The corruption loop - Arturo Durazo, former police chief, Mexico City

National Review, March 23, 1984

The Corruption Loop

Even among the epic scandals of graft and corruption that plague Mexico's political life, the case of the former police chief of Mexico City, Arturo Durazo, is legendary. Durazo held office until the end of the term of Mexico's last president, Jose Lopez Portillo, and is now charged with smuggling, illegal possession of arms, and half a million dollars' worth of tax evasion. But as he has left the country he may never be brought to trial. The scandal typifies the way the country is governed by the immovable and irreplaceable single party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which appoints one president after another for a six-year term with only a facade of democratic process. And once a president's term is over, his behavior in office is, by common consent, never discussed. Durazo's case has been spiced by the publication of a book by his former chief of staff, himself the confessed perpetrator of several murders, who alleges that his erstwhile boss made a fortune through fraud, extortion, and drugs. During Durazo's time in office, it is no surprise to learn that the police became Mexico's most hated institution. Durazo made the equivalent of $1,000 a month, but he was able to maintain two luxurious houses, one of which on the Pacific Coast was a version of the Parthenon. The other, at Ajusco outside the capital, included a stable of 13 race horses, garages housing 1900-vintage cars, cellars full of rare wines, and an entertainment complex that was the replica of Studio 54 in New York. His staff at these places comprised 1,200 servants, all paid out of the public treasury. Durazo is also alleged to have taken regular kickbacks of 59 pesos from 25,000 police paychecks for the purpose of providing suitable funerals for officers killed in the line of duty. The Durazo scandal erupted as present President Miguel de la Madrid is trying to purge the police of their endemic corruption. A Catch-22 element is the fact that a rise in the crime rate is attributed to the activities of ex-policemen who have been fired from the force for corruption.