, a 13-point drop in approval from last year. The majority of the population (52 percent) says the country is on a bad or very bad path, the most negative perception of the government in six years.
A separate poll published in Reforma newspaper Monday carried even worse results, with 58 percent of Mexicans disapproving of Pe帽a Nieto, the lowest approval rating of any Mexican president in nearly two decades.
A family affair
Brisa Galan and Ivan Castillo marched from the Zocalo to the iconic Angel monument in central Mexico City last night with their three young daughters 鈥� one asleep in her stroller.
鈥淭he government is the problem. The president doesn鈥檛 communicate with us. The government sends a clear message that they just don鈥檛 care about us,鈥� says Ms. Galan, a psychologist and events planner. She says she plans to continue protesting as a family because 鈥淚 want to teach my daughters not to be afraid and not to be indifferent.鈥�
On Monday, Pe帽a Nieto sent a package of constitutional reforms to the Senate, including security measures like centralizing the command of local police under state agencies and giving the federal government power to dissolve local governments infiltrated by drug cartels. His security plan, announced Nov. 27, also included the creation of a 鈥�911鈥� national emergency hotline and new national identification cards.
鈥淓verybody likes simple solutions to complex problems,鈥� says David Shirk, the director of the Justice in Mexico Project at the University of San Diego. 鈥淎 lot of the things Pe帽a Nieto proposed give lip service to fighting corruption, protecting human rights and ordinary citizens, but it doesn鈥檛 go to the heart of the problem: fighting corruption and strengthening weak institutions.鈥�
High-school student Sharon Mondragon passed out newspapers about the protests on Mexico City鈥檚 vast Reforma boulevard last night. She says she would like to see the president kicked out of office.
鈥淩eally, we need to start from square one. Clear the entire government and hold new elections,鈥� Ms. Mondragon says.
Midterm elections will take place early next year. But, 鈥渢he larger problem is on the street and public opinion,鈥� says Chris Sabatini, senior director of policy at the Americas Society in New York.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just the security issue,鈥� Mr. Sabatini says. Pe帽a Nieto campaigned on two things: improving security while taking the image of 鈥渂loody Mexico鈥� out of the headlines and tackling reforms that would put Mexico on a new track economically.
But violence and crime are still front and center, and 鈥渂efore his reforms bore fruit, in terms of economic growth and financial investment, he gets hit in the face with this,鈥� Sabatini says.聽"The people feel deceived."
