MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mexico’s Peña Nieto trying to change the reputation of the powerful PRI

“There are no untouchable interests” pledged Peña Nieto

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto sounded a warning shot to his ruling party over corruption, saying no one is above the law as he tries to tackle the graft that has blighted its reputation in the past.

Speaking just days after the head of Mexico's powerful teachers' union was arrested on charges of embezzling around 200 million dollars, Peña Nieto vowed a new era of transparency at a congress attended by some 4,200 members of his Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

“There are no untouchable interests” said Peña Nieto, who pledged to break with the party's past reputation for shady deals and patronage when he won the presidency last year. “The only interest I will protect is the national interest.”

Political analysts say the arrest of union leader Elba Esther Gordillo, herself a former PRI grandee, was a warning to any politicians or labour bosses involved in corruption.

However, the incident also raised fears that the PRI may be returning to past tactics of squashing dissent. Gordillo left the PRI several years ago and had opposed a new law being pushed by Peña Nieto to overhaul Mexico's education system.

The PRI had become a byword for corrupt and often authoritarian rule by the time it was voted out of office in 2000, following 71 years in power.

Peña Nieto, who is seeking to push through a raft of economic reforms in a bid to modernize the economy and boost growth, campaigned on a promise of a new PRI.

“Today we are a more transparent party, open to the scrutiny of the people and being held to account,” Peña Nieto said. “Today the PRI has an instrument to distance itself from and reject those who are not up to the ethical standards of our party.”