Rag Radio: Mexico’s Peña Nieto: Corruption, Social Inequality & Broken Promises

Thorne Dreyer’s guest on Rag Radio is author and historian Philip L. Russell who writes about Mexico for The Rag Blog. He has written a three-part series about the presidency of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, a reign which, Philip says, “has been marked by corruption, social inequality, and broken promises.”

The latest installment was published in The Rag Blog. On today’s show we will discuss the Peña Nieto presidency, as well as related issues like the Trans-Pecos Pipeline, immigration, and Trump’s great wall (and whether Mexico is going to pay for it!).

In his new article, headlined “Another bad year for Mexico’s Peña Nieto,” Philip writes:

“December 1, 2015, marked the half-way point of President Enrique Peña Nieto’s six-year term. At that time his approval rating stood at 39 percent — the lowest such rating for any Mexican president this century. As reported in the paper Reforma, during the following year his approval rating sunk to 24 percent as a result of his failure to address chronic problems as well as new aggravations.

“According to the government’s own statistical agency, known by its acronym as INEGI, the Mexican public considers insecurity and criminality to be their country’s gravest problem. Peña Nieto, rather than making a dent in the social and economic problems which lead young people to join drug gangs, has continued his predecessor’s failed policy of combating trafficking by taking out kingpins. …”

Read the entire article at The Rag Blog.

Philip Russell is an author, historian, and expert on Mexico who lives in Austin. Philip’s sixth book, a textbook published by Routledge, is The Essential History of Mexico: From Pre-Conquest to Present, which traces the last 500 years of Mexican history, from the indigenous empires that were devastated by the Spanish conquest to the election of 2012. Philip’s writings on Mexico have appeared in sources ranging from the Austin Chronicle to The New York Times and he writes about Mexico and Latin America for The Rag Blog.

This is Philip’ s fifth visit to Rag Radio. Find podcasts of shows with Philip Russell here and find Philip’s Rag Blog articles at this link.

Rag Radio is produced in the studios of KOOP 91.7-FM, an all-volunteer, cooperatively-run community radio station in Austin, Texas, in association with The Rag Blog and the New Journalism Project, a Texas 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The host and producer of Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, is a prominent Austin-based activist and writer who was a pioneer of the ’60s underground press movement. The show’s engineer and co-producer is Tracey Schulz and the staff photographer is Roger Baker. The syndicated show is broadcast (and streamed) live Fridays, 2-3 p.m. (Central) on KOOP in Austin, is streamed live at Radio Free America, and is later rebroadcast and streamed on WFTE-FM in Mt. Cobb and Scranton, PA., on Houston Pacifica’s KPFT HD-3 90.1-FM, and by KKRN, 88.5-FM in Round Mountain, CA — and is a featured podcast at VT. All Rag Radio podcasts can be found at the Internet Archive. Contact: ragradio@koop.org.

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Rag Radio with Thorne Dreyer

Rag Radio is produced in the studios of KOOP 91.7-FM, an all-volunteer, cooperatively-run, solar-powered community radio station in Austin, Texas, in association with The Rag Blog and the New Journalism Project, a Texas 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The host and producer of Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, is a prominent Austin-based activist and writer who was a pioneer of the ’60s underground press movement. Visit the Rag Radio Archives.

Contact:ragradio@koop.org

www.theragblog.com/rag-radio