Miami Herald
By Tim Johnson
McClatchy Newspapers
Mexico City -- The daughter of the boss of Mexico’s powerful oil workers union made a youthful indiscretion when she went to Europe last year: She posted photos of her lavish odyssey on Facebook.
The images showed Paulina Romero Deschamps touring French chateaus, staying with her three pet English bulldogs in five-star hotels, and living it up like the daughter of a sultan. She noted her fondness for Hermes calfskin Birkin handbags (price tag: $12,000) and praised the rare Spanish Vega Sicilia wines, which can cost nearly $1,000 a bottle.
Romero’s father, Carlos Romero Deschamps, is indeed a sultan of sorts. As head of the 142,000-member state oil workers union since 1996, he controls the purse strings of an important union – and tells its members how to vote. His daughter’s trip sparked a media furor when the photos hit a Mexico City newspaper in May. Paulina’s Facebook page went silent.
Union bosses like Romero are suddenly in the news in Mexico. Last week, authorities arrested Elba Esther Gordillo, head of the national teachers union, and charged her with corruption and organized crime. Mexico’s attorney general accused her of using $200 million in union funds for shopping trips, facelifts and real estate sprees in California. Mexico’s new president, Enrique Pena Nieto, told a national television audience that his 3-month-old government would not abide by the misuse of union funds. Read more.
The MexicoBlog of the CIP Americas Program monitors and analyzes international press on Mexico with a focus on the US-backed War on Drugs in Mexico and the struggle in Mexico to strengthen the rule of law, justice and protection of human rights. Relevant political developments in both countries are also covered.
Showing posts with label Elba Esther Gordillo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elba Esther Gordillo. Show all posts
Mar 4, 2013
Feb 28, 2013
Arrest of union boss rivets Mexico
People inside and outside the country speculate on what message the new president aims to send with the charges against the infamous Elba Esther Gordillo.
Los Angeles Time
By Richard Fausset
February 27, 2013
MEXICO CITY — The reversal of fortune could not have been more striking. And for many Mexicans, the images, broadcast live on national television Wednesday, could not have been more unexpected.
Here, once again, was Elba Esther Gordillo, the powerful boss of Mexico's massive, sclerotic teachers union. But instead of the image Mexicans were used to — Gordillo standing in front of adoring followers, defiantly speechifying, dressed to the nines — her famous face was now barely visible through the bars of a Mexico City jail.
The face scowled above a simple white turtleneck as a federal court official read the charges against her. They allege that she illegally diverted more than $156 million in union funds, which she used to support her famously lavish lifestyle: the plastic surgery procedures; the Neiman Marcus spending sprees; the private jets like the one she had landed in Tuesday at the Toluca airport, where she and three others were promptly arrested by federal officials. Read more.
Los Angeles Time
By Richard Fausset
February 27, 2013
MEXICO CITY — The reversal of fortune could not have been more striking. And for many Mexicans, the images, broadcast live on national television Wednesday, could not have been more unexpected.
Here, once again, was Elba Esther Gordillo, the powerful boss of Mexico's massive, sclerotic teachers union. But instead of the image Mexicans were used to — Gordillo standing in front of adoring followers, defiantly speechifying, dressed to the nines — her famous face was now barely visible through the bars of a Mexico City jail.
The face scowled above a simple white turtleneck as a federal court official read the charges against her. They allege that she illegally diverted more than $156 million in union funds, which she used to support her famously lavish lifestyle: the plastic surgery procedures; the Neiman Marcus spending sprees; the private jets like the one she had landed in Tuesday at the Toluca airport, where she and three others were promptly arrested by federal officials. Read more.
Feb 27, 2013
Head of Mexico's Powerful Teachers' Union Jailed
ABC News
By Olga R. Rodriguez Associated Press
Mexico City February 27, 2013 (AP)
One of Mexico's biggest political kingfish sits in a women's prison in the capital, accused of embezzling millions in funds from her teachers' union to pay for property, private planes, plastic surgery and her Neiman Marcus bill.
Elba Esther Gordillo, 68, leader of the 1.5 million-member National Union of Education Workers, was arrested late Tuesday afternoon as she landed at the Toluca airport near Mexico City on a private flight from San Diego. Assistant Attorney General Alfredo Castillo told the Televisa network that she was taken off the plane and flown by authorities to Mexico City.
Upon arrival in Mexico's capital, she asked to see a doctor then was taken in a caravan of Federal Police and Marine vehicles to Santa Martha Acatitla prison, Televisa reported. Read more.
By Olga R. Rodriguez Associated Press
Mexico City February 27, 2013 (AP)
One of Mexico's biggest political kingfish sits in a women's prison in the capital, accused of embezzling millions in funds from her teachers' union to pay for property, private planes, plastic surgery and her Neiman Marcus bill.
Elba Esther Gordillo, 68, leader of the 1.5 million-member National Union of Education Workers, was arrested late Tuesday afternoon as she landed at the Toluca airport near Mexico City on a private flight from San Diego. Assistant Attorney General Alfredo Castillo told the Televisa network that she was taken off the plane and flown by authorities to Mexico City.
Upon arrival in Mexico's capital, she asked to see a doctor then was taken in a caravan of Federal Police and Marine vehicles to Santa Martha Acatitla prison, Televisa reported. Read more.
Feb 26, 2013
Mexico's Pena Nieto enacts major education reform
BBC News
February 26, 2013
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has enacted a major reform of the education system that includes new standards for hiring teachers.
Under the changes, a census is to establish the exact number of schools, teachers and pupils in the country.
