President López Obrador described as “modest” the house that the daughter of his private secretary Alejandro Esquer acquired for $400,000 in Texas and questioned journalists again.
A new house in Huston, Texas of a federal government official has caused a new controversy for the so-called “Fourth Transformation”. This is Carmelina Esquer, the daughter of Alejandro Esquer, private secretary of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who bought a property valued at more than 400,000 dollars, according to an investigation presented by the newspaper Reforma and Mexicans against Corruption.
This morning, the President of the Republic considered as “modest” the purchase of that property located a few meters from where his son José Ramón rented a residence whose property belonged to a senior executive of a Pemex contractor company.
“Now it comes out about a daughter of Alejandro Esquer and since I am here in his town I mention it, that he is a first-rate person Alejandro, he is my private secretary and his daughter studied and has a job in Houston and bought a house, an apartment, but modest”, he defended.
This Friday, the newspaper Reforma published a story titled “They hide contracts and payroll in Pemex” in which it reveals the daughter of Alejandro Esquer, who occupies the ownership of Pemex Procurement International (PPI), bought a residence at a cost of over $400,000 USD.
According to the investigation, although Pemex was asked via transparency for the salary of those who collaborate in PPI, the information was not delivered. However, a source who has collaborated with the subsidiary reported that Alejandro Esquer’s daughter receives a monthly salary of 13,500 dollars (equivalent to around 270,000 pesos). This figure would be higher than what President López Obrador receives, who earns 166,532 gross pesos each month.
…And they go against journalists again
Without delving into the purchase of the property and the alleged opacity in which the salary of the daughter of his private secretary is maintained, the president pointed out that it is a similar matter to the information that was disseminated about his son José Ramón López Beltrán a few years ago months with the so-called “grey house of Huston”.
“A little about Loret de Mola, about my son, they rented a house, the wife and a tremendous scandal and it turns out that Loret has 12 apartments, he has a 4-hectare residence in Valle de Bravo, he has an apartment that is in Polanco in the most luxurious building in Mexico City, we are talking about 40-50 million pesos,” he said.
And just like on other occasions, the president passed from one journalist to another, and this time it was the Univisión journalist, Jorge Ramos, who considered that there are “constant attacks” against his administration by journalists.
As he did at some point with Loret, who spread the news about his son José Ramón’s family home, he questioned the income of the journalist based in the United States and who is a columnist for the newspaper Reforma.
“We said it a few days ago and I can say it again now, he earns more (Jorge Ramos) than all of us, he earns 20 million pesos a month, of course, he doesn’t look favorably on us, if we count how much we earn here, The best thing is that we don’t all get to him, including the fellow cameramen, if we all don’t get to him. That he is a world eminence, 20 million a month, we have to see why they pay him so much, who he defends, what he represents. So, what do I say Mr. Junco, the owner of REFORMA if he does not have properties in Houston, in Texas”, he questioned.
With Jorge Ramos, President López Obrador has had different disagreements. The journalist has gone to the morning conference to question him about the violence in Mexico. The president recently highlighted another difference by his request that there be no exclusion at the Summit of the Americas.
“President López Obrador has every right not to go to the Cover of the Americas if he doesn’t want to. But what he is asking is that they invite thugs, torturers, censors and repressors such as the dictators of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua to the party. AMLO has already chosen his side, ”said Ramos.
International organizations have warned about the climate of insecurity and hostility that journalism faces in Mexico. The European Parliament (EP) condemned last March the threats, harassment and murder of journalists and human rights defenders in Mexico.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) asked President López Obrador a few months ago to suspend the weekly report “Who is who of the lies”, led by Ana Elizabeth García Vilchis, because “it makes the firm messages that should be heard in support of journalistic work and rejection of violence against journalists”.
Source: politica.expansion.mx, /irvingpineda.com
