The privileged of Morena

In Mexico, political scandals usually come wrapped in justifications. Instead of precise clarifications, lies, intentional omissions and defensive speeches abound that accuse the conservative enemy and media lynching of their misfortune.

Without leaving behind the political protection he provided to Hernán Bermúdez – leader of the criminal group La Barredora and secretary of security of Tabasco, at the same time -, Adán Augusto López adds a new scandal, now related to millionaire income and tax favors.

Journalistic investigations reveal that the former Secretary of the Interior received more than 79 million pesos from private companies, under the concept of professional services; that the companies that used their services had obtained public contracts in a suspicious manner and were even identified as ghost companies; and that the millionaire income was not recorded in their 2023 and 2024 asset declarations.

The matter worsened when it became known that the senator only paid 1.9 million, instead of 26 million pesos, for Income Tax (ISR). For millions of taxpayers who see how the SAT demands every invoice, every receipt and every penny, the contrast is outrageous.

Instead of offering a clear explanation, López Hernández responded with the usual script and said he was the victim of a campaign of attacks from the conservative right. The issue is not ideological, but one of legality, consistency and responsibility before citizens.

This year alone, Angela Rayner, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, left office after it was discovered that she paid less property tax on the purchase of her second home. Cecilia Cairo, who was the housing minister in Uruguay, resigned after it became public that she lived in a house she owned, for which she did not pay taxes.

In both cases, there were no smear campaigns or victims of conspiracies: the fact of having failed public trust was enough for them to present their resignations.

That’s the point. In consolidated democracies, public ethics is not an accessory, it is a standard. And officials understand that losing the trust of citizens is enough to leave office.

In Mexico, on the other hand, those accused entrench themselves and turn accountability into a partisan battle.

Adán Augusto López Hernández is not a minor politician. He was a federal deputy, senator, governor of Tabasco and number two in the Government of Mexico during the six-year term of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. (Without vibrating that he wanted to be president). Today he is a senator with real influence in public life.

The underlying problem is the same as always: while the SAT requires punctuality and severity from ordinary taxpayers, the politicians closest to power are allowed to skirt the law with unconvincing explanations. This double standard erodes trust in institutions and fuels citizen cynicism.

The credibility of a government that promised to be different cannot be sustained on the same old privileges. In this case, more than a matter of fiscal technicalities, public trust is at stake. And that, once broken, is difficult to recover.

Therefore, its omission is not a technicality or a bureaucratic misunderstanding: it is a blow to the credibility of the Fourth Transformation, a project that promised to break with old practices of opacity and privilege. It seems they are still playing simulation.