Raging cartel violence, widespread corruption, human rights abuses and a tanking economy have made Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto one of the most vilified figures in that nation’s recent history.
A recent poll found Pena Nieto’s approval rating at its lowest ever with 80 percent holding a negative view of the president, Mexico’s Animal Politico reported. When the pollsters asked to rate Peña Nieto’s performance on a scale of 0-10, the average score was only 3.9 points. The trend has intensified in recent months with his approval tanking from 30 percent in April to the current low of 23.
A simple search on social media displays thousands of memes and posts mocking Peña Nieto’s perceived lack of intelligence, corruption and other less than favorable qualities. Mexico’s discontent appears to grow with each new scandal tying him to overt acts of corruption, drug cartel ties, human rights abuses and more.
Some of the scandals include money from the Juarez Cartel being funneled into his campaign, receiving a house from government contractors and the recent discovery that a “friend” had been paying the taxes on a Miami condominium owned by the Mexican first lady.
Peña Nieto has also been blamed for the growing number of massacres that have been blamed on cartels or the Mexican government. One of the most dramatic cases deals with the kidnapping and likely execution of 43 education students from the rural town of Ayotzinapa. According to the Mexican government, the students were kidnapped by local police forces and turned over to cartel members to be murdered and incinerated. As Breitbart Texas previously reported, the Mexican government has been caught in lie after lie in what the public perceived to be an effort to cover up the involvement of federal police forces.
Another issue that continues to earn Peña Nieto criticism is his inability to curb cartel violence. Despite the many claims by his government that crime is in a downturn, the reality is much different. The stories presented by the members of Breitbart Cartel Chronicles reveal that the northern states of Mexico have become war zones at the hands of organized crime. Mexican authorities under Peña Nieto have not been able to reign in the daily cases of kidnappings, extortion and senseless murders brought on unsuspecting citizens by cartel gunmen. The government has also failed to reduce both rival and internal cartel violence spilling onto public streets–resulting in daily gun battles, beheadings, dismemberments and other gory executions.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.