The head of the powerful teachers union, Elba Esther Gordillo, has been arrested for partaking in a scam that brought her around 2 billion pesos. The arrest comes after newly elected President, Enrique Pena Nieto, signed a major educational reform law. Elba is known for high fashion and a flashy lifestyle, with many questioning how she maintained such a lavish reputation on a public servants salary. That question has been answered. The true question now is whether or not she will be found guilty, as Mexico has had some trouble sending wealthy, well-known criminals to jail.
Link: http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2013/02/mexico%E2%80%99s-teachers%E2%80%99-union
4 comments:
Such a sad story. This individual was clearly in a position of social responsibility and completely abused her power. I think the scarier part of this story is the fact that she may not go to jail. This is clearly a sign of the immense level of corruption plaguing the country. I wonder what the economic ramifications of such corruption are. How inefficiently are their resources being used?
I hope this will lead to further investigations of public figures like Carlos Romero Deschamps as well as lead to the conviction of Gordillo. If she gets away with this kind of corruption, it will certainly not deter others for committing the same crimes. These types of questionable lifestyles belonging to public servants should be more researched in the future rather than letting corruption like this continue for years and years. Hopefully the publicity of this incident will change the way the Mexican government deals with these situations.
What was the most shocking to me was the occupation this woman had. Education is not a field of employment that I have ever associated with corruption and it is disappointing to see that corruption and dishonesty can be anywhere. It makes me wonder where else corruption can be found.
If the leader of the country's powerful teachers' union committed such a crime, I'm not surprised if there are more individuals having taken part in some sorts of scam without being revealed. If she is not punished for this crime, it can seriously affect the credibility and trustworthiness of Mexico's education and even Mexico's economy.
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