Despite having several criminal complaints and labor lawsuits for mismanagement of resources, Victor Flores Morales, the questioned leader of the railroad industry, is seeking re-election for the fifth time next Sunday.
The power that the Veracruz native has held has been maintained since he became general secretary of the Union of Railway Workers of the Mexican Republic (STFRM) in 1995, a time in which he has seen six Presidents of the Republic pass by.
The list of crimes against him includes extortion, fraud, threats, qualified tax fraud, intimidation, embezzlement, illicit enrichment, breach of trust and equivalent breach of trust. But now, the private accountant is also wanted by the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) for the crime of fraud against 38 thousand retired colleagues, since in 2011 he took their names without their consent and obtained more than 2 million pesos monthly.
The case was referred to the First Court of Federal Criminal Proceedings based in the Reclusorio Norte, based on file PGR/DF/SPE-XX/6145/11-12.
The arrest warrant was requested by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office in charge of Eusebia Guerrero Sánchez in letter 195/2024, dated August 15, of which Grupo REFORMA has a copy. Until the beginning of the 4T, with the death of some 13 thousand veteran railroad workers, Flores Morales still received 1.4 million pesos a month in fees from retirees, who had no relationship with the STFRM. “It is an unprecedented decision by the FGR, after in other years the MPF served as Flores’ lawyer, we are one step away from justice being done to us and everything will depend on the judge of the case,” said one of the dissatisfied retirees. Flores has other pending processes of retirees, such as the exploitation of sports centers, diversion of resources for housing and the “disappearance” of several million pesos from two trusts created to guarantee the payment of pensions and life insurance, among other allegations. The retirees stated in the complaint that since 2011 they were included, without their consent, in the union registry, for which they currently pay a monthly fee of 53 pesos. Until 2017, the Administration and Disposal of Assets Service (SAE) – liquidator of Ferronales since 2010 – counted 27,762 retirees from whom the union fee is illegally deducted. However, the former workers won the direct amparo trial 1200/2014, which makes it clear that there is no link between the retirees and the union led by Flores Morales. Since 2011 the PGR, now FGR, had given up on bringing it before a judge.
Turbulent history
Controversial for spending money on bullfighters, hostesses and union events, he began his career in 1975 as a representative of section 28 of the STFRM, and was also President of the PRI Municipal Workers Sector of Veracruz.
It was not until 1995 that he took over the leadership of the union. He was also president of the Labor Congress from 2004 to 2006, a period in which that organization fractured because the railroad leader tried to extend his mandate. In November 2006, Flores left the leadership of the CT to Enrique Aguilar Borrego, then a bank leader. He was reelected in August 2018 as national leader for the period 2018-2024. His union life has been linked to the PRI, where he has been a political advisor for Veracruz, twice a plurinominal federal deputy for the same state and an alternate senator. His union career is also linked to corruption, as he is accused of looting the retirement trust fund during the privatization process of FNM between 1995 and 1996, the fictitious sale of Infonavit houses in Azcapotzalco and Tlalnepantla in 2001, and fraud against pensioners in Empalme, Sonora, in 2006. In 2018, retirees claimed that they were threatened for sharing with the press that he robbed them of at least 1.4 million pesos a month for the collection of fees, without having any relation to the union. Next Sunday, the rail workers of 39 sections will go to the polls to elect their new leader.
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