Photo: Deposit Photos

By KELIN DILLON

The newly sworn-in governors of Mexican states Chihuahua, Zacatecas, Sonora, Campeche, Nayarit and San Luis Potosí have raised concerns about the precarious financial situations of the states they inherited, noting the lack of funds present to pay payroll, pensions and providers.

The National Action Party’s (PAN) Governor of Chihuahua María Eugenia Campos made note of a 11 billion-peso deficit left by her predecessor, Javier Corral, and requested a 800 million-peso loan to pay off the debt.

“The Corral government lived on short-term loans and, when it could not borrow more, it began to survive on credit,” said Campos. “We want to start paying suppliers, but there are too many.”

The National Regeneration Movement’s (Morena) David Monreal, the new governor of Zacatecas, said the region’s former governor. Alejandro Tello. left the state’s treasury empty and without resources to pay the teachers until December at the earliest, nor were there funds for highway or infrastructure projects.

“Our debts far exceed our income; the finances of the municipalities are in tatters, our state is dying,” said Monreal, who called upon the federal Secretariat of the Interior to help supplement Zacatecan teachers’ payroll.

Likewise, Nayarit Governor Miguel Ángel Navarro was presented with a 3.45 billion-peso debt to the Autonomous University of Nayarit and a 9 billion-peso- debt with to the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), Tax Administration Service (SAT) and  Institute of the National Housing Fund for Workers (Infonavit).

The new governors of Sonora and Campeche, Alfonso Durazo and Layda Sansores, respectively, also found deficits of 23 billion pesos and 700 million pesos within their states, due to be paid to the SAT, while San Luis Potosí Governor Ricardo Gallardo inherited a debt of 16 billion pesos.

Within the upcoming days, new governors from states that have been experiencing teacher, health worker and police strikes due to lack of payment will be sworn in, leaving discoveries of more inherited debt throughout the country for the upcoming governors of Michoacán, Guerrero and Colima.