|
Politicians always make promises they can’t keep during electoral
campaigns, but voters hardly ever hold them responsible for lying. Well,
residents in a small Mexican town recently decided to teach their mayor
a lesson for failing to fulfil his campaign promises by parading him in
women’s clothes for four straight days.
|
 |
|
Javier Sebastián Jiménez Santiz won the mayoral race in the town of
Huixtán on promises of improving the local water system, but failed to
live up to the expectations of his constituents. Lat last month, after
getting sick of his excuses and promises, locals stormed into the
mayor’s office and dressed up Santiz and municipal trustee Luis Ton in
women’s clothing. Mayor Santiz had to wear a long dark skirt and white
blouse with ruffles and flowery embroidery, while Ton was given a bright
pink dress with white polka dots.
The two officials were paraded through Huixtán for at least four days,
starting July 30th, in front of crowds of locals holding signs
denouncing their failings. And as if having to wear brightly colored
women’s dresses in public wasn’t humiliating enough, the two local
officials were forced to stop motorists in traffic and beg them for
donations for projects they had vowed to complete during their campaign.
In an interview with local reporters, an uncomfortable-looking Mayor
Santiz can be heard explaining that he had meant to respect his campaign
promises but was unable to do so because the necessary funds – 3 million
pesos (about $158,000) – had been diverted to other municipalities.
However, as he spoke, people around him could be heard telling him to
stop lying…The people of Huixtán are now asking for an investigation
into whether their mayor stole the funds he claims went to other
municipalities. Santiz claims he is innocent, but said that he would not
resist an investigation. Well, he couldn’t really argue with the people
who put him in a skirt and blouse, could he?
Photos of the two Mexican officials being paraded in women’s clothing
and having to beg for change from ordinary people to fulfil their
campaign promises have been doing the rounds on social media for days.
People generally applauded the initiative of Huixtán and said that their
own local authorities deserved similar treatment.
|
|
|
Public shaming of local officials is not that uncommon in Central and
South America. Last year, the people of Chichiquila took their mayor
hostage and demanded a ransom for his release, after he also failed to
fulfil his campaign promises. Also in 2018, the people of San
Buenaventura, a small town in northern Bolivia, put their mayor in
stocks for doing a poor job serving them.
However, this particular initiative seems to have backfired, as the
women of Huixtán took offence over the fact that their dressed were used
to humiliate the officials. They claim they have been discriminated
against…
|