Mexico declares agency the king of red tape
Mexico stages an unpopularity contest, and its Social Security Institute wins. The point was to search through the Mexican government's benighted bureaucracies to find the most useless process.
Reporting from Mexico City — Here was a contest no Mexican bureaucrat wanted to win.
A months-long quest to identify the most nightmarish examples of Mexico's famously nightmarish red tape ended today with a verdict: The nation's Social Security agency reigns supreme among government bureaucracies that drive Mexicans nuts.
President Felipe Calderon bestowed the dubious honor on the federal agency as part of a contest to find the country's "most useless trámite," or bureaucratic process.
The contest, run by the federal comptroller's secretariat and judged by an outside panel, drew more than 20,000 nominations from Mexicans who endure long lines and lug reams of required paperwork to accomplish seemingly straightforward chores, such as getting a passport or a building permit.
The winning entry came from a resident named Cecilia Deyanira Velazquez, who complained about the rigors of getting her son's medication through the Mexican Social Security Institute.
Millions of Mexicans have regular dealings with the sprawling institute, which pays pensions and runs public hospitals and clinics nationwide. The agency is notorious for long lines and merciless red tape.
Velazquez said that for four days each month she must stand in line after line to gather the stamps from government clerks required to receive gamma globulin for her son's immune-system disorder.
"This trámite goes through eight hands," Velazquez said during an awards ceremony at Calderon's residence. "They say it has to be done this way, that there is no other option. Well, I believe there are other possibilities."
The Social Security institute's director, Juan Molinar Horcacitas, was in the audience as his agency was singled out, according to Mexican news reports. He was quoted, in brief remarks, as saying improvements were "achievable."
Two other residents won for offering examples of red tape in state and municipal bureaucracies: the time-consuming process of fixing errors in birth certificates and the rigors of getting a proof-of-residence document that is often needed -- you guessed it -- to complete other government processes.
Mexican officials acknowledge that slow-moving bureaucracies and often-pointless requirements hamper the country's productivity and competitiveness -- and routinely leave residents feeling that only bribes make government work.
The center-right Calderon government says it hopes to reduce the number of federal trámites from 4,200 to 3,000 by the end of the president's term in 2012.
Since Calderon's conservative National Action Party took power eight years ago, red tape has proliferated -- a result, officials say, of efforts to create more orderly government procedures after decades of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party. But they concede the trend has gone too far.
Calderon said today that streamlining the bureaucracy would reduce corruption, provide a more appetizing climate for investment and generate jobs. "We won't allow citizen complaints to go in vain," he promised.
Velazquez took home a prize check for about $26,000; the other two winners each got an $8,000 check. There were no details on what red tape might be involved in cashing them.
ken.ellingwood@latimes.com
