Mexico earthquake could bring political aftershocks
MEXICO - Two days after Rosario Islas’s cinderblock shack collapsed in Mexico’s massive earthquake last week, a group of political operatives turned up at her ruined home, in the borough of Xochimilco in the south of the capital. They had food, water, and building materials but before they would hand anything over, they demanded Islas show her government-issued voter ID. Parties often use such information to track potential voters and even to sign them up as members without their knowledge. But Islas was unable to comply. “It told them it was buried under the rubble,” she said. “What little we had was all lost.” The party operatives moved on taking their relief packages with them. Mexicans have responded to last week’s magnitude 7.1 earthquake with an outpouring of neighborly charity, civic activism and national pride. But some politicians and public officials have been accused of trying to take advantage of a tragedy that has left more than 300 dead and many more homeless. The contrast has caused outrage in a country where recurring corruption scandals and pervasive impunity have fueled a deep mistrust of the political class and the state structure. Such is the depth of skepticism that some relief workers went out of their way to stress that they were not affiliated with any grouping. On a recent morning a group of young people from another Mexico City neighborhood brought blankets, building materials and food to Xochimilcho, a poor municipality best known for its network of canals and artificial islands. “We’re not from any political party,” said the volunteers’ leader Víctor Hugo Arzate, a consultant. Arzate’s caution was probably well-advised; several politicians have been jeered when touring earthquake-hit areas. Last week, President Enrique Peña Nieto was booed by students as he toured a damaged town in his home state.
(Theguardian.com)