Thursday, August 25, 2011

Like brother, like brother: Rubén Moreira's response to Coahuila debt scandal

Humberto Moreira's ingenuous response to the debt scandal of his tenure as governor was essentially to play the victim and try to change the topic, along the lines of: "let's rather talk about the debt we have to the dead in the war against crime."

Now his brother Rubén Moreira, soon-to-be governor of Coahuila himself, offered and equally inane response: The criticism is unwarranted because it is only "partial" (not comparing to other states), and, mind you, the scandal-ridden Estela de Luz bicentennial monument of the federal government also cost a lot - actually, 10 percent of the Coahuila debt, he informs. So there you have it!

Thankfully, today El Universal does indeed avoid "partial" criticism by duly comparing the debt of other states: Coahuila's debt is four times the national average. That's right, 4 times:

11,633 pesos vs. national average of 2819 pesos per inhabitant. No state is even close to Coahuila's figures.
Still "partial criticism"?

(Here is a great graphic of the most indebted states, according to Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI))