In recent days, the Superior Audit Office of the Federation had the honor of being hostess of the Tenth Joint Conference between OLACEFS and EUROSAIwhich respectively make up the block of higher entities of oversight of Americaand of Europe; also attended by representatives of CAROSAI, which brings together the audits of the Caribbeanand other important members of the INTOSAIsuch as the delegations of USA and Saudi Arabia.
In short, the days July 9th and 10thwe received around 100 representatives from 50 countries. These international cooperation meetings, in which Mexico has assumed an increasingly prominent position, are based on two premises: first, that the highest auditing entities have a significant impact on comprehensive public management in their respective countries; that is, that the appropriate oversight and accountability It is an essential component of the quality of government and the quality of democracy in general. Second, many of the challenges facing audits have become complex and global, requiring intelligent cooperation and joint learning among SAIs to successfully address them.
The topic of state response to emergencies was given an important place at the conference, with special emphasis on catastrophic situations. Our country has a wealth of valuable experiences and institutional memory in this regard, since unfortunately a significant part of the national territory is vulnerable to natural phenomena such as earthquakes and hurricanes, some of which have caused loss of human life (the main damage, always) and considerable material damage.
This has required an increasingly effective and coordinated response from all the institutions of the State and society, which, as a whole, have resiliently and admirably rebuilt the social fabric and economic life in all the territories where the forces of nature have unleashed their force. But it is not a problem exclusive to some countries. In fact, in 2023, thunderstorms were the phenomenon that caused the most damage globally, with an estimate of one hundred billion dollars in total, and with a clear red flag that climate change is a palpable reality and its mitigation an urgent need.
However, in these scenarios, the highest auditing entities have a responsibility that cannot be stopped, and must even be redoubled, since, also unfortunately, the emergency actions required to overcome the crisis increase the spaces for discretion, vulnerability and potential irregular management of public resources. Always within the framework of the powers of the SAIs, and in accordance with the legal framework of each country, exceptional situations change, but in no way do they annul the duty to ensure the efficient and legal use of people’s money. Public auditing action, also in these cases, must be corrective, but without leaving aside the preventive aspect, which is the most impactful in the permanent improvement of public institutions to reach a point of equilibrium of high performance and democratic governance. We celebrate the successful results of the Joint OLACEFS-EUROSAI Conference, and from the Supreme Audit Office of the Federation, we will continue to be active in the development of increasingly better instruments for auditing, and in assisting in the development of transversal public policies that ultimately result in the continuous and permanent development of our auditing work.
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He has held various professional and academic positions, including: Head of the Regional Coordination and Institutional Relations Unit of the Federal Authority for the Development of Special Economic Zones, Internal Comptroller, Federal Court of Fiscal and Administrative Justice, Special Auditor of Federalized Spending, in the Superior Audit Office of the Federation, Head of the Coordination Unit with Federative Entities (of the SHCP), Member of the Governing Board of the SAT, General Coordinator of the work of the National Tax Convention held in 2004 representing the Ministry of Finance, Secretary of Finance of Oaxaca, President of the National College of Economists, Professor of Economic Policy, Public Sector Economics and State Finance at the Faculty of Economics of the UNAM, since 1978. Due to his outstanding experience as a public servant, as well as in the academic field, the Superior Auditor has various publications, among which are: Equity and fiscal effort, the Mexican experience (2006) Citizen participation and social control (1994) Fiscal federalism in Mexico 1989-1994 (1994) Social and economic factors of corruption (1993).
Since 1979 he has collaborated with various local and national print media. Currently, he participates with opinion columns in important media such as El Financiero and the weekly Eje Central.
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