Saturday, December 31, 2011

Last-minute entrant for Dick-of-the-Year award: Extorting the poor

Yet another contestant: Juan Ignacio Yáñez Yaber, a promoter for the anti-poverty program Oportunidades in Mexico City. In the Ixtapalapa delegation, Yáñez was just caught on tape, in a sting operation, demanding 5,000 pesos as a bribe to sign up eligible participants for the program.

Trafficking in poverty to abuse and extort people of few resources in order to have them added to a program they are entitled to? It's a strong last-minute contestant for Dick-of-the-Year award.

(National Coordinator Salvador Escobedo of Oportunidades promises zero tolerance for such criminal acts, and  there is, in a sense, a positive spin to it - it should not surprise that functionaries try to seek bribes; what is notable is that in this case, they actually got caught for it).

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