Poor Ol' Peña Nieto (Part 2)

It's not my usual policy to deal with politics or controversial topics on my blog, but...

This has certainly been a bad month for Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.  On top of the crisis with the disappearance of the 43 students, he has been recently blasted by criticism on other fronts.

This month it was announced that the government had signed a $4 billion contract with a Chinese consortium to build a high speed train between Mexico City and Querétaro.  However Peña Nieto was attacked for the deal by legislators because the bid had been uncontested.  Sixteen other companies had dropped out of the bidding because of rushed deadlines.  It was also discovered that one of the companies that is a part of the consortium is owned by the brother-in-law of former President Carlos Salinas, a mentor of Peña Nieto.  The President cancelled the contract and announced that a new bidding process would be opened, and more time would be given to other manufacturers to prepare presentations.

On the heels of that fiasco, came the news that Mexico's First Lady had purchased a $7 million mansion from a construction company that is a part of the Chinese consortium... and that she had received a loan, not from a bank, but from that company.

Peña Nieto's political party, PRI (Revolutionary Institutional Party), had controlled the Mexican presidency from 1929 until 2000, and had a reputation for authoritarianism and corruption.  In 2012 PRI hoped to improve its image and regain the presidency by nominating a pretty face, Peña Nieto.  His wife, former soap opera star, Angélica Rivera, was an even prettier face.  The strategy succeeded.

(images from the web)

Peña Nieto is not perceived as an intellectual giant.  In the 2012 campaign when he was asked "What three books have most influenced you?", he responded "The Bible", but he could not think of two other books.  He did however surround himself with highly educated advisers.

He also fathered two children out of wedlock with two different women while he was married to his first wife. (I can imagine how that would play in the puritanical United States!)

Mexican Presidents serve one six year term.  It will be interesting to see how the rest of his term turns out.