Meet the new boss, same as the old boss
In the bad old days, the government would take land from indigenous communities by claiming they owed back taxes, and then resell them to foreign corporate interests. It appears now, the government just takes the land and gives it to favored national corporations.
For this we had a Revolution?
After years of demonstrations and court battles, President Enrique Peña Nieto signed an executive order this month expropriating 91 acres of what many here consider sacred land. And is it any wonder he did, residents argue. The same contractor carving through their land has held the title to the president’s family mansion, provided a house to the finance minister for zero profit and does billions of dollars in deals with the government.
Deals Flow to Contractor Tied to Mexican President, Paulina Villegas and Frances Robles, New York Times, 30 July 2015.
mexfiles.net 
With information instantly available to so many, it’s hard to see how such blatant conflicts of interest/corruption can continue on unabated.
Tying this highway project to the new airport seems odd at best. I went to the NY Times article and read it, and then looked up San Francisco Xochicuautla, and it’s in the mountains on the way to Toluca, on the opposite side of DF from the new airport.
And yes, the Times article makes Peña Nieto look just as bad as the opposition predicted for the election — all the bad, old, corrupt ways. And there’s certainly no subtlety to it either; sounds about as blatant as it comes.
If only Mexico could solve its corruption problem, it’d have a chance to flower. But sadly, the corruption is really holding back Mexican society.
Saludos,
Kim G
Boston, MA
Where we’ve certainly had our own escalating-cost public boondoggles.