A brief item in El Universal’s well-known political gossip column, “Bajo Reserva,” is drawing attention to comments from a Mexican senator who appeared to blame recent infant deaths at facilities run by the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) on what she described as “neoliberal bacteria.”
IMSS is Mexico’s largest public health and social security agency, serving millions of workers and their families. In Mexican political discourse, “neoliberal” has become a favorite catch-all term used by officials from the ruling Morena party to criticize the free-market policies and governments that preceded President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration, which took office in 2018.
According to the column, the senator’s remark suggested that bacterial infections tied to the deaths were somehow a legacy of that earlier “neoliberal” era rather than a reflection of current management or infrastructure problems within IMSS hospitals. The comment quickly became fodder for critics, who saw it as an attempt to deflect responsibility from the current government by framing a public-health failure in ideological terms rather than addressing it as an operational or clinical issue.
The item does not provide further details on the specific cases involved or the senator’s full statement. For the complete item and more context on this developing story, read the original article on El Universal’s website.
Source: Culpa senadora a bacterias neoliberales de muertes de bebés en el IMSS (eluniversal.com.mx).
Image: Thechildrenshospital.