Politics: Attorney General’s Office, top prosecutor bogged down in scandals, mutual attacks

MEXICO - Report 28 Mar 2022 by Guillermo Valdes and Francisco González

The public spotlight continues to be focused on Mexico’s top prosecutor, Alejandro Gertz Manero, but the implications and fallout from his shenanigans are also affecting President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his inner circle. Gertz remains mired in legal scandals related to his attempt to use his position to pressure the Supreme Court to rule in his favor in a family matter. The Federal Attorney General’s personal conflicts have turned into legal disputes, including with former Presidential Legal Advisor Julio Scherer. They also raise questions about the proper functioning and autonomy of the Federal Attorney General’s Office. Will AMLO keep Gertz as head of the FGR, and at what cost?

Meanwhile, this past week Scherer went public with his discrepancies and conflicts with Gertz and former Interior Minister and current Senate President Olga Sánchez Cordero. Scherer himself is accused of extortion and he, in turn, charges Gertz and Sánchez Cordero with offering suspects in other cases plea bargaining deals in exchange for implicating him.

Meanwhile, differences are increasingly out in the open in AMLO’s inner circle. Indeed, Gertz, Scherer and Sánchez Cordero are no minor players in the 4T. Furthermore, in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential elections, the decision about who will be Morena’s standard bearer is already sparking frictions between still undeclared frontrunners Minister of Foreign Relations Marcelo Ebrard and Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum. In addition, there are open conflicts between Morena radicals and Party President Mario Delgado, as well as with Senate Majority Leader Ricardo Monreal.

AMLO has attempted to ignore or minimize all these disputes, but the cases of Gertz, Scherer, and Sánchez Cordero raise questions regarding the President’s anti-corruption crusade, a centerpiece of his ideology, program, and public discourse. Lopez Obrador’s hands-off approach, including in reference to Morena, also creates conditions conducive to internal disputes and new conflicts. The scenario promises to become increasingly complicated as time goes on.

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