Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto, has been accused of plagiarizing his undergraduate law thesis. Carmen Aristegui, a Mexican journalist who has followed and investigated Peña Nieto’s presidency, first reported the scandal.
Aristegui’s investigative article says her investigative crew had access to the president’s thesis and with help of specialists they discovered that Mexico’s president had allegedly used the work of other people without a correct citation.
The report of Aristegui says that from the 682 paragraphs written in Peña Nieto’s thesis at least 197 of them were plagiarized meaning that 28.8 percent of his content was stolen from other authors including historian Enrique Krauze.
His thesis was presented in 1991 when he wanted to obtain a law degree from Panamerican University.
The investigative article on Aristegui’s website says that Peña Nieto used work of Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado, a former Mexican president, without citing him or making any kind of reference in his bibliography.
Peña Nieto is also accused of using words without correct attribution of at least 10 other people, including a current member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and former electoral magistrate.
In addition, Nieto is also accused of having 51 incorrect citations in his thesis.
A copy of the thesis can be found at Panamerican University, which has at least three printed copies of the work he presented, the Central Library of UNAM has another copy in microfilm format.
No comments from Peña Nieto’s government have been released.
Rene Delgadillo may be reached at [email protected].
