On 11 August Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed that warrants had been issued for the arrest of 19 former federal police (PF) officials, including Jesús Orta Martínez who is also a former Mexico City (CDMX) security minister (2018-2019), in relation to allegations of corruption.
Analysis:
López Obrador is trumpeting the arrests as the latest sign of efforts by his Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) government to crack down on corruption. While these efforts and accusations have often targeted previous administrations (López Obrador recently accused former president Felipe Calderón Hinojosa [2006-2012], of having led a narco state), the fact that Orta was appointed by CMDX governor Claudia Sheinbaum, a member of Morena, will allow the government to insist that these anti-corruption efforts extend beyond party lines.
- In his daily press briefing López Obrador said the arrest orders, which were issued on 8 August, were the result of an investigation into the accounts of the interior ministry (Segob) under former president, Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018), which then controlled the PF. The PF has since been dissolved and absorbed into the national guard (GN), a new federal security force launched in June 2019. López Obrador did not provide further details.
- Orta, who was PF secretary general between December 2012-May 2014, was appointed CDMX security minister by Sheinbaum in December 2018. He served until his resignation last October when he quit for “personal reasons”. Sheinbaum has acknowledged that she knew of an investigation into Orta when she appointed him.
- In his press briefing yesterday López Obrador also noted that the federal government had fired some 30 officials linked to Calderón’s security minister Genaro García Luna, who is currently facing trial in the US over his suspected links to Mexican drug trafficking organisations (DTOs). Reiterating claims he made on 10 August regarding the existence of a ‘narco state’ under Calderón, López Obrador also alluded to the case of Emilio Lozoya, a former CEO (2012-2016) of the state-run oil firm Pemex, arrested in Spain in relation to the bribery scandal involving the Brazilian engineering firm Odebrecht.
Looking Ahead: López Obrador’s focus on the corruption of previous administrations has drawn criticism from figures such as Calderón who accuse him of diversionary tactics to distract from his government’s failings in the face of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.