Peña Nieto was sworn in as
President of Mexico on 1 December 2012 at the federal congress and later flew to a military parade to formally take control of the
armed forces. During his inauguration speech at the National Palace, Peña Nieto proposed his agendas and reforms for the new administration. Before and after the inauguration, in an event that has been labeled by the media as the
1DMX, protesters rioted outside of the National Palace and clashed with
Federal Police forces, vandalizing hotel structures and setting fires in downtown Mexico City. More than 90 protesters were arrested, and several were injured. Mayor
Marcelo Ebrard blamed "anarchist groups" for the violence. However, there is evidence that
agents of provocation worked with the police, and paid 300 Mexican pesos (about US$20) for their acts of vandalism, according to media reports. Photos show protesters waiting in groups behind police lines before the violence. Previous protests had been entirely peaceful, but on this occasion, in apparent response to violence, the police fired rubber bullets. The day after his inauguration, Peña Nieto announced the
Pact for Mexico, an agreement that he had struck with the leaders of the two other major parties at the time,
Jesús Zambrano Grijalva of the
Party of the Democratic Revolution and
Gustavo Madero Muñoz of the
National Action Party, about the government's goals for the next few years. On 1 December 2018, Enrique Peña Nieto left office and was succeeded by
Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Economic policy at the inauguration of the
Honda plant in
Celaya, Guanajuato on 21 February 2014. The auto manufacturing industry expanded rapidly under Nieto's presidency. In 2014, more than US$10 billion was committed to investment in the sector. In conjunction with
Kia Motors in August 2014, the president announced plans for Kia to build a US$1 billion factory in
Nuevo León. At the time,
Mercedes-Benz and
Nissan were already building a US$1.4 billion plant near
Puebla, while
BMW was planning a US$1 billion assembly plant in
San Luis Potosí.
Audi began building a US$1.3 billion factory near Puebla in 2013. As of December 2014, two years into Peña Nieto's term, total investment in the auto sector in Mexico had reached US$19 billion. The
Bajío Region has received the majority of this investment, and with its rapidly expanding aerospace industry has become the fastest-growing region in the country. In February 2014,
Time was met with controversy for the release of a cover featuring Enrique Peña Nieto with the caption "Saving Mexico" (written by
Michael Crowley), as the cover article's title inside the magazine. The controversial article praised the president and his cabinet for reforms like opening oil fields for foreign investment for the first time in 75 years (a reform towards which Mexican citizens have shown mixed feelings), ending the Mexican drug wars (which was not completely accurate), and even going as far as saying "the opposition party blocked major reforms that were necessary," that "American leaders could learn a thing or two from their resurgent southern neighbor" and saying Mexicans citizens' "alarms were replaced with applause." According to the
Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), between December 2012 and June 2016, more than two million jobs were created in Mexico. Women comprised 41% of those jobs, and individuals between 20 and 34 took 36%. IMSS also revealed that 86% were long-term jobs and 14% were temporary. These jobs have led to a 26% increase in revenue accumulation for IMSS, an additional MXN$50 billion. More than half a million jobs had salaries worth five minimum wages (about MXN$10,000 per month) and there was a 22% increase in jobs with salaries greater than 20 minimum wages.
