(Public Policy Perspective Report No. 10057, Houston, Feb. 27, 2019)

In Mexico, public attention to the topic of corruption in government reappears in cycles, especially when it comes to the revenue and contracts issued by Petróleos Mexicanos, the state oil company. The presidential candidate of the PRI in 1982 campaigned on the theme of the “moral renovation of Pemex.” By the end of the first month of his administration, a new law had been passed: Ley de Responsabilidades de los Servidores Públicos. The law’s title is not perfectly translated as “Civil Servant Responsibility Act,” as “responsabilidades” in Mexico conveys two meanings: obligation and liability for misconduct.