Thread: Mexico's president AMLO made his career railing against the country's legendary corruption, describing what he said was a "mafia of power' between wealthy businessmen and corrupt politicians. This story gives a detailed look at how that works.
wsj.com/articles/how-a…
wsj.com/articles/how-a…
Business stories with complicated financial transactions can make your eyes glaze over. But if you stand back and connect the dots on this story, as @PerezEnMexico and @RWhelanWSJ do here capably, it's shockingly brazen. It says so much about Mexico's crony capitalism.
Start with a flawed privatization process that sold state firms to politically connected elites. Salinas Pliego bought a state TV network in part using a loan from the then president's corrupt brother! Since, critics say he has used the network to further his biz interests.
Fertinal is a good example. He bought it for cents on the dollar in what looks like a dubious auction, and then seemingly used his network to bully ING into a windfall insurance payment. His banks then sucked out Fertinal's value before he flipped it to Pemex for a giant profit.
So, back to AMLO. Does he not understand how one of his closest private sector allies really operates? Or, does the mafia of power only exist if they are AMLO's political enemies? And what does that say about the ways in which Mexico won't change during his term?
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