LatinScribe

In Mexico, the rich and powerful enjoy privileges that common people in most nations couldn't imagine.

Where else could the governor of a state smaller than Rhode Island (Queretero) receive a bigger salary than the British prime minister?

Inequality, of course, goes beyond economics: according to a first-of-its-kind study, Mexicans recently discovered that governors and state executives can steal, embezzle and defraud taxpayer money without any possibility of prosecution.

The 2009 federal evaluation, "Public Servants’ Responsibility at the State Level", revealed that only 7 out of 32 states have laws in place that penalize governors (and their executive staff) for embezzlement, stealing or any other type of misappropriation.

As one newspaper recently stated: "Mexican governors perform their duties with complete impunity. They arise each morning knowing that they're untouchable".

Which is why in Mexico, the rich and powerful really are above the law.

The study also claimed that only 3 states - Hidalgo, Puebla and Quintano Roo - sanction the misappropriation of state funds, meaning that in 29 states, governors are immune from prosecution for stealing any type of government money.

PAN party leader Manuel Clouthier recently complained that Mexican state authorities are "totally exempt from prosecution: there's neither transparency nor accountability".

In Mexico, impunity starts at the top and permeates every niche and cranny of society.

It's part of the culture, something people "naturally" expect. Like the Aztec kings who ruled on the basis of divine right, Mexican leaders act with the knowledge that they can steal, blackmail and threaten (among other so-called "crimes") without ever being held accountable. Governors, mayors, union leaders, police officials, bureaucrats and federal politicos are all - in their own way - simply above the law.

For governors (as it turns out), there is no law!

That's the history of the nation and it continues today unabated.