In a country such as ours where citizens face daily struggles with poverty, unemployment, corruption, hunger, sickness, and not to mention a violent drug war adding kidnapping, execution, and extortion to an already twisted mix, Mexico City’s Mayor, Marcelo Ebrard, has implemented a new social program offering free viagra in efforts to lift the spirits of our capital’s poor elderly, aged sixty or above, male citizens.

In announcing the erectile dysfunction program in November, Mr. Ebrard, 49, portrayed it as a way of bringing smiles to the faces of those who have reached the tercera edad, or third age, as Mexicans call the golden years.

“Everyone has the right to be happy,” the mayor said, noting that many of the poorest elderly people do not qualify for employer-based health plans and have been abandoned by their families. “They don’t have medical services, and a society that doesn’t care for its senior citizens has no dignity.”
-AP

Many feel Mayor Ebard’s heartfelt concern for poverty stricken men over sixty’s sexual fullfillment is just another ploy to prepromote himself and his leftist political party, Party of Democratic Revolution, for the 2012 Presidential elections.

One of Mayor Ebrard’s rivals for the presidency, Fidel Herrera, the governor of Veracruz State from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, dismissed the Viagra handouts as outrageous ridiculous.

“What’s the point of encouraging old people to have sex?” There’s such a thing as nature. You can’t play God.”-
Fidel Herrera, PRI, Governor of Veracruz

To date, there have been no reports of thousands of poor Mexican men, over the age of sixty, beating down the government’s health center doors in mass chaos for the free Viagra, Levitra or Cialis, which are the three magical, erection inducing, happy tablets being offered by the Mayor. Fewer than 100 inquiries have been made at health clinics and only about a dozen or so men whose erectile dysfunction has been diagnosed have begun the process to recieve pills. They reportedly range in age from their early 60s to 82 and were first submitted to an in-depth health exam and lectures on sexually transmitted diseases.

Still, the program has managed to provoke a spirited debate on a topic that was considered taboo before: sex among senior citizens.

“Nobody pays attention to us. Those children who care for their parents only worry about giving them food and changing their clothes, as if we were children. They forget that we feel many things, even sexual things. We’re not made of wood.”-
Bernarda Valenzuela, widow, aged 77.

“There’s other things more important. Everyone wants sex, no matter the age, but the government ought to be paying for medicines to keep people alive, not this.”- Pepe Castro, barber, aged 65

I am, personally, in agreeance that we all deserve happiness, especially our elders after a lifetime of hardwork, I’m just not sure if offering an 82 year old, poverty stricken man a free erection instead of a hotmeal, adequate home, and vital prevenative healthcare is the answer.

Half of all Mexican men over the age of 40 are estimated to experience difficulties achieving erections, but the subject has not been one that many men have felt comfortable talking about before. Getting men into public clinics with the promise of free erectile medicine, could also help them get treatment for other related health problems, like diabetes, hypertension, obesity and depression. This is a true public health problem.
-Dr. Irán Roldán, geriatrics specialist, Mexico City Department of Public Health.