Madrid/Cuba is once again involved in possible irregularities committed by the Mexican Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024). The former director of the National Commission of Physical Culture and Sports (Conade) Ana Gabriela Guevara accumulates several complaints from the Administration itself, which cannot balance the accounts. The Superior Audit of the Federation has already presented three complaints to the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic after finding unjustified payments, undocumented purchases and direct hiring without support. Among those involved is the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder).
The finding belongs to the third (and most recent) complaint, presented for discrepancies in the 2019 audit. That year, Conade hired 29 Cuban coaches to train Mexican athletes, but it has not been proven that the regulations were complied with, since it was signed by the organization’s deputy director of quality for sport, who did not have the authority to do so. Besides, according to TV Azteca –which has focused on this point–, the signed agreement did not go through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for authorization and the date on which the Island’s coaches arrived in the country could not be accredited either.
Conade hired 29 Cuban coaches to train Mexican athletes, but it has not been proven that the regulations were complied with
The audit indicates that no documents were provided regarding their stay in the country nor a report on their possible suitability or the activities carried out. Nor has evidence been found that the 1,200 anti-doping tests that were included in the agreement with Inder and that had to be carried out in a Cuban laboratory were carried out. Payments worth 15 million pesos (more than 815,000 dollars at the current exchange rate) were found to the Cuban Embassy in Mexico, which were made through five bank transfers. According to TV Azteca, the Audit considers that these events caused damage to the public treasury if it cannot be proven during the investigation, which is already underway.
The audit relating to 2019, in which this information appears, has prompted the third complaint for alleged commission charges and contract simulations against several Conade officials. The amount not justified in that exercise amounts to 60 million pesos (about 3.2 million dollars currently), but there are two more complaints which in total already reach 524 million pesos (28.5 million dollars) between that year and 2022.
The complaint is based on testimonies that reveal the collection of bribes and commissions to manipulate bids and award contracts to companies that did not have the technical or material capacity to provide the services. Among the most notorious cases is the contracting of a food service for 17 million pesos in which the representatives of the winning company revealed that they had paid to secure the tender, a 15% commission demanded by officials on the total amount billed and an increase in the rate so that the final price – and therefore the commissions – were higher than expected.
The collaboration agreement and program of sports cooperation activities between Mexico and Cuba was signed in 2012 and led to the sending of a multitude of Cuban coaches to the North American country during the mandate of Enrique Peña Nieto.
Before devoting herself to politics, Ana Guevara was an elite athlete. She was world champion in athletics in 2003 and Olympic silver medalist in Athens 2004 for the 400 meter dash. Her work as director of Conade, which lasted between 2018 and 2024, has been punctuated by various controversies, although the most serious has been being involved in this possible case of corruption.
Last June, President Claudia Sheinbaum denied that there was an investigation into the former director. “What there is, as always, is that when there is a new year, the audits of previous years are decided, both by the Superior Audit of the Federation and, where appropriate, by the Secretariat that today is called Anti-Corruption and Good Government. Then the audits are carried out. If observations are found, the head or heads of the entities have time to respond to those observations,” he said.
The collaboration agreement and program of sports cooperation activities between Mexico and Cuba was signed in 2012 and led to the sending of multitude of Cuban coaches to the North American country during the mandate of Enrique Peña Nieto. What is currently in question is the so-called “supplement” to that contract, signed under the direction of Guevara, during the Presidency of López Obrador, who is close to the Cuban regime.
