Blame the Past

Feb 22, 2012

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Most historians believe that corruption is woven deep in the culture and history of Mexico, dating to the Spanish colonization of the New World in the XVI century.

Historical records show that the king’s viceroys would sometimes reply to royal decrees by saying, “I obey but [do] not comply.”

Today, the phrase still describes “the attitude of Mexican public officials towards government, who behave as if they own their post,” Aguayo told 100Reporters.

Much more than that phrase comes from those days as well. In Mexico, exaggerated bureaucracy has its origins in the Spanish Crown, which countered the power of its conquering soldiers by dispatching legions of royal officials to insure the crown controlled decisions made in its colonies.

This resulted in an avalanche of paperwork, with witnesses going back and forth between the viceroys and the royal envoys. Long journeys were made and stacks of documents written for all procedures, big and small.

Old habits die hard. Since then, regular citizens in Mexico’s XXI Century have to fill out complicated forms for all transactions, always stamped, sealed and signed by the right authorities -most of whom are seldom available -often in triplicate.

Small wonder that, rather than going through an exhaustive and possibly costly legal process to ensure that all rules have been followed to the letter, there is often the temptation to bypass them by placing money in someone’s hands or in a brown envelope. MLP

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Maria L. Pallais

Maria L. Pallais, a member of 100Reporters, has worked as a writer and editor for Vision, a reporter for the Associated Press, an assistant field producer for CBS/60 Minutes, a correspondent for the CNN World Report, a stringer for El País, and chief international editor for Notimex, the Mexican news agency.