Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Saturday, December 03, 2011

Corruption is so 20th century

When in power, the PRI had a reputation for corruption. Out of power, the party leaders have struggled to shed that stigma. That probably explains why the new party head resigned under pressure pretty quickly.

Loan scandal topples head of Mexico's PRI party

Humberto Moreira, president of Mexico's former ruling party, quit his post Friday amid a swelling financial scandal that threatened to throw off the party's bid to retake power in next year's elections.

Moreira has been hammered for months by charges that in his previous job as governor of the northern state of Coahuila, he left it saddled with $3 billion in debts, at least partly due to loans allegedly sought using falsified documents…

Humberto Moreira announced his resignation before a televised gathering of the PRI's political council, saying he would not allow a "war in the media" to hurt his party.

The debt controversy was becoming a drag on the PRI even as early polls show it poised to retake power in Mexico 12 years after being unseated. The scandal threatened to remind voters of the sort of graft that characterized the PRI's 70-year reign just when it is seeking to promote a fresh, cleaned-up image…

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