Moreira faces senate query of Coahuila state finances Part I
2011-10-27
Posted by: badanov
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By Chris Covert
Last Friday state leaders of the Yucatan Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) presented an impeachment petition to the state Chamber of Deputies charging the governor, Ivonne Ortega Pacheco of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) with embezzlement, acts of repression against Yucatan society and jeopardizing the future finances of Yucatan.
The petition was presented to the body by Blanca Estrada Mora, a former PAN government advisor to the previous state government, and representatives of other political groups, namely Frente Civico Familiar de Yucatan and Sociedad en Movimiento.
Most of the signatories to the petition were identified by the office of Governor Ortega Pacheco as having political ties to PAN.
Details in the petition, according to press reports, are that Ortega Pacheco's government was disorderly in its management practices, maintained a lack of transparency with regard to state finances, maintained poor accounting practices and diverted Mexican federal funds to other uses.
The document charges that the public debt of Yucatan is "unprecedented", debt which will affect future administrations.
However Wednesday, the Mexican Secretaria de Hacienda y Duenda Publico, the ministry which monitors the Mexican national treasury and finances said that Yucatan was seventh from last in total debt assumed, and fourth from last in debt per capita.
The head of the Yucatan state Planeacion y Presupuesto del Gobierno the Yucatan state budget office, Ulises Carrillo Cabrera, declaimed concerns for the debt by pointing out that the total debt contracted was less than 0.9 percent of the state GDP and eight percent of the total outlays for 2011 for Yucatan state.
Three banks hold the Yucatan's total debt of MP $1.6411 billion (USD $122,222,828.70), Banorte MP $308 million (USD $22,940,055.60) for 18 years, Bancomer MP $676 million (USD $50,348,953.20) for 15 years and Bank Bajio, with MP $656 million (USD 48,859,339.20) for 18 years.
"This is a manageable debt," Carrillo Cabrera is quoted as saying.
The federal treasury report included all 32 Mexican states and Distrito Federal. Of those political entities, according to the report, the top five held more than 57 percent of all state contracted bonds in Mexico. Four of those states include in inverse order, Chihuahua, Distrito Federal, Quintana Roo and Nuevo Leon.
The most indebted state in the nation was Coahuila with MP $11,948 per capita (USD $889.89), which held per capita total debt more 40 percent higher than the second most heavily indebted state entity, Nuevo Leon, which holds per capita debt of MP $8,134 (USD $605.83).
Perhaps more revealing are the percentage of debt to state's GDP the two top state entities hold. Coahuila's debt is 7.3 percent while Quintana Roo, its closest competitor in terms of debt to GDP holds debt equal to 4.3 percent. both ratios of which are by far much less than Yucatan's relatively conservative 0.9 percent.
According to news accounts, the treasury report did not quantify the debt problem as serious, except to point out that much of the revenues did not go to what are commonly considered priority areas such as education and health.
Indeed, in Mexican politics use of Mexican federal troops, be they Marines or Policia Federal carry a cost that must be borne by the state. Those security costs must be paid whether the governor asked for the added security or not.
The writers of the treasury report did not consult with Gustavo Madero, leader of PAN. With PAN being hammered in the last 12 months for its drug war policies nationally as well as internationally, PAN's fortunes in the upcoming presidential election to be held July 1st, 2012, appear to be declining.
In many newspaper polls held online, to be sure a poor indicator ot a future election, PRI is virtually assured a slow windy walk to Los Pinos; if you believe PRI, anyway.
Madero's ace and what appears to be his one current play to poach sympathy and even votes from PRI, and which appears at the moment his only ace, is in fact a wild card by the name of Humberto Moreira Valdes, leader of the PRI.
Moreira, elevated to lead PRI last winter in an easy walk, was the governor of Coahuila until February, 2011. Under Moreira, Coahuila's public indebtedness skyrocketed from MP $233 million (USD $25,934,832.80) to MP $32 billion (USD $256,939,520.00).
Madero's decision to put the political crosshairs onto the back of a man expected to lead PRI back to taking over the national government appears to have been an easy one.
And now joining in the tide rising to deal with Moreira and the issue of government debt, a resolution was brought forth by PAN senator Guillermo Anaya, and approved by the senate asking the national attorney general's office (Procuradora General Republica) (PGR) to investigate alleged irregularities in contracted the latest rounds of debt in Coahuila.
It is unclear just how much pressure can be brought to bear on Moreira. The subject of his stepping down had already been broached by PRI leaders last month and dismissed by Moreira out of hand, but it seems to be clear that Moreira's resignation from PRI may well be the goal of Madero and PAN.
The Yucatan impeachment petition shows just how hard even local PAN politicians are willing to fight for 2012.
In tomorrow's Rantburg, Part II