Enrique Méndez and Fernando Camacho
La Jornada Newspaper
Sunday, January 11, 2026, p. 8
The Superior Audit of the Federation (ASF) has primary relevance in the review of public spending, but still presents a series of “relevant failures”, as demonstrated by the fact that only in the first delivery of reports on the 2024 public account, more than 660 million pesos were reported without clarification, which is related to weaknesses in the existing controls, defines Morena’s vice coordinator in the Chamber of Deputies, Alfonso Ramírez Cuéllar.
Before the start of the ownership change process in the ASF, the legislator insisted on resuming some initiatives that he has presented to strengthen the public spending review process.
In an analysis document, the legislator pointed out that “the recurrence of million-dollar observations year after year underlines the need to streamline review procedures and strengthen corrective and sanctioning mechanisms, in order to avoid impunity.”
According to Ramírez Cuéllar, one of the “structural weaknesses” of the ASF is the “late delivery of results” of its audits to the Chamber, since the inspection process is “excessively slow,” which delays the timely correction of irregularities, to the point that almost two years pass from the beginning of a fiscal year to the presentation of the results report.
Another weakness identified by the Morenoist deputy is the reelection of the heads of the ASF, which could extend their position up to 16 years, which “can encourage the concentration of power and the perpetuation of personal or political interests in the institution, compromising its independence.”
Ramírez Cuéllar recalled that in September 2025 he presented a package of constitutional and legal reform initiatives to make the oversight process more democratic, transparent and effective. In the ASF “there is structural degradation that must be faced with radical reform,” he pointed out.
Next call
In the third week of this month, the ASF Surveillance Commission of the Chamber of Deputies will launch the call to elect the head of that supervisory entity, in a process that must conclude no later than March. Among the names circulating in the ASF as probable candidates is that of its current holder, David Colmenares, who came to the position in 2018 and, if reelected, would hold it until 2034. However, among the legislators themselves, there is comment on the political wear and tear he faces due to the “accumulation of unresolved files” and complaints for alleged diversion of funds that have not been followed up.
Given this, the possibility opens up for current ASF collaborators Ivonne Henestrosa and Jaime Bolaños, uncle of Raúl Bolaños Cacho, PVEM deputy, to compete for the position. Also Emilio Barriga Delgado, who was a special auditor of Federalized Expenditure, as well as an official and treasurer of the capital government, before Morena’s arrival to the federal government.
According to inquiries made by this newspaper, Alfonso Damián Peralta, brother of Esthela Damián, current legal advisor to the Presidency, could run; even Arely Gómez, former head of the now defunct Secretariat of Public Function, in the six-year term of Enrique Peña Nieto.
In the ranks of the opposition, the former ASF Financial Compliance auditor Gonzalo Lozano Dubernard, critical of the management of Colmenares and the current government, and the former PAN deputy María Elena Pérez-Jaén Zermeño are mentioned. Also mentioned is Muna Dora Buchahin, former director of Forensic Audit of the ASF, who was dismissed without explanation by Colmenares in 2018 after pointing out various anomalies in the work of the current auditor.
