If Sedena uses the Pegasus program, the contract must be disclosed: AMLO

Emir Olivares and Nestor Jimenez

Newspaper La Jornada
Thursday, October 6, 2022, p. 5

In case there is a contract from the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) to acquire the service of the program pegasus in 2019 it must be disseminated, indicated President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Let it be known, there must be absolutely nothing hidden, nothing bad, let everything be deliveredresponded yesterday, to questions about allegations of alleged espionage by the military institution against journalists and activists.

He reiterated that his government does not engage in espionage. First, out of conviction, out of principle, we don’t spy on anyone. And second, what’s the point of spying on them if they’re predictable?

On Tuesday night, following the response that the chief executive had given hours before on the subject in the morning conference, Sedena released a statement in which he affirms that he used pegasus between June 27, 2011 and August 24, 2013 to maintain the security and operational capacity of the Army. The Defense denied that he had carried out espionage.

The indications of possible military surveillance allude to the acquisition of the program for use from June 1 to 30, 2019, during the current federal administration, but in the statement the agency only referred to the 2011-2013 period.

Right to dissent guaranteed

Based on this information, López Obrador sued that they deliver everything. We do not do anything unfair, we are not authoritarian. Imagine the party all these conservatives or conservative spokesmen would throw if they found proof of the President giving instructions to go after someone. Or worse, that someone is censored or that someone is protected or helped. Neither torture nor repression nor persecution for anyone. Right to dissent guaranteed to all.

The president added that it would be interesting to know the identity of those who perpetrated the hack to Sedena, “not to judge them, but just to find out if they are the same, because we suffered. Before the campaign there was a system of espionage against us called PejeLeaksand they were the same (opposers), those who complain that (now) they are being spied on”.

He emphasized that there is nothing to be ashamed of what was done during his administration, despite the intention of certain sectors to make a scandal trying to undermine the government.

He alluded to civil and multilateral organizations co-opted by world conservatism. In the case of Article 19 he considered: It is supposed to defend journalists, (and it is) totally against us, without any objectivity.

He also regretted that the European Parliament had nominated the President of Ukraine, Volodymir Zelensky, for the Nobel Peace Prize, since, he remarked, he is one of the two actors in the war. What, there are no others who fight for peace? Why not Pope Francis or the UN Secretary General himself? And there must be many, many more. Ah, but it is those organizations that have dedicated themselves to questioning us. And the OAS and the UN itself in human rights.