Initiative Collide Sinaloa and Rubén Rocha Anti-corruption fight needs them together

Due to a probing question and the corresponding response given to the heat of those who say they disagree, in La Semanera on January 29, the discrepancy of opinions between the citizen research center Initiative Sinaloa and Governor Rubén Rocha Moya, two entities that in their different spheres, one independent and the other in government function, could well complement each other in the fight against corruption.

At a time when treasury looters seem to be ahead of transparency institutions, civic and government magnifying glasses should work in sync, with greater power when focusing on crimes against public finances.

At both extremes, mutual distrust warns of differences that could lead to conflicts as deep as they are unfortunate. Initiative Sinaloa She goes to protection and sanction bodies when she says she is threatened, and the State President sees the one who urges him for better accountability as a political adversary. But if both of them pushed together towards the side of access to public information, they would offer Sinaloa the best model of honest exercise of budgetary resources.

There are meeting points between the two factors before branding each other as enemies. Initiative Sinaloa For almost 14 years, it has produced important investigations that reveal the opacity of three governors, and its financing derives from the recognition granted to it by national and international institutions; Rocha Moya long before occupying his current position, as a local Deputy, Rector of the Autonomous University of Sinaloa and Senator, has demonstrated the guarantee of the citizen’s right to know what and how the money contributed via tax payments is spent.

The issue of combating corruption must survive the harsh meetings between the Initiative Sinaloa and the State Government, since the dangers that the plunderers of public finances and the shields of impunity that they receive are enough for society. There are examples that the bodies that promote transparency and public institutions, shielding the independence of both, can coincide in efforts for accountability and an example is in Mazatlán where the non-governmental body Observatorio Ciudadano and Mayor Édgar González Zataráin They advance in synergies to prevent, detect and sanction the irregular use of municipal coffers.

In the case of the recent divergence between Initiative Sinaloa and Rocha emanated from a question from journalist Alejandro Monjardín crowned with the comment that “Initiative Sinaloa He said that his government seems like it is going to become the government of conflicts of interest,” which angered the head of the state Executive, who had paused for several weeks the unfortunate responses to uncomfortable questions.

Referring to what the reporter said he declared Initiative Sinaloa Rocha Moya answered, referring to the citizen research center, “excuse me, but they play a political game, they are not impartial, on the subject of their observations they do it for political interest, they hit our government, the government of Andrés Manuel for political reasons, because they would like this to end.”

That paved the way for the Initiative Sinaloa respond with a position supported by sectors of society, and at the same time request the corresponding measures and opening of the due file to the Institute for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists of Sinaloa when considering Marléón León Fontes, director of the Initiative Sinaloa that these types of attacks obstruct freedom of expression and attempt to damage the prestige of the organization and put its collaborators at risk, as well as impose a dynamic of censorship, inhibiting the media from turning to it as a source of information.

The day before, organizations and civil society actors came out in support of the Initiative Sinaloa and they also traced paths of relationship between the discordant parts. In the positioning they establish that “in Sinaloa It is urgent that organizations like the Initiative Sinaloa continue to influence the public life of our society through the construction of strategies and actions for transparency, accountability and the fight against corruption, as well as citizen participation. From civil society, we are convinced that the establishment of alliances and articulations between society, companies and the government is essential to guarantee compliance with human rights and a dignified and democratic life for all people.”

And if. Instead of breaking the opportunities for more effective anti-corruption strategies, it is time to build bridges where Initiative Sinaloa as a fundamental step in the surveillance of civil society, and the State Government, as an essential obligation of transparency, ensure that every peso spent by public agencies is supervised by the people of Sinaloa as a condition for trust to underpin credibility and support towards the institutions and those who preside over them.