Security & Strategic Review - February 2020

Mexico climbed eight positions in the 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) published by Transparency International (TI), the leading NGO in the global fight against graft. This marks the first time that Mexico’s ranking has improved since it embarked on a five-year plunge in 2012. This result has already been lauded in Mexico and taken as a glimmer of hope that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s commitment to stamping out corruption is genuine and will help eradicate it. However, while some of the anti-corruption measures adopted by the López Obrador administration since it assumed office in December 2018 have offered some promise, the young government still faces major challenges and much hard work is yet to be done.