Conveniently arrestable former governor taken into custody
MXPE Weekly Essentials ft. university cheating scandal, investment fund prepared, explosive diahorrea news, and other highlights in Mexican politics, policy, and markets from the past week.
MXPE Weekly Essentials. Only the most important news in Mexican politics, policy, and markets from the past week.
Uncharted Mexico: A governor finally falls
Ernesto Ruffo, former governor of the border state of Baja California (1989-1995), was arrested for “fiscal huachicol”—the practice of smuggling (often stolen) fuel without paying taxes. The hand of the law was swift, critics suspect, because Ruffo is a well-known opposition figure of the right-wing PAN party. Meanwhile, other ruling Morena party governors accused of collaborating with cartels have been left untouched.
Cartel nobbling is one thing, but to president Claudia Sheinbaum, corrupt tax evasion is personal. She has gone to great pains with the progressives in her own party and beyond to argue against passing a progressive fiscal reform. Instead of taxing the rich, she has argued, Mexico should simply charge all the taxes that are evaded.
In the context of this debate, the sheer scale of the fuel theft crisis shows how much money the Mexican State has lost out on through corrupt tax evasion.
The fuel theft investigation continues more vigorously at lower echelons, with prosecutors turning their attention to the Army after scrutinising the Navy for huachicol. Two lieutenant colonels and a lieutenant of the military police who worked on the Matamoros customs office were arrested last week.
Last week’s highlights:
