Mexican woman wins $22,000 for useless red tape

A Mexican woman who needs to collect seven signatures every two weeks to obtain medicine for her sick son won a government competition Thursday for the most useless bureaucratic procedure.

Cecilia Velazquez received a check for 300,000 pesos ($22,000) from President Felipe Calderon after winning the competition to identify the worst red tape in the notoriously bureaucratic country.

Velazquez's son has a genetic condition and she needs to visit social security services every two weeks to collect his medicine.

"The process takes at least four days each time, from delivering the prescription to administering the medicine," Velazquez said.

The competition, overseen by the public services ministry, gathered 20,000 entries from frustrated citizens.

"She's a working mother who has a sick son and I know, as a father, that we will give anything for the health and life of our children," Calderon said as he presented the prize.