During a public lecture at the School of Public Policy at CEU on October 21, Marco Antonio Fernández spoke about the challenges of fighting corruption in Mexico. Fernández, who is a research professor at the School of Government at Tec de Monterrey and researcher associate at Mexico Evalúa, said that there were many reasons why we should care about corruption: It causes resources to be allocated inefficiently; reduces a country's capacity for entrepreneurship; leads to a decline in economic growth and foreign direct investment; and erodes democracy. Although there are many causes for corruption, Fernández blamed weak institutional frameworks for being the primary cause for corruption in Mexico, and in other countries as well. He went on to point out that although the level of corruption varies enormously from one country to the next, "it exists everywhere. The challenge is to develop effective ways to curb it."
Fernández explained that there have been ongoing efforts to fight corruption in Mexico for many years and that Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto had promised anti-corruption reform when he campaigned for office in 2012. Peña Nieto did not do anything about corruption though until three years ago when, according to Fernández, "circumstances forced him to do so." Fernández credited the active engagement of civil society as having made the difference that forced Peña Nieto to tackle the issue of corruption. Civil society was prompted to act by a series of events that took place in 2014-15: the disappearance of 43 Mexican students in September 2014; the scandal in November 2014 concerning the purchase of a $7 million house by Mexico's First Lady; a similar scandal involving the purchase of an expensive home from the same contractor by Mexico's Finance Minister; and the use of a government helicopter, in April 2015, for personal purposes by a close friend of Peña Nieto. These and other events caused civil society "to stand up," according to Fernández, and say "enough is enough." While stressing the importance of civil society, Fernández spoke forcefully also about the critical role of an independent public prosecutor and a free press.
During his address, he detailed the many steps that have been taken in Mexico in recent years to combat corruption including the establishment of a "National Anti-Corruption System" (NAS) in 2015 and a citizen initiative in February 2016. Fernández said that there was still a lot of room for improvement and pointed to the need for a serious discussion of how to tackle corruption in the judiciary.
Fernández said that there was now enormous popular support for anti-corruption efforts in Mexico. He pointed to surveys showing that Mexicans cite corruption as the third most relevant problem after violence and unemployment, ranking it higher than issues like poverty and low quality health services. Fernández said that it would take a long time to re-establish trust in these institutions, and in democracy, in Mexico. He urged young people to abandon cynicism and to engage in the worldwide fight against corruption.