Dismantling of Mexicos transparency institute prompts concerns over freedom of information [Video]

When investigative journalists in Mexico probed the purchase of a mansion by the country’s then first lady, Angélica Rivera, from a government contractor more than a decade ago, they had a pressing question: Why was the private property being protected by presidential security?

The journalists filed access-to-information requests with the Estado Mayor Presidencial, the military unit responsible for the mansion’s security. But it didn’t immediately respond, prompting intervention from Mexico’s transparency institute. The Estado Mayor Presidencial eventually complied, citing regulations that it had to protect the president in private and public places.

The scandal, known as the Casa Blanca – or White House – is but one of the hundreds of imbroglios revealed through public information requests facilitated by the National Transparency, Access to Information, and Personal Data Protection Institute (INAI) since its founding in 2002.

The 2014 scandal stuck to then-president Enrique Peña Nieto, along with Ms. Rivera, tanking …