Mexico’s Earthquake and Civil Society’s Aftershock
As the dust settles from the earthquake that hit Mexico City last September 19, an inconvenient truth has surfaced: corruption played a key role in the extent of the devastation, just as it did in the 1985 earthquake whose anniversary was fatefully commemorated that same day.
In 1985, an 8.0 earthquake killed an estimated thousands of people and devastated the political, economic, and cultural heart of the country. Out of the rubble, however, emerged a strengthened civil society that proved to be a fundamental force behind Mexico’s transition to democracy.
Back then, the earthquake did two main things for civil society. First, it exposed the government’s gross incompetence to face the crisis. As citizens were forced to procure for themselves the most basic public services, they realized they could come together to fill the vacuum left by the authorities.
Second, the quake uncovered the generalized corruption in the building codes. This dealt a major blow to the legitimacy of authoritarian regime and led citizens to mobilize to hold the government accountable.
Although not the only factor, the earthquake’s empowerment of civil society marked the beginning of the end for Mexico’s dictatorship. In the 1988 presidential election, the opposition almost defeated the incumbent in spite of generalized fraud, and massive protests forced a significant political opening. The following year, the government conceded its first defeat in a gubernatorial election and a year later allowed for the creation of a new electoral authority. In 1997, the ruling party lost a majority in Congress for the first time. In 2000 an opposition party won the presidency for the first time, ending 71 years of authoritarian rule.
In a way, the earthquake that devastated Mexico City last September 19, along with others affecting southern Mexico days before, found a very different country. Today Mexico is considered a democracy, with considerable more freedom of press and a better-organized civil society better than 32 earlier. But the recent earthquakes again exposed what many had feared and studies had shown: because of generalized corruption, a majority of buildings built since 1985 were still not up to code.
The current tally of the recent earthquakes is fatalities in the hundreds, more than 4,000 buildings left uninhabitable, and considerable material losses, with most dwellings likely uninsured. It is difficult to know how many lives would have been saved and how many buildings spared had the constructions been up to code, but likely the damage would have been considerably less if buildings codes had been enforced.
Although some might think of corruption as bothersome but necessary to make complicated developing countries work, corruption has far more serious consequences. Whereas the bribe to the traffic cop, the inflated government contract, or influence peddling to get ahead might seem relatively harmless, corruption has important distributive consequences, contributes to the rise of populism, perpetuates impunity, and costs human lives. As the Mexico earthquakes highlighted, corruption in the building codes can cost the lives of children attending school.
In spite of the transition to democracy, Mexico’s governments have failed to address corruption. Contrary to the prosecution of government officials for corruption elsewhere in Latin America, as in Brazil or Guatemala, in Mexico government officials are rarely held accountable for wrongdoing. Not surprisingly, Mexico ranks poorly (123 out of 176 countries) in international corruption rankings and shows a worrisome deteriorating trend: between 2006 and 2016 the country dropped 53 places.
President Peña Nieto’s administration has done little to combat corruption. Not only has it failed to adopt meaningful anti-corruption measures, it has also blocked citizen-led efforts to increase government oversight and harassed transparency advocates. It has also failed to prosecute cases of embezzlement by government officials. Moreover, it has failed to lead by example, with several members of the president’s inner circle — including the first lady and cabinet members — involved in conflict of interest allegations. The result is rampant impunity regarding corruption across the bureaucracy.
As in 1985, there are encouraging signs that civil society can find renewed impetus to hold the government accountable in the aftermath of an earthquake. The response to the tragedy has shown once again that civil society can be more organized and competent than the authorities. Now it is up to civil society to mobilize with the same candor that forced Mexico’s democratization, this time with a strong anti-corruption message. Unlike 1985, civil society can vote out those who are unwilling or unable to address corruption. As the writing on the wall in a crumbled building stated, “indignarse no es suficiente,” or “indignation is not enough.”
About the author: Gustavo Flores-Macías is Associate Professor of Government at Cornell University. He is also Core Faculty in Cornell Institute for Public Affairs and a Fellow in the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future. He is the author of After Neoliberalism? The Left and Economic Reforms in Latin America (Oxford University Press 2012). Follow him on Twitter at @Gustavo_F_M
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