Is Mexico’s Watergate Fizzling Out?

For several weeks, thousands of peculating Mexican bureaucrats feared their outlook was bleak indeed. On direct and unprecedented orders from President José Lopez Portillo, half a dozen high officials, including a cabinet officer, had been hustled off to jail on charges of stealing public funds or, in one case, of extortion. A bold attack on government fraud seemed to be starting.

Corruption is an old and painful story in Mexico, but it reached unheard-of proportions during the six- year term of President Luis Echeverria, which ended November 30, 1976. An atypically bold federal legislator with access to government accounts has charged that fraud by public servants during just the first four years of Echeverria’s reign exceeded $5 billion.

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Jettison Smith

For several weeks, thousands of peculating Mexican bureaucrats feared their outlook was bleak indeed. On direct and unprecedented orders from President José Lopez Portillo, half a dozen high officials, including a cabinet officer, had been hustled off to jail on charges of stealing public funds or, in one case, of extortion. A bold attack on government fraud seemed to be starting.

Corruption is an old and painful story in Mexico, but it reached unheard-of proportions during the six- year term of President Luis Echeverria, which ended November 30, 1976. An atypically bold federal legislator with access to government accounts has charged that fraud by public servants during just the first four years of Echeverria’s reign exceeded $5 billion.