Comics Punish Mexico's Scofflaws with Humiliation Azam Ahmed and Paulina Villegas - The New York Times
go to original March 4, 2016

Arturo Hernández, left, and Alex Marin y Kall of the Supercívicos, an activist group of comedians whose mission is to embarrass the bad actors of Mexican society with punishing humor. (Adriana Zehbrauskas/The New York Times)

Acting on a tip from a disgruntled neighbor, two comedians dressed as drag queens confronted parking officers in broad daylight.

The pair wanted to know why the officers, who so ruthlessly enforced parking limits, had never so much as given a warning to the local fruit salesman, whose battered Ford Explorer sat illegally parked all day, every day, in the upper-class neighborhood of Polanco.

“So apparently, this car is protected by the god of fruits,” yelled Arturo Hernández, the founder of the Supercívicos, an activist group of comedians whose mission is to embarrass the bad actors of Mexican society with punishing humor. “My, what healthy corruption we have going on here,” he said.

...Bad behavior in Mexico, like many places, often goes unpunished. In the most serious example of this, some estimate that 98 percent of killings here go unsolved. More minor infractions — like illegal parking, refusing to throw out garbage and public nuisances — are typically endured with an admirable resolve.

But a group of Mexicans is embracing a new way of enforcing the fragile rule of law: public shaming.

Epitomized by the Supercívicos, an assortment of urban dwellers, activists and even government officials have taken up the habit of embarrassing illegal parkers, corrupt police officers and bad neighbors who often get away with misbehavior.

Read the rest at The New York Times

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