Mexico City mayor wrangles his way into scandals
By Carlos Luken
The second week of March is described by Democratic
Revolution Party (PRD) president Leonel Godoy as the most difficult in party history, made even tougher due to internal finger
pointing and PRD cannibalism after videotapes of ranking Mexico City officials — caught red-handed in corrupt activities
— were released.
Also inextricably linked to the difficulties is Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the PRD mayor of Mexico
City who has been leading the polls in the run up to the 2006 presidential elections.
But Lopez Obrador stumbled badly in the course of the week as events drove constituents to question his competence
and self-heralded honesty.
Some of the videotapes showed city contractor Carlos Ahumada handing stacks of dollar bills to two
important city officials who are close allies of the mayor. Another video exposed his finance chief, Gustavo Ponce, gambling
in Las Vegas where hotel bills showed a lifestyle far beyond his salary.
The video disclosures also forced the attorney general of Mexico City to reveal a current US$3 million
fraud investigation that apparently ties Ahumada and Ponce together. In response, a letter from Ahumada was published in a
Mexico City newspaper alleging that city officials had tried to extort money from him to support Lopez Obrador's presidential
ambitions.
Ponce and Ahumada are now in hiding and arrest warrants have been issued for the two. As well, their
bank accounts have been frozen.
In a desperate attempt to distance themselves from the scandal, several Lopez Obrador adversaries
in the PRD denounced his collusion with the exposed officials, while other party members are condemning his ineptitude as
an administrator.
Rosario Robles, a past mayor of Mexico City and a former PRD president (who has presidential aspirations
of her own) was the highest-level casualty in the scuffle to date. Party members accused Robles of being personally linked
to Ahumada, and they claim she gave him access to the party and the city administration’s hierarchy so he could obtain
government contracts. In tearful interviews, Robles declared her innocence but she was coaxed into quitting the party. Three
prominent borough bosses were also forced to resign, as PRD officials applied damage controls in an effort to salvage the
party’s image.
But it was Lopez Obrador himself who perhaps offered the worst example of political hara-kiri. Losing
his cool, Lopez Obrador seemed to imitate Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez with an irate speech in which he opted to concentrate
his defense strategy on censuring the authors of the videotapes, not the illicit content. He is also blaming U.S. government
agents, the DEA, the Fox administration, first lady Marta Fox, former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari and the Bellagio
Hotel of Las Vegas, among others, claiming they are all part of a plot to implicate him in a fabricated money laundering operation
with the hope of demolishing his self-described political indestructibility.
Federal officials have repeatedly denied any involvement while denouncing Lopez Obrador’s
claims as unsupported accusations. The U.S. Embassy would not comment, whereas DEA spokesman Ed Childress dismissed the claims
as baseless. Bellagio Hotel spokespersons also refute involvement in the making
of the tapes.
Having said he would present hard evidence sustaining his conspiracy allegations at a March 11 press
conference, Lopez Obrador also declared he would host a mass support rally on March 14. His detractors quickly dubbed it “the
conspiracy march.”
True to form, Lopez Obrador — who has a history of making unsubstantiated claims and sensationalized
promises — did not and will not deliver. The heralded press conference became a media non-event, as the mayor repeated
his allegations but without any evidence. He merely insisted that the intellectual authors of the tapes had no intention of
combating corruption, saying they wanted to damage him politically. He also changed the supposed purpose of the rally, saying
it is an invitation to hear his quarterly state of the city message.
But Lopez Obrador’s strategy backfired as he is now being criticized publicly and loudly,
plus he has lost credibility. In the latest Reforma newspaper poll, the
PRD mayor’s honesty rating sank from 59 to 30 percent.
Still, it may be premature for a Lopez Obrador swan song as Mexican voters have a history of tolerance
for the faults of popular figures.
Then again, should Lopez Obrador continue to hoist himself by his own petard the PRD just may have
to call once more upon a longtime hopeful. Still waiting in the wings is party
personage Cuahtemoc Cardenas, the three-time presidential candidate who has been keeping an astute distance from the latest
infighting.
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Carlos
Luken (a www.mexidata.info columnist), a Mexicali, Baja California, based businessman, is the principal in I.L.C. Corporate
Real Estate, a project development firm, and I.L.C. Corporate Services, a consulting practice that provides business management,
consultancy and lobbying services to global corporations and government agencies. He can be reached via e-mail at ilc@computec.com.mx.
