The opponent explained that he will leave Mexico and take refuge in the United States, where he will take the opportunity to have events with the Mexican migrant community living in that country.
Will AMLO follow in Nicaragua’s footsteps? A few months ago, the question would have seemed idle and in bad faith, after all the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has not acted with the authoritarianism that characterizes the Nicaraguan regime led by Daniel Ortega and internationally condemned for its growing persecution of the opposition leaderships, whom he imprisons under very little credible pretexts.
Curiously, one of the few governments on the American continent that has not denounced the dictatorial practices of the Daniel Ortega regime is … surprise … the López Obrador government, and now it is clearer why.
The answer to the mystery is that, apparently, AMLO will (probably) follow in the footsteps of his Nicaraguan colleague, persecuting his political rivals and imprisoning those who could become opposition candidates in the next presidential elections in 2024.
Anaya launches the warning voice
On August 21, Ricardo Anaya (from the right-wing PAN center), who came in second place in the 2018 presidential elections and leads all the polls to repeat as a candidate for the opposition alliance in 2024, directly accused López Obrador of manipulating files to incarcerate him and prevent him from reaching the ballot.
In a video of almost 8 minutes, Anaya explained, in his own words, that López Obrador “wants to put him in jail, with the testimony of two Balinese witnesses”, that is, false, that the government would use to support the accusations of corruption that the political operator Emilio Lozoya has launched against the PAN, who adds: “López Obrador wants to screw me up badly. I get in the way of his succession plans in 2024. He doesn’t want me to be a candidate and he wants to imprison me because he doesn’t like what I say ”.
That first part of his statement may sound like the classic political strategy of victimizing himself to increase his popularity, but Anaya goes beyond the generic comment and makes very specific accusations against the Attorney General’s Office.
Once again, in her own words, Anaya explains that “they realized that the file, like everything this government does, was made with their legs, and that they were going to make a fool of themselves.” So, “in order not to make a fool of themselves, they made a mess: they changed Lozoya’s statement. I mean, they altered the file. Before, they said that they had given me money when I was a deputy in exchange for my vote, on August 8, 2014. But they realized that on that date I was not a deputy and that on that date I was not even in Mexico City. “.
He also explained that he will leave Mexico and take refuge in the United States, where he will take the opportunity to have events with the Mexican migrant community living in that country since if he stays in Mexico “they will take away my political rights and they will take away the possibility of being a candidate in 3 years ”.
Faced with the complaint, López Obrador replied that same day that he has “nothing to do with the percussion that Ricardo Anaya supposes”, he insisted that revenge is not his strong suit and pointed out that if Ricardo Anaya is innocent, “he should not protect himself or run away; that it be defended with tests and with the force of the truth ”.
Will AMLO follow in Nicaragua’s footsteps?
The next day it was confirmed that there is indeed an order for Anaya to appear at an “initial hearing” remotely and conclude in the northern prison of Mexico City, for the alleged crimes of money laundering, bribery, and criminal association, which could result in a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.
So the attempt to imprison him is real. Now, two other key questions follow:
Does the accusation against Anaya refer to a real crime or is it a political hoax? We can’t guarantee it, but it’s notorious that the prosecution reeks of a political fabrication. The accuser is Emilio Lozoya (Enrique Peña Nieto’s ultra-corrupt political operator) who was extradited to Mexico, but did not step into jail in exchange for “cooperating with the investigations”, which translated into Spanish means: “in exchange for accusing those who ordered by the regime ”.
Lozoya launched direct accusations against various opposition leaders and operators, including Ricardo Anaya, who is said to receive almost 7 million pesos in payment for approving the reform that modernized the electricity industry. Only there are two problems: 1) Anaya was not even a deputy when the payment was supposedly made and 2) The electricity reform was always a banner of the PAN and Anaya himself. Bribing people to support what they support anyway is suspicious to say the least.
Is AMLO behind the accusation? Theoretically, the Attorney General’s Office is autonomous and does not depend on the president. However, in practice, it is clear that this is not the case. The “autonomous” prosecutor is Alejandro Gertz Manero, whose closeness to the political project of President López Obrador is evident. For anyone with more than two neurons, it is obvious that the hand behind the process against Anaya comes directly from the cavernous corridors of the National Palace.
So, yes, there are increasing signs that AMLO will follow in Nicaragua’s footsteps, intimidating and arresting uncomfortable opponents. On August 23, López Obrador added the cherry of cynicism to this unhealthy cocktail, declaring that “it does not affect going to jail when you are innocent … when you are a social fighter … you can go to jail and instead of feeling bad, a leader is strengthened ”.
So, apparently, the government of Mexico intends to “strengthen” the opponents by putting them behind bars. And he wants to start with Anaya.
Source: elamerican.com
Mexico Daily Post
