López Obrador was filled with cash and he was filled with hate: Luz Elena Chávez

From the second half of the 90s of the last century to date, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador He evolved from being a hermetic, introverted and distrustful man, to a controlling person, voracious with money and then, full of rancor and hatred, believing himself to be a deity, for whom his main collaborators went from having respect to blind love and fear.

This is how he describes the current President of the Republic, Luz Elena Chávez González, author of the book “The King of Ca$h. The hidden looting of the president and his close team“, edited by Grijalbowhich began to circulate the week that has just concluded.

In an interview, the reporter by profession and who for more than a decade was a partner of César Yáñez Centeno, one of López Obrador’s closest collaborators during the last 25 years, emphasizes that what she has put to the consideration of the readers is a testimony , not a piece of investigative journalism.

Through a video call conversation, the also former public official whose cause is animal protection, emphasizes: It is my personal testimony; he, from a woman who lived near them for more than a decade.”

He defends his work: he says that if the president’s supporters demand proof, in addition to reading the annexes to the text, they must remember the value that the government attributes to these narratives, such as the testimonies of the former director general of Pemex, Emilio Lozoya.

Dice a The Economist that until now the readers of his book have focused on the way in which the now Chief of the Federal Executive collected enormous amounts of cash that they took in suitcases to his still private secretary, Alejandro Esquer Verdugo, officials of the capital’s government and of governments of the interior of the republic, whom he received with a hug, a pat on the back, but also with a copy of their payroll, which was used to calculate the amount of their “contributions”.

With a hint of sarcasm, she remembers what, she says, she saw: “A swarm of officials with sports suitcases and women’s bags, plump and fat” who entered the offices of the then presidential candidate.

She says that her friends told her: “we come to the mass on Mondays, “to the mass to pay the tithe”.

But in the book there is more than that, it cuts. There are stories of betrayals, personal ambitions, infidelities, labor abuses, corruption and authoritarianism.”

As an example, remember that at the time of the removal of immunity of the then candidate for the candidacy for the presidency of the Republic, in view of the 2006 electoral process, López Obrador summoned Cárdenas at some point on the Paseo de la Reforma, to march towards the plinth, but left it planted.

The problem was that the followers of the Tabascan began to insult the Michoacan. “They didn’t lower him as a traitor.” When they told Andrés Manuel what was happening on that avenue that connects Chapultepec with the historic center, he said, according to what he says, “leave it, the plaza purifies.”

Then, at some point in the talk, he takes a breath and blurts out that Los Chuchos, as Jesús Zambrano and Jesús Ortega, former national leaders of the PRD They must arm themselves with courage and tell what they know about the excesses of the Tabasco. “I believe that Jesús Ortega and all those who were presidents of that party are obliged to tell the truth to Mexicans.”

“Who invented that cash-raising scheme you describe in the book?”

—Octavio Romero Oropeza, the current director of Pemex. He was the Senior Official of the City Government, when Marcelo Ebrard was Head of Government. He had to do with the employees.

They saw that this type of financing worked for them and they made it bigger in the 2006 campaign. I realized it in the 2012 campaign. That’s where another Andrés Manuel was born, he was filled with resentment, with hatred. I think he was never able to shake those feelings.

From 2006 to 2012 it was the biggest looting ever, because Marcelo was already in power. Marcelo had to pay favors to the president because he saved him from the Tláhuac lynching. He took it away and protected it. And then he was made head of government, which was Marcelo’s dream.

—What can you tell me about the associations that López Obrador’s compact group was creating? At least there is “We are not going to leave”, in 2005, “Brave Honesty”, in 2006, “Republican Austerity”, in 2007 and “AC National Regeneration Movement”, in 2012, which, I understand, was presided over by the latter Cesar Yanez. How did they use them?

—I can assure you that where money was put into “Courageous Honesty”. It was the one operated by Gabriel García, who was a first-class operator for the president, so much so that when they win he is made head of the superdelegates.

—What do you offer with the patrimonial declarations?

—If you review the statements, you realize that where more apartments, houses, cars, motorcycles, works of art were made by the group close to the candidate, it was when they were campaigning.

I wonder that a woman who was a deputy at that time bought a house in 2016, 900 square meters in the Del Valle neighborhood for six million pesos. That’s impossible.

-Who was?

—Ariadna Montiel, current Secretary of Welfare. Esquer’s statement is to outrage you. It is the longest. Report a series of properties. Departments that he says cost him 20,000 pesos.

Marcelo’s, who in a week inherits I don’t know how many properties and works of art and jewelry.

“You also leave some clues.

—In the book I leave some clues that can be traced. When Mario Delgado was Secretary of Finance, he created a ghost cleaning company that billed the Metro. They made a lot of money from there.

—What do you think when the president says that his shield is his moral authority?

“That’s pretty subliminal.” When he says my shield is the people. What does he do with the fans who follow him: go for her or go for him. He puts you in danger, because a fanatic kills you.

“Do you want to add something?”

—To say that on Twitter they created a supposed profile of mine, with the clothes I was wearing just this Monday, where they say that I am going to overthrow Andrés Manuel, that that is my goal. That is false. I don’t want to overthrow the president. The only thing I want is for Mexicans to reflect on what is happening in the country and who is governing us, and for each one to form their own criteria.

diego.badillo@eleconomista.mx