“Due to the will of a president who does not like checks and balances, much less accountability, the institutions of Mexican democracy have been devalued.”
Maria Amparo Casar, 04.24.2024
Mexico City.- A president who calls himself a liberal and a humanist has launched a new attack with the full force of the State against a non-governmental organization and the woman who heads it. The crime of Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, AC (MCCI) has been to carry out investigations that have revealed acts of corruption in the governments of López Obrador and Peña Nieto; that of María Amparo Casar, to not bow down to an authoritarian president who says that in Mexico there is no more corruption without any proof other than a white handkerchief.
López Obrador once again sent Pablo Gómez to do his dirty work. The head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) disclosed private information of people and companies, violating the right to privacy. Not only did he illegally present private information, which the UIF collects with the supposed purpose of fighting crime and not intimidating citizens or legal entities, but he was wrong or lied in several statements.
Gómez said, for example, that Claudio X. González Guajardo is MCCI’s “legal representative,” but he stopped participating in the organization in June 2020; MCCI’s president and representative is María Amparo Casar, whom the president has also tried to destroy with personal attacks. He also stated that “the US embassy” has made contributions to MCCI. The head of the UIF should know that “the embassy” does not make contributions; in any case, these come from US government institutions, such as the United States Agency for International Development, which among other mandates has the task of promoting democracy and protecting human rights.
Gómez said that during this six-year term MCCI received 96 million pesos from the United States government and 299 million from Mexican companies and individuals; he never explained, however, why the UIF investigated a civil association that has not been accused of any crime.
If President López Obrador were really interested in fighting corruption, he should applaud and support the work of MCCI. Government institutions dedicated to this task, such as the Secretariat of Public Administration and the Superior Audit Office of the Federation, cost taxpayers more than 10 billion pesos a year (IMCO) without having managed to uncover important cases of corruption. MCCI, on the other hand, has found one after another, including the two largest in recent times, the Estafa Maestra during the Peña Nieto administration and Segalmex with AMLO. None of its cases have been disproven with evidence.
The fury of the attacks against MCCI and Casar underlines the fact that AMLO is not interested in fighting corruption. He has used the MCCI investigations to take revenge on Rosario Robles in the Estafa Maestra case and to take measures against some lower-level Segalmex officials, but without ceasing to protect his friend Ignacio Ovalle, who was the general director. Now he has announced that the tax deductions of donations to MCCI will be reviewed. The SRE will present a protest note to Washington for the contributions to MCCI. The publication of the names of the donors seeks to scare the companies that have supported the institution. The president also wants to restrict funding to civil organizations, as dictatorships do.
López Obrador used the banner of fighting corruption to come to power, but his current intention is to protect the corrupt. That is why he is so furious against the organization that has had the most success in revealing cases of corruption.
Chairwoman
Claudia Sheibaum won the presidential election by an overwhelming margin; there is no doubt that she should have been declared president-elect. The Electoral Tribunal, however, should have pointed out the government’s violations of the rules of fairness in the election, as it did in 2006.
www.sergiosarmiento.com
#Protecting #corrupt
