new gov't scandal

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2013/04/30/mexicos-government-hit-by-new-scandal-over-restaurant-seating/

She is now referred to as Lady Profeco in the Mexican press.

lol Rightfully so.

This saga even hit The New York Times....

MEXICO CITY — Andrea Benítez simply did what many rich, connected Mexicans have always done: she used her influence to step on the lower born. Witnesses said that when she was not given the table she wanted on Friday at Maximo Bistrot, a popular Mexico City restaurant, she called in inspectors who worked for her father at the country’s main consumer protection agency to shut it down.

“Dreadful service,” she wrote on Twitter, before announcing she had arrived at the agency to complain. “They have no manners.”

What followed, however, caught much of Mexico by surprise. Instead of enjoying the perks of privilege, Ms. Benítez and her father have become the targets of a broad and swift social media campaign — with tens of thousands of Tweets condemning them — that led the president’s office on Monday to announce a formal investigation into allegations of abuse of power.

This kind of response, it must be said, is exceedingly rare in Mexico. Murders are routinely ignored by the authorities here, and increasingly by senior officials who would prefer to discuss other topics. But the food at Maximo Bistrot apparently has the capacity to ignite public rage and government action like little else.

To many of its fans, the restaurant is the Chez Panisse of Mexico City, a gastro-paradise of fresh ingredients delivered with innovation for (relatively) affordable prices, in a simple dining room often populated by stars, from Mexican actors to visiting luminaries like Patti Smith. It is one of many new restaurants here that have sought to reinvent Mexican cuisine, taking advantage of both a booming economy and the fact that food is an economic exception — one of the only industries where Mexico’s monopolistic tendencies do not hold sway.

Many of the restaurant’s regular patrons said the young Ms. Benítez clearly miscalculated by assuming that all the smartphone owners at dinner would let her get away with such behavior.

“It’s such blatant corruption that’s right in our faces,” said Max St. Romain, 42, a filmmaker who saw the inspectors slap an enormous “suspension of activities” sticker on Maximo Bistrot on Friday night. “It’s a connection to the corruption that ruled Mexico for decades — the fact that a child of someone in power can use it just on a whim, on a tantrum.”

Twitter users immediately gave Ms. Benítez a hashtag: #LadyProfeco. Profeco is the abbreviated version of the office that her father directs, and “Lady” referred back to another recent incident labeled #LadiesDePolanco — when some drunken young women in the posh neighborhood of Polanco were caught on video berating police officers for being “salary men.”

As of Sunday evening, Twitter had logged around 42,000 messages referring to #LadyProfeco in every manner of vulgar insult.....

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/world/americas/restaurant-patrons-behavior-is-panned.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=1&

Great article, thanks, and so nailed it. So what will happen now? Will the restaurant be able to reopen?

maybe I'm gett'n sensative or sumthin... but I didn't like the writing or think much of the story.... **************************************************

" Known for their appetite for corruption, the latest scandal to hit the Mexican government all started when a socialite could not get the VIP treatment. "

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Nice.... you'de almost think the Mexican Government stands out amongst governments because they're corrupt.
A Gossip Rag about a Spoiled Kid ( if in fact, she was the one who iniated the complaint )
Sounds like Benitez Trevino & President Enrique Pena Nieto both acted appropriately in the matter.
Not bad in this corrupt enviorement!!
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hockables wrote:[color=blue]maybe I'm gett'n sensative or sumthin... but I didn't like the writing or think much of the story.

Or maybe you just don't know how tired of this shit Mexicans are.

I doubt my Gardener, Housekeeper, or the Guys Here Painting The Place have even heard the story...
I also doubt they give a shit about an Eating Establishment they likely would never have eat'n in.

Yes there are Rich Folk and Poor Folk.... this Bullshit Story with someone generalizing the Government and or Rich Folk as corrupt is intended to play to the masses.... yes

Still just a Gossip Rag... and hardly a Government Scandal

hockables wrote:[color=blue]maybe I'm gett'n sensative or sumthin... but I didn't like the writing or think much of the story....

Well at least she didn't have to sit at the same table as pedro eating Menudo.

arbon wrote:

hockables wrote:[color=blue]maybe I'm gett'n sensative or sumthin... but I didn't like the writing or think much of the story....

Well at least she didn't have to sit at the same table as pedro eating Menudo.

are you certain about that?

The naivete of Lakeside expats who get their info on Mexico from their gardeners, maids and waiters never ceases to amaze me.

Hell, I'd eat good Menudo with anyone, even Pedro.

uj

viajero wrote:The naivete of Lakeside expats who get their info on Mexico from their gardeners, maids and waiters never ceases to amaze me.

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viajero wrote:The naivete of Lakeside expats who get their info on Mexico from their gardeners, maids and waiters never ceases to amaze me.

you don't really get what hockyerballs said do ya viajero.? he dint say what youse berate him for.

Uncle Jack wrote:Hell, I'd eat good Menudo with anyone, even Pedro.

uj

Now that the PRI is back in Jack, eating with pedro in Chapala would be VIP treatment.

actually chapala is PAN. i worked with chuy's PAN and gerardo's PRI, but am retired now. PRI is fed and state. so jack would have to come to Gaudalajara to hobknob with me and my buds, or for jack,i would have them come down here. one of them owns 10% of that fancy spa above the delightful e-raq in san juan cosala. unfortunately they don't serve menudo there.

Hell, I'd eat good Menudo with anyone, even Pedro.

uj

I had two plates of menudo and a bunch of moronga tacos yesterday. Nothing is better than that. I'm betting that princesa would turn her nose up at it unless it was mil pesos on the menu.

viajero wrote:The naivete of Lakeside expats who get their info on Mexico from their gardeners, maids and waiters never ceases to amaze me.

Hulkable didn't realise the restaurant was closed down, and rich people were starving.

I hope Maximo Bistrot will be open for my birthday next month as have a reservation..Guess I better check...