Lawmakers fight off claims of massive spike in senators' travel expenses amid sinking ratings

Mexican Senators' travel expenses have decreased by 3.3% so far in 2016 compared to 2015, which totaled 17.1 million pesos in that year, according to a press statement released by Mexico's senate after allegations of a massive spike in these expenses were made public a few days ago.

According to the statement, “Roberto Figueroa, the general minister for the Senate's Administrative Services, rejects recent claims of a 325% increase in travel expenses by senators.

During a meeting at the National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data, the Senator Martha Tagle told attendees that travel expenses in the upper house of Mexico's congress had increased by 325%.

Without directly naming Tagle, the Senate denied these claims and stressed that “the opposite is actually true, since per diem and air travel expenses this year have decreased by 3.3% compared to 2015.”

The press statement goes on to say that “we've managed to cut travel expenses despite a weaker currency, which has had a big impact on these types of expenses.”

Until official figures are released at the end of the year, we won't know which lawmakers are telling the truth. What we do know is that for the time being congress' approval ratings in Mexico continue to fall and citizens' trust in the federal government continues to be at historically low levels.