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Despite New Attitude, Corruption Alive and Well
Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY, Aug 22 (IPS) - Mexico decided five years ago to "leave corruption behind" and has begun to reap the results, President Vicente Fox has triumphantly proclaimed.

But although some analysts acknowledge a new anti-corruption attitude on the part of the government, the empirical evidence and recent studies clearly indicate that the culture of graft and bribery is still flourishing in this Latin American country of 104 million.

Some Mexicans even begin to pay "mordidas" or bribes when they are as young as ten - to their schoolteachers.

According to a study released this month by the Mexican company Corruption, Ethics and Integrity (CEI) Consulting & Research, Mexicans have an 87 percent chance of paying at least one "mordida" during their lifetime.

"Corruption is still very much present, and in some spheres it is even worse than before," Arturo del Castillo, director of CEI Consulting & Research, told IPS. "Corruption also has a future of at least 20 or 25 more years."

Graft became pervasive during the seven decades of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which lost its hold on power at the national level with Fox's victory in 2000. "Corruption put down roots in the country's systems and structures, which means it will take years to eradicate it," said del Castillo.

According to Fox, after he defeated the PRI in 2000, Mexico began to wage an effective war on corruption, and the results are already being seen today. His remarks came on a recent visit to a highway supervision centre, where toll booths are monitored by video cameras.

"It is true that there is a new attitude against corruption in the government and that there is determination to fight it," said del Castillo. "But it still exists, and is even worse in some state governments and in many areas of daily life."

Thirty-four percent of companies in Mexico bribe government officials to avoid labour and environmental penalties, obtain faster connection to public services, influence the drafting of bills and regulations, and win privileges of one kind or another, says the Centre for Private Sector Economic Studies (CEESP) in a survey published last week.

The poll of the chief executives of 2,650 companies by CEESP - the research arm of the Business Coordinating Council, which groups Mexico's business chambers - found that they shell out at least 3.8 billion dollars in bribes, equivalent to six percent of their total earnings.

For its part, CEI Consulting & Research found that many Mexicans are initiated in corrupt practices at a tender age. The firm's study found that 15 percent of Mexicans between the ages of 10 and 15 have already paid at least one bribe.

That proportion climbs to 40 percent of people between the ages of 15 and 25 and to 57 percent of those over 30.

The results of the study were obtained by compiling and comparing various surveys conducted in Mexico, as well as the outcome of focus groups, said del Castillo.

The CEI Consulting & Research study found that an average of 507 bribes a day are paid in Mexico.

The consulting firm also carried out a survey on corruption among 1,376 small and medium companies in Mexico in the manufacturing, construction, retail and service sectors.

Forty-three percent of the firms polled reported that they regularly made "unofficial" payments to public officials for operating licences and permits.

CEI Consulting & Research concluded that 10 percent of the total profits of small and medium companies are spent on bribes, totalling 29.7 billion dollars a year.

Asking the companies about their attitude towards corruption, the consulting firm discovered that just 10 percent had an ethics code or other instrument expressly prohibiting employees or directors from paying bribes.

Transparency Mexic0, the local chapter of the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, estimates that there are a total of 214 million "acts of corruption" in the use of public services every year, and adds that 6.9 percent of household income goes towards that end.

"It will take us many years to uproot corruption and the perception abroad that Mexico is a corrupt country, although we have set out on that path," said del Castillo.

To fight corruption, the government and legislators put into effect a transparency law in 2003, which allows the public to access information from public institutions. Bills for similar "sunshine laws" were vetoed under the PRI governments.

In addition, media campaigns have been launched by the private and public sectors, as well as programmes in the schools, while oversight measures are being designed to supervise public employees.

In December 2003, Mexico became one of the first countries to ratify the United Nations Convention against Corruption, after it was opened up for signature that month.

The more than 100 states that have ratified the Convention are required to undertake preventive measures against corruption and to provide broad international cooperation in the tracing, freezing, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds of corruption and the prosecution of offenders.

The Convention goes beyond previous international instruments by criminalising not only basic forms of corruption such as bribery and the embezzlement of public funds, but also trading in influence and the concealment and laundering of the proceeds of corruption. (END/2005)