Mexico’s Peña Nieto might be losing his mojo
Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto has bowed to political pressure to remove a close ally, Alfredo Castillo, as federal commissioner for the western state of Michoacán. He took the decision ostensibly for the sake of democracy: with elections coming up on 7 June for state governor and congress as well as 113 mayoral contests, opposition politicians were publicly raising questions about Castillo’s excessive influence. But there is a sense that mounting conflict of interest scandals are emasculating Peña Nieto, whose governance has transmuted from strong and pro-active, dictating the agenda with myriad reform initiatives to modernise Mexico, to weak and reactive; no longer shaping events but being shaped by them.
The interior minister, Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, announced last week that Castillo would cease to serve as federal commissioner virtually one year to the day after he assumed the freshly created post with the remit of pacifying the violence-ridden state of Michoacán. Speaking at a public event in the national palace in Mexico City to evaluate the federal security strategy in Michoacán, Osorio Chong praised Castillo for his achievements and said he would assume new responsibilities in the federal administration. He implied that Castillo had been hounded out by small-minded opposition political parties and candidates intent on “politicising his remaining in the post, and masking his results”.