 |
|
|
 Editorials | Issues | November 2007 
After Fatal Floods, Many Wonder Where Money for Levees Went
 Washington Post
go to original
 |  | The money was flowing, but there was not proper accounting at the state level. It was like a blank check.
- Jose Manuel Arias |  | |
Mexico City - Petroleos Mexicanos, Mexico's state-run oil company, was donating hundreds of thousands of dollars for flood abatement projects long before this month's disastrous flooding in the state of Tabasco.
From 1997 to 2001, at least $3 million was donated to build dikes, raise levees, and move poor residents from low-lying areas, according to analysts and independent investigators. But a crescendo of questions about whether the oil money was ever used for the intended projects is raising the possibility that corruption and incompetence might have played as much of a role in the tragedy as historically torrential rains.
The Saint Tomas Association, a nongovernmental organization, has said there was no evidence that two previous Tabasco governors - Manuel Andrade Diaz and Roberto Madrazo Pintado, who was a 2006 presidential candidate - spent the oil money on flood projects.
The group's investigators say they have found proof that flood abatement money was used to pay contractors who never completed jobs, as well as to fill the gasoline tanks of private vehicles and to buy large quantities of cigarettes and pastries..
Mexican legislators have responded angrily, launching investigations and questioning whether the former governors siphoned flood money to their political campaigns.
"Where's the money?" Moises Dagdug, who represents Tabasco in the lower house of Mexico's Congress, asked in an interview. "My personal perception is that it was not used well. Unfortunately, we have a lot of corruption in our country."
Madrazo, who was governor from 1994 to 2000, and Andrade, who was governor from 2002 to 2006, have denied improperly using donations from the oil companies. In a written statement, Andrade said he had "absolutely nothing to be ashamed of" and pointed to the construction of 74 miles of levees and 62 miles of drainage systems.
Both former governors are members of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the PRI, which lost its seven-decade hold on the presidency in 2000 but remains strong in many states. Many of the governors' critics, including Dagdug, are members of the rival Democratic Revolutionary Party.
"Faced with the magnitude of this tragedy," Andrade wrote, "the attitude should not be one of seeking political gain."
Tabasco, a swampy state in southeastern Mexico, was lashed by heavy rains in late October and earlier this month. As much as 30 inches of rain fell, according to some estimates. The downpour swelled the rivers that crisscross the state and led to floods responsible for at least 14 deaths, and as many as 80, in Tabasco and the neighboring state of Chiapas.
A series of factors are believed to have contributed to the flooding, including rampant development and deforestation to meet demand for a rapidly growing cattle-grazing industry. In years past, Petroleos Mexicanos, known as PEMEX, has been blamed for environmental damage that activists say exacerbated flood risks. Since the mid-1990s, the company has donated millions of pesos to oil-producing states, including Tabasco, to compensate for the damage.
"The money was flowing," Jose Manuel Arias, of the Saint Tomas Association, said in an interview. "But there was not proper accounting at the state level. It was like a blank check."
Arias said he believes that some of the PEMEX money might have been used to advance political interests, such as paying off well-connected contractors or rewarding party loyalists. In at least one instance, he said, Saint Tomas auditors discovered payments to contractors who did not complete levees on the Carrizal River, one of several that jumped its banks. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us