Chicago Debate League 2013/14 Core Files
Country-specific Uniqueness: Mexico [2/2] 239
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Country-specific Uniqueness: Mexico [2/2] 2392) Mexico’s new president, along with popular reform movements, are taking effective action against corruption. PENN POLITICAL REVIEW, 13 [Casey Mariel Anderson, “Mexico: Civil Society Gains to Counter Corruption,” 4/15, pennpoliticalreview.org/2013/04/mexico-civil-society-gains-to-counter-corruption/] Peña Nieto also plans on continuing to open up Mexico to foreign trade and tackling monopolies, starting with telecommunications. While the telecom monopoly is primarily controlled by the world’s wealthiest individual, Carlos Slim, the new law is not intended to punish any individual firm and instead opens up space in the industry for competition and foreign investment. These reforms strive towards increasing market efficiency, while current policies maintain a competitive exchange rate and low interest rates that are currently driving Mexico’s export-driven growth. Mexico appears to be the new hotspot for foreign investment as Brazil begins to stagnate and Mexico flourishes due to its export diversification, it is less vulnerable to commodity trade slowdowns. It is also the country with the most free trade agreements (44) in the world, and is set to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). These changes inspire much hope in Mexico, a country that has been in the shadow of the United States for far too long. But this recent surge in foreign investment and subsequent growth will spur more motivation to demand increase political accountability because it sends the message that it is working. Tired of corrupt officials making empty promises the people of Mexico have taken it upon themselves and the rise of technology has facilitated the process of creating a legitimate civil society that fosters ideas and political inclusion. Further, violence against journalists, restricting the flow of information, has created a diffused sense of responsibility, with ordinary Mexicans posting pictures and videos online to ensure these stories are told. Mexico is different because it has morphed its initially youth-fueled use of social media and technology from an outlet for voicing discontent, towards the development of an expansive civil society that can provide a check on government corruption. While this movement still lacks depth and organization, even in its nascent stages it represents a massive step forward. It signals that Mexicans have reached a breaking point and are ready to become active participants in the fight against corruption. While it is still early in Peña Nieto’s administration to draw any definitive conclusions, and the ongoing drug war still remains untouched, these changes are promising. If Mexico can develop a civil society, increasing participation and empowerment via technology, and consequently increase political accountability, others in Latin America can do the same.The Peña Nieto administration will be a critical test of a new regime characterized by electorate-enforced accountability. Corruption remains the biggest challenge to any reforms in Latin America, and the solution is a strong civil society. This requires some action on the part of citizens, which Mexicans are seemingly only happy to take on. This underlies a fundamental lesson in development, good policy does not mean anything if it cannot be implemented. Country-specific Uniqueness: Venezuela 2401) The new president of Venezuela is taking action against corruption and arresting criminals in the government. VENEZUELANALYSIS, 13 [Ewan Robertson; “Venezuela’s Maduro Strikes against Corruption, Appoints Radical Former Minister,” 6/11, http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/9689] The Venezuelan government has exposed an alleged extortion ring operating within the state agency which regulates price controls. On Sunday morning police struck against alleged extortionists working within the Institute for the Defence of People in Access to Goods and Services (Indepabis), the consumer protection agency responsible for ensuring compliance with government price controls. The head of control and inspection at Indepabis, Trino Martínez, was arrested after police reported finding a large sum of money and a firearm inside his official car. The operation was executed following denunciations to anti-corruption officials, which alleged that some Indepabis staff in Caracas were demanding pay-offs from businesses under threat of unfair sanctions. Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro confirmed the operation through twitter on Sunday, declaring, “We’re going full out against corruption”. The president of Indepabis, Consuela Cerrada, was also dismissed. Tackling corruption was one of Maduro’s key pledges before his election in April. However, the release of a recording last month featuring the voice of pro-government journalist Mario Silva appeared to incriminate several state officials in corrupt acts. Country-specific Uniqueness: Cuba 2411) Raul Castro is cracking down on corruption by arresting politicians taking bribes. 3 NEWS, 11 [Paul Haven, “Cuba targets corruption amid economic reform,”11/20, http://www.3news.co.nz/Cuba-targets-corruption-amid-economic-reform/tabid/417/articleID/233360/Default.aspx] Green-clad security agents swoop down on an upscale business complex to shutter the offices of a Canadian car dealership. Top executives at Cuba's famed cigar monopoly find themselves behind bars. A former government minister trades his seat in power for a jail cell and a 15-year term. President Raul Castro is matching his free market economic changes with a zealous battle against entrenched corruption on this Communist-run island, much of it involving Cuban officials at major state-run companies and ministries as well as the foreigners they do business with. 2) Castro is committed to fighting corruption. 3 NEWS, 11 [Paul Haven, “Cuba targets corruption amid economic reform,”11/20, http://www.3news.co.nz/Cuba-targets-corruption-amid-economic-reform/tabid/417/articleID/233360/Default.aspx] Castro has thrown his full weight behind the project since taking over from his ailing brother in 2006. In 2007, he signed a law imposing stricter rules on public officials. When he put Bejerano in charge of the Comptroller General's Office in 2009, he altered the chain of command so that she would report directly to him and the Council of State, Cuba's supreme governing body. Even the Cuban leader has joked that Bejerano was not the most popular at government parties. "Comrade Gladys Bejerano was not well liked by some, and there was always someone complaining" that her investigations are "demoralizing," Castro told legislators in a December 2010 speech. "They said `Gladys is very unforgiving, she can be very stern.' That is what we want. That is what I constantly demand." The arrests and raids also have sent a shudder through Havana's small foreign business community, a collection of risk-takers who always have accepted a high degree of uncertainty doing business with a Marxist country that is subject to a 49-year US trade embargo, and which has a mixed track record of payment. Some now see themselves as targets. 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