Special economic zones , and Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau sign the
USMCA agreement during the
G20 summit in
Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 30 November 2018. At the end of May 2016, Peña Nieto signed a law to create
special economic zones in economically depressed southern states. The first three are
Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán;
Port Chiapas, Chiapas; and in the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec to better join the ports of
Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz and
Salina Cruz, Oaxaca. Another zone in the petroleum region of Tabasco and Campeche, hit by the
downturn in the oil industry, is planned for 2017. The special economic zones are meant to alleviate the lack of industry in the South. During the signing, Peña Nieto highlighted the difference between the South and the industrial North and Center of Mexico: two of every three people in
extreme poverty in Mexico live in the southern states. While the three poorest states (Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Guerrero) have about 10% of the population, they receive just $1 of every $36 in
foreign direct investment in the country. He went on to say that there are two Mexicos: one "that competes and wins in the
global economy, with growing levels of income, development and
well-being." At the same time, the other Mexico "has been left behind [and] hasn't been able to take advantage of its potential." trade and customs benefits, and the streamlining of regulatory processes. Five years after its signing, the plan has barely affected standards: Mexico still ranks last in education among the 35
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries and the
Secretariat of Public Education spent more money on communications (2,700% more on communications in 2017 than was budgeted) than on teacher training. Critics of Peña Nieto's security strategy, however, said that he offered "little sense" in exactly how he will reduce the violence. United States officials were worried that the election of Peña Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party may mean a return to the old PRI tactics of "corruption [and] backroom deals" with the cartels in exchange for bribes and relative peace. . In 2012, the president-elect emphasized that he did not support the involvement or presence of armed United States agents in Mexico but considered allowing the United States to instruct Mexico's military training in
counterinsurgency tactics. Beyond that, Peña Nieto promised that the States would take no other measures in Mexico. The security policy of Peña Nieto prioritized the reduction of violence rather than attacking Mexico's drug-trafficking organizations head-on, marking a departure from the strategy of the previous six years during
Felipe Calderón's administration. One of the biggest contrasts is the focus on lowering murder rates, kidnappings, and extortions, as opposed to arresting or killing the country's
most-wanted drug lords and intercepting their shipments. On 13 December 2012, a law that included far-reaching security reforms was approved. Mexico's
Interior Ministry, greatly strengthened by the bill, was solely responsible for public security. Part of Peña Nieto's strategy consists of the creation of a national police of 40,000 members, known as a "
gendarmerie."
The Economist reported that the gendarmerie would have an initial strength of 10,000. Still, the Washington Office on Latin America reported that it was reduced to 5,000 members and would not be operational until July 2014. The Interior Ministry announced that 15 specialized police units were being formed to exclusively focus on major crimes that include kidnapping and extortion, along with a new task force dedicated to tracking missing persons. Peña Nieto also proposed centralizing the sub-federal police forces under one command.
Energy policy leaders U.S. President
Barack Obama, Mexican President Peña Nieto, and Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper, 2014. During the presidential campaign, Peña Nieto promised to allow private investment in
Pemex, Mexico's state-owned oil company. He also indicated interest in an economic agreement with
Petrobras, Brazil's oil company. By liberalizing Pemex, investors say Peña Nieto's proposal could allow joint ventures and private investment in the oil company. According to the
Financial Times in 2012, Peña Nieto's PRI government, which held just over 38% of the votes in Congress, might have difficulty gaining a majority to pass such reforms, or the
two-thirds majority needed to change the
Mexican constitution. Changing Pemex could transform the psychology of Mexico's business sector and involve cultural and political changes that cannot be rushed. Peña Nieto declared while campaigning that overhauling Pemex will be the PRI's and his "signature issue," and that he will encourage private companies to invest in exploration and development activities.
Foreign policy 2016 visit by Donald Trump , February 2015 at the
G20 Hamburg summit, July 2017. with French president
Emmanuel Macron, 2017 in, 2017 Peña Nieto invited U.S.
Republican presidential candidate
Donald Trump to visit on 31 August 2016 and appeared with him in a press conference. Peña Nieto was criticized for extending the invitation to Trump, and following the conference, journalist
Jorge Ramos criticized Peña Nieto for not using the opportunity to publicly contradict Trump's campaign promise to make Mexico pay for his proposed
Mexico–United States border wall, as well as what Ramos called, Trump's "attacks on Latin American immigrants, his rejection of free trade agreements and his scorn for global organizations." Despite this, Peña Nieto stated on his Twitter that he made it clear to Trump that Mexico would not pay for the wall, only to shortly after get a reply from Donald Trump saying: "Mexico will pay for the wall!"