The reforms appear set to weaken the powerful teachers' union, led by Elba Esther Gordillo, which has largely controlled access to the profession.
The union has argued that reforms could lead to massive lay-offs.
Critics also say the changes could signal the start of the privatisation of education in Mexico. Read more.
February 26, 2013
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has enacted a major reform of the education system that includes new standards for hiring teachers.
Under the changes, a census is to establish the exact number of schools, teachers and pupils in the country.
The reforms appear set to weaken the powerful teachers' union, led by Elba Esther Gordillo, which has largely controlled access to the profession.
The union has argued that reforms could lead to massive lay-offs.
Critics also say the changes could signal the start of the privatisation of education in Mexico. Read more.
Jan 17, 2013
Sweeping education reform approved in Mexico
HuffPost: January 16, 2013
MEXICO CITY — A plan to overhaul Mexico's public education system has been ratified by 18 of the country's 31 states, allowing it to be enacted by President Enrique Pena Nieto, officials confirmed Wednesday.
The law, which is backed by Pena Nieto and was approved by Congress in December, calls for creation of a professional system for hiring, evaluating and promoting teachers without the "discretionary criteria" currently used in a system where teaching positions are often bought or inherited.
"The goal of the reform is a quality education and for this there are two big things (needed): evaluating professional teachers and the body that will evaluate the system," said Sen. Juan Carlos Romero Hicks, president of the Senate's Education Commission who confirmed the reform's approval.
The plan, which has multi-party support, will move much of the control of the public education system to the federal government from the 1.5 million-member National Union of Education Workers, led for 23 years by Elba Esther Gordillo. Under the old law, she hires and fires teachers, and she has been accused of using union funds as her personal pocket book. Read more.
MEXICO CITY — A plan to overhaul Mexico's public education system has been ratified by 18 of the country's 31 states, allowing it to be enacted by President Enrique Pena Nieto, officials confirmed Wednesday.
The law, which is backed by Pena Nieto and was approved by Congress in December, calls for creation of a professional system for hiring, evaluating and promoting teachers without the "discretionary criteria" currently used in a system where teaching positions are often bought or inherited.
"The goal of the reform is a quality education and for this there are two big things (needed): evaluating professional teachers and the body that will evaluate the system," said Sen. Juan Carlos Romero Hicks, president of the Senate's Education Commission who confirmed the reform's approval.
The plan, which has multi-party support, will move much of the control of the public education system to the federal government from the 1.5 million-member National Union of Education Workers, led for 23 years by Elba Esther Gordillo. Under the old law, she hires and fires teachers, and she has been accused of using union funds as her personal pocket book. Read more.
Oct 19, 2012
Mexico's most powerful woman faults working mothers
LA Times, October 18, 2012.
MEXICO CITY -- She may be Mexico's most powerful woman, but she doesn't seem too keen on power for women.
Elba Esther Gordillo, the much-feared head of Mexico's gigantic teachers union, is blaming the abysmal state of education here on none other than working mothers.
In an "open letter to the public" covering two full pages of Mexico's leading Reforma newspaper, Gordillo seemed to rue the days decades ago when traditional family roles were clearly established (link in Spanish, registration required).
"A fact that was changed when women had to share responsibility for the family income, which didn't only contribute to the deterioration of the individual but also of society," Gordillo wrote.
"The abandonment of the mother in the rearing of children turned schools into daycare centers, gave teachers sole responsibility for education and emptied education of any substance," she added.
Gordillo went on to say that the void created by absent mothers working outside the home was filled with "the excessive consumption of junk TV" and similar distractions, which generally contributed to the demise of society's values.
Quite a lot to hang on working women, especially since most experts would blame Mexico's poor educational system on precisely the union that Gordillo lords over like a private fiefdom. Read more.
MEXICO CITY -- She may be Mexico's most powerful woman, but she doesn't seem too keen on power for women.
Elba Esther Gordillo, the much-feared head of Mexico's gigantic teachers union, is blaming the abysmal state of education here on none other than working mothers.
In an "open letter to the public" covering two full pages of Mexico's leading Reforma newspaper, Gordillo seemed to rue the days decades ago when traditional family roles were clearly established (link in Spanish, registration required).
"A fact that was changed when women had to share responsibility for the family income, which didn't only contribute to the deterioration of the individual but also of society," Gordillo wrote.
"The abandonment of the mother in the rearing of children turned schools into daycare centers, gave teachers sole responsibility for education and emptied education of any substance," she added.
Gordillo went on to say that the void created by absent mothers working outside the home was filled with "the excessive consumption of junk TV" and similar distractions, which generally contributed to the demise of society's values.
Quite a lot to hang on working women, especially since most experts would blame Mexico's poor educational system on precisely the union that Gordillo lords over like a private fiefdom. Read more.
Feb 8, 2012
Mexico Education: New film shows Mexico's failing education system
AP/SanFrancisco Chronicle: "Mexican teens can't solve long-multiplication problems. Education authorities don't know how many teachers work in Mexico. Teachers often miss class, and some who do show up have long conversations on their cellphones. This is the harsh reality of Mexico's education system, both public and private, as displayed in a new documentary titled "De Panzazo!" — roughly meaning "Barely passing."
Directed by filmmaker Juan Carlos Rulfo and journalist Carlos Loret de Mola, the film blames the deficiencies of Mexican schools on teachers unions and on government officials who give in to the unions' pressure to avoid changes in the system." read more
Directed by filmmaker Juan Carlos Rulfo and journalist Carlos Loret de Mola, the film blames the deficiencies of Mexican schools on teachers unions and on government officials who give in to the unions' pressure to avoid changes in the system." read more
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