This editorial by Miguel Ángel Velázquez originally appeared in the September 15, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.
On more than one occasion, President Sheinbaum has asked herself, has asked us: And where is all the money that the country borrowed?
A review of the numbers is frightening, but it doesn’t explain. There are figures that seem straight out of a financial nightmare, for example, the millions and millions that seemed to finance Pemex, which in turn transferred them as taxes to other agencies where officials earned millions and where private businesses flourished like plants of evil.
Therefore, the President’s question is followed by the one about the money received, beyond salaries and business deals, by those close to, for example, the PAN governments. Tax refunds ordered by the government reached these individuals and firms.
And so, where did the pesos and dollars that companies and those close to power received as tax refunds come from? It might seem like a huge perversion, perhaps not even worth considering, but amid the mess created by neoliberal governments, it wouldn’t hurt to review the destination(s) of what is now our daily debt.
Hard data is what compels us to think this way: At the end of 2005, the PRI and PAN reformed the Income Tax Law so that, primarily large companies, could defer the payment of taxes by up to 100 percent. In reality, taxes were never paid, but there are also episodes of abuse against the population: tax returns to companies.
Upon the arrival of the PAN administration to power, a gift or fulfilled promise from Ernesto Zedillo and in the midst of the PRI’s decline, a kind of revenge against the majority was inflicted on the country’s population. Diego Fernández de Cevallos led a team that played a decisive role. Fernando Gómez Mont, Arturo Chávez, and Antonio Lozano Gracia—all of whom held government positions at different times—were, at the very least, faithful to their way of thinking, they threw themselves into protecting their own people while everyone else was impoverished.
There are two cases that should be investigated, both of which involved Fernández de Cevallos’ team. One of them involved the tax refund of the Ramos Millán family. That case became an example of the PAN’s rapacity. The litigation over the tax refund lasted for about 16 years.
Former President Vicente Fox (PAN)
It took Fox longer to become President than Diego Fernández to put an end to the legal mess. Within two months, the PAN member, then President of the Senate’s board of directors, finally obtained a letter of intent that compensated, or to put it bluntly, returned to the Ramos Milláns 1.214 billion 174 million pesos, of which 600, as was said at the time, were for the Blue Lawyers Cartel.
Another terrible example was the so-called “Del Valle juices,” which everyone will remember, resulting in the return of 1.8 billion pesos. As in the Ramos Millán case, Fernández de Cevallos managed to obtain a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court in minimal time.
But to be more precise, it’s worth remembering that during the last six-year term, the 10 companies—not the only ones, but certainly the most representative—that achieved tax forgiveness worth billions of pesos were denounced during a “mañanera” (morning press conference). The list, with its differences, included the country’s two largest television networks, a bank, and a motor vehicle manufacturer, among others.
The question arises: where did the billions that were returned to private individuals come from? Where did the government get the money to pay salaries, for example, of its very high officials? The answer is obvious: the country was going into debt because of Pemex?
There are questions that can only be answered by an investigation that addresses the President’s question: Where is the money that the Mexican population went into debt with?
The Rapaciousness That Indebted Mexico
September 15, 2025
In 2005, a PRI and PAN reform to Mexico’s Income Tax Law allowed corporations to defer the payment of taxes by up to 100%.
Clicks September 14
September 14, 2025
Our weekly roundup of Mexican political stories in the English and Spanish language press, including Alito Moreno’s treasonous gambit, tax reform, the CIA, tarrif tiff with China, gig worker reform, Residente & Palestine, and energy financing.
ALBA Denounces US Violation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty in Mexico
September 13, 2025September 13, 2025
ALBA’s President made a special mission to Mexico to raise concerns about the threats to Latin America & the Caribbean by US imperialism.
The post The Rapaciousness That Indebted Mexico appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.
From Mexico Solidarity Media via this RSS feed
You must log in or # to comment.