Mexico’s president Pena Nieto is accused of plagiarism, as teachers’ strike adds to his woes
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is facing new threats to his already historically low approval rating after teachers refused to start the academic year in some states and a local news outlet reported he may have plagiarised portions of his thesis when he was in college.
On Monday, teachers in the southern states of Chiapas and Oaxaca refused to resume classes after summer break as part of their fight with the president over a new nationwide system of evaluating educators. The CNTE teachers union began blockading highways and airports earlier this year, leading to clashes with authorities in Oaxaca that left at least eight civilians dead and more than 100 injured in June.
The standoff occurred as Pena Nieto was accused Sunday by journalist Carmen Aristegui of plagiarizing portions of his undergraduate law thesis in 1991, which contained complete, copied paragraphs that didn’t cite the authors, such as former President Miguel de la Madrid.
Pena Nieto’s office said in a statement that the thesis failed to put the material he cited in quotation marks, instead listing the writers he quoted as references in its bibliography. This was just a “style error,” and Pena Nieto met the requirements of Panamericana University, his office said.
This has been a difficult month for the Mexican president. A poll by Reforma newspaper showed his popularity plunged to 23 per cent, the lowest for any president in almost 20 years. That survey was taken before the Guardian newspaper reported that a businessman paid a property tax on Pena Nieto’s wife’s apartment in Miami. All combined, Pena Nieto’s approval rating is probably headed further south, according to political analyst Jorge Chabat, challenging his ability to govern.