AMLO offers to resign if they present “proof” of pact with organized crime

Emir Olivares and Nestor Jimenez

Newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, November 2, 2022, p. fifteen

In a new challenge that includes his permanence in the Presidency of the Republic, Andrés Manuel López Obrador called on those who affirm that he has alleged ties to organized crime to present a single piece of evidence and offered his resignation if that happens.

If there is proof of an agreement, if they present proof, I resign from the Presidency, because what I consider most important in my life is my honestyhe pointed out yesterday in his usual conference at the National Palace when asked about the criticism he has received on this subject.

He said his opponents they are obfuscated and they use any pretext to attack him, such as his visits to Badiraguato, Sinaloa, where on some occasion, in March 2020, he greeted Consuelo Loera, mother of former leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán, who is imprisoned in the United States for drug trafficking. He assured that, if he came across her again, he would greet her again.

“They maintain that if I go to Badiraguato it is because I have an agreement with the Sinaloa cartel. One test, one! With that (I will resign). ‘Oh, he greeted the lady, the mother!’ On one of my visits the lady came and I greeted her, and she would do it again, because I respect older people, I respect anyone and I have a clear conscience, “explained the president.

He added that without the electoral fraud of 2006, when Felipe Calderón became President, Mexico it would be much better and many tragedies would have been avoided, since the PAN member unleashed the war against drug trafficking just to legitimize himself.

Stupid blow to the hornet’s nest

– Do you consider that you arrived late to the Presidency of the Republic?

-No, I did not arrive earlier because of the electoral fraud. And yes, we would have avoided many tragedies and the country would not be like this, it would be much, much better. Imagine the damage caused by Calderón’s war, which foolishly hit the hornet’s nest with a club, just to seek legitimacy, to look good with our neighbors (the United States). Because (Carlos) Salinas did that too after the fraud (in 1988), because when they don’t find legitimacy here they go abroad to look for legitimacy, and now it’s even fashionable for them to go live abroad.

López Obrador denied having pacts both with organized crime and with power groups in the country or promoting policies that favor those sectors.

What are those actions? I have not granted any concession to bankers nor have I granted any concession to miners. I have defended oil, I have defended the electricity industry. Nothing, it’s just a story, it’s the way to justify themselves and they had even taken a long time because one already knows who is who.

He assured that in the country there are intellectuals accommodating, pretenders, softies, who play a supporting role to the oligarchy, are accomplices.