The challenge
High-level scandals went unpunished as agencies worked in isolation and lacked independence.
The case
After scandals including the 2014 revelation that President Enrique Peña Nieto and his wife had bought a $7 million house, Mexico amended its constitution in May 2015 and passed laws in July 2016 creating the National Anticorruption System (SNA). It linked the federal auditor, a special anti-corruption prosecutor, administrative courts and a citizen participation committee. Implementation stalled: the special anti-corruption prosecutor was not appointed until 2019, and the government was reported to be withholding information from the citizen committee. Mexico’s score on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index fell from 35 in 2015 to 26 in 2024, its lowest ever. In February 2026 President Claudia Sheinbaum said the system ‘has not worked very well’.
Why it didn't work
A well-designed coordinating body achieves little when the officials it is meant to check control its appointments and information. Political will to fill posts and share data mattered more than the legal architecture.
Sources
- InSight Crime (2018). Implementation of Anti-Graft Reforms in Mexico Still Elusive.
- IMCO (2016). Índice de Percepción de la Corrupción 2015 vía Transparencia Internacional.
- Transparency International (2025). Corruption Perceptions Index 2024: Mexico.
- Ochoa, X. (2026). Gobierno reconoce que no funciona el Sistema Nacional Anticorrupción. ADN40.
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