Trump's presidency and border wall Peña Nieto and Trump were to meet on 26 January 2017, until Trump wrote on his Twitter account: "If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting." This directly led Peña Nieto to cancel his visit to the U.S. president. In an interview with
Aristegui Noticias, Washington-based freelance journalist Dolia Estévez said she obtained access to part of a one-hour phone conversation between the two presidents the day of the scheduled meeting. She stated, "Trump humiliated Peña Nieto" and said the conversation only lasted 20 minutes. She also explained that the speech was prolonged to an hour due to translation efforts because Trump does not speak Spanish and likewise Peña Nieto does not understand English. While many media outlets praised Peña Nieto for canceling the visit with Trump,
Forbes Mexico stated that despite showing support toward Peña Nieto for canceling such an event, "that shouldn't translate in forgiveness to what happens within our country [Mexico]" adding that "a state incapable of bringing credibility and stability could not grow", and that more than Trump, the thing keeping Mexico from prosperity was the corruption within the Mexican government.
Official international trips (in red). This is a list of
official trips abroad made by Peña Nieto during his presidency, from 1 December 2012 to 30 November 2018. According to Article 88 of the
Constitution of Mexico, the president may leave the country for up to seven days by informing the
Senate or, where applicable, the
Permanent Commission in advance of the reasons for the absence, as well as of the results of the measures carried out. For absences longer than seven days, permission from the Senate or the Permanent Commission is required.
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Controversies Publicity and public image As of July 2017,
Oxford University's Computational Propaganda Research Project claimed Mexico's social media manipulation (
Peñabots) to come directly from the Mexican government itself. A December 2017 article in
The New York Times reported Enrique Peña Nieto spent about 2 billion dollars on publicity during his first five years as president, the largest publicity budget ever spent by a Mexican President.
Iguala mass kidnapping In September 2014, 43 male college students were forcibly taken and then disappeared in
Guerrero. The forced mass disappearance of the students arguably became the biggest political and public security scandal Peña Nieto faced during his administration. It led to nationwide protests and international condemnation, particularly in Guerrero and Mexico City.
Freedom of the press During his tenure as president, Peña Nieto has been accused of failing to protect journalists, whose deaths have been speculated to be politically triggered by officials attempting to prevent coverage of scandals. On 29 April 2017,
The New York Times published a news report titled "In Mexico, 'It's Easy to Kill a Journalist,'" which covered the high rate of deaths and disappearances of journalists in Mexico and declared Mexico had become "one of the worst countries in the world to be a journalist today." In November 2014, an article was published by journalist
Carmen Aristegui, indicating that a $7 million "White House" owned by Enrique Peña Nieto and his wife
Angelica Rivera, in
Lomas de Chapultepec was registered under the name of a company affiliated with a business group that had received government contracts to build a bullet train. The revelation of the potential
conflict of interest in the acquisition of the house aggravated discontent about the government. Rivera released a video detailing her income as a former soap opera actress, stating that she was selling the house and that the property was not under her name because she had not made the full payment yet. She later deleted the video. Shortly after revealing the Mexican White House incident, Carmen Aristegui was controversially fired from her radio show at
MVS Communications. As noted by
The New York Times, Aristegui being fired was perceived as censorship toward news journalism and freedom of speech. Aristegui took it to trial and by June 2018, three years after MVS fired her, the jury determined that it was indeed unconstitutional and against the law, to fire her and indeed was an act of censorship towards the freedom of speech. Peña Nieto's successor in the presidency of Mexico, Andres Manuel López Obrador, promised Aristegui would be free to return to radio if she wanted and that there would be no more unfair censorship towards the freedom of speech. On 19 June 2017,
The New York Times, in conjunction with Carmen Aristegui and
Televisa news reporter
Carlos Loret de Mola, reported that the Mexican government had used the
Pegasus spyware to surveil targets such as reporters, human rights leaders, and anti-corruption activists using text messages as lures. From 2011 to 2017, the Mexican government spent $80 million on spyware. Pegasus infiltrates a person's cell phone and reports on their messages, e-mails, contacts, and calendars. In 2016, Aristegui revealed in a special report arguing that Enrique Peña Nieto had committed
plagiarism in his law thesis, at least a third of it, with 197 out of 682 paragraphs being unsourced or wrongly sourced works.
