The promise of ‘well-being’ arrives in Juárez with bricks and speech
Claudia Sheinbaum once again attacked what she calls “36 years of neoliberal period.” In the delivery of Housing for Wellbeing in Juárez, Nuevo León, the President assured that her administration is recovering “the welfare state” and the “social function of the State.”
“For the good of all, the poor first,” he repeated like a mantra. According to their figures, social programs have reduced poverty by 13.5 million people in six years.
A round figure, almost too perfect. Does anyone save the INEGI reports from a decade ago to compare? Collective memory is fragile, but the official numbers seem carved in stone.
The dance of figures and houses
Governor Samuel García did not want to be left out of the discursive feast. He assured Sheinbaum of his support to search for land and announced that in the six-year plan, more than 60 thousand houses would arrive in Nuevo León. Happy, grateful. The script is followed to the letter.
But Octavio Romero Oropeza, director of Infonavit, released a piece of information that paints a less rosy picture: a housing deficit in NL “that dates back many years”. And he released another pearl for reflection:
“Previously… 17 thousand homes were built a year and only 600 were for those who earned between one and two minimum wages.”.
Now they say they have corrected 610 thousand unpayable loans in the state alone. And free released 27 thousand mortgages. These are numbers that sound like a great feat. But how many families are still waiting?
Edna Vega, from Sedatu, assured that the State now does comply with the right to housing. Something that, according to her, did not happen before. The six-year goal was expanded: 1.8 million new homes, more than one million improvements.
Sheinbaum closed with his philosophy: private investment is important, it generates employment, but there are things that are up to the government. Because if we leave everything to the market, many people are left without the basics.
A truth like a temple. The trick is to see if the keys to those new houses reach the right hands, or if they get lost along the bureaucratic path.