Allegations of corruption , after the
2017 Chiapas earthquake. In October 2017,
Santiago Nieto Castillo, the head of the Office for Election-related Crimes (FEPADE), was controversially removed from office, shortly after opening an investigation into illicit campaign money during the
2012 presidential campaign, received by Peña Nieto and would be president of
Pemex,
Emilio Lozoya Austin from the Brazilian conglomerate
Odebrecht. In December 2017,
The New York Times published accusations that Peña Nieto's government was blocking investigations against public corruption, with a commissioner saying the government was preventing the establishment of an impartial leader in FEPADE. 22 ex-governors, all members of the PRI, were investigated for corruption with five jailed. In March 2018, during the campaign period for the
2018 presidential election, the Prosecutor General's Office (PGR) opened an investigation into the PAN's candidate,
Ricardo Anaya, for money laundering. Santiago Nieto said that the accusations toward Anaya were minor in comparison to the Odebrecht and Peña Nieto scandal, as well as the SEDESOL scandal (in which 435 million pesos were lost) or the corruption amongst governors from the PRI such as
Javier Duarte and
César Duarte Jáquez (both who were later arrested). Santiago Nieto further charged that the PGR and FEPADE were not being neutral and were instead being used as tools by Peña Nieto's government to tamper with the upcoming election, by investigating Anaya, a political opponent, and not
José Antonio Meade, a political ally. In an interview with
The Wall Street Journal, Santiago Nieto would later reveal that Peña Nieto's government tried to bribe him to keep him silent, which he refused by saying, "Sorry, but I can't receive any money from Peña Nieto." He subsequently received threatening calls with the words "Death follows you" and "Words of advice: stay out of Trouble." The Brazilian conglomerate
Odebrecht, which is accused of corruption and bribes throughout Latin America, is under investigation for allegedly overriding Peña Nieto's presidential campaign with illegal campaign funds. In exchange for campaign funds, the Peña Nieto administration allegedly granted contracts to Odebrecht through state-owned
Pemex. An Odebrecht employee told a Brazilian court that he had been asked to pay a bribe to Lozoya, then head of Pemex. In March 2018, PRI legislators voted to stop the investigation into Odebrecht, which drew criticism. The investigation against Emilio Loyoza, then-head of Pemex, was also controversially ceased after a judge ordered it days later. While in office, Peña Nieto invoked two constitutional rights related to prosecution:
amparo and
fuero.
Amparo gives anyone accused of a crime the right to know which crimes they are being accused of; it is mostly used by people expecting to go to trial and allows the prosecuted person to build a defense with the help of a lawyer.
Fuero protects political figures from prosecution committed during their time in office, in effect delaying any investigations against him until the end of their terms. Peña Nieto is the first Mexican president to invoke either right. In 2020, Lozoya was detained by the Mexican government. In his trial statements, he testified against Peña Nieto and
Luis Videgaray (the former Minister of Finance during Peña's government). He detailed that following Peña's orders, he acted as the middle-man between Peña Nieto and Odebrecht, stating that Peña Nieto's presidential campaign benefited from illegal campaign funds provided by Odebrecht in exchange for future favors. According to the triangulation investigations that proved Lozoya guilty, he received $10 million from Odebrecht. During his trial, Lozoya described the payments for facilitating the exchange as a middle-man. Mexican journalist
Carlos Loret de Mola described being contacted by Peña Nieto's state, and being told the former president described himself as "unaware of Lozoya's corruption". Loret de Mola also said Peña Nieto was already in contact with his successor,
Andres Manuel López Obrador, to declare his version of the events. Loret de Mola said that Peña Nieto was "going to get lost within his lies" during the trial. On November 12, 2020, the
Attorney General's Office (FGR) officially accused Peña Nieto of being a "traitor to the country and of electoral fraud due to the Odebrecht scandal" along with Lozoya and Videgaray. During
United States of America v. Joaquín Guzmán Loera, Guzmán's lawyer alleged that the
Sinaloa drug cartel had paid "hundreds of millions of dollars" in bribes to Peña Nieto and his predecessor,
Felipe Calderón; both presidents denied the claims, with Peña Nieto's spokesman calling the claims "completely false and defamatory." Alex Cifuentes, who described himself as Guzmán's "right-hand man", later testified that Peña Nieto originally asked for $250 million before settling on $100 million. In June 2018, human rights organizations presented documents alleging slayings, tortures, rapes, and
forced disappearances to the
International Criminal Court, and called on them to investigate. ==Public image==