Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador denied corruption allegations after videos emerged showing his brother accepting cash on behalf of his political movement in 2015.
Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty ImagesMEXICO CITY—Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has made his political bones fighting corruption, found himself denying corruption allegations on Friday after two videos emerged showing his younger brother accepting an envelope and a brown paper bag stuffed full of cash in 2015 for the president’s political movement.
The release of the videos comes just a day after graft allegations against three former presidents rocked Mexico’s political class. The extensive details on alleged bribes and corruption made to prosecutors by Emilio Lozoya, the former chief of state oil firm Petróleos Mexicanos, appeared to give a boost to Mr. López Obrador’s political fortunes.
But the latest videos, and an accompanying audio recording, could prove to be at least a temporary reversal of fortune for the president. The leftist nationalist vowed to end Mexico’s deep-seated corruption and rode a wave of popular disgust with the prior government to power in 2018.
On Friday, the president said that he considered the broadcast of the videos to be a response from his political foes to the leak of Mr. Lozoya’s complaint to local media. The money handed to his brother were “contributions” of about $90,000 to help pay his fledgling political movement’s operating expenses, Mr. López Obrador added.
Mr. López Obrador said the videos should be handed to federal prosecutors to investigate, and that his brother and the man he was shown meeting should be called to answer questions.
“Our adversaries are seeking to even things up and say, ‘they’re all the same,’” Mr. López Obrador added. But there were notable differences between the two cases, the president added. The amounts of money involved weren’t comparable, nor was the purpose of the payments. The president said that the allegations against Mr. Lozoya included a vivid description of the funneling of millions of dollars in bribes.
“This contradicts López Obrador’s anticorruption rhetoric,” says José Antonio Crespo, a political analyst at the CIDE research center in Mexico City. “His shtick loses steam, because the corruption of his government is qualitatively the same as that of former governments, even if it’s not for the same amounts.”
Still, Mr. López Obrador’s followers are unstintingly loyal to the president, and it is unlikely he will lose significant political support, said Mr. Crespo.
Protesters approached the president’s car as he left a press conference in the state of Aguascalientes on Friday.
Photo: sebastian lopez/ShutterstockThe videos, broadcast by journalist Carlos Loret late Thursday, show meetings between Mr. López Obrador’s brother Pío and David León, until recently a senior federal official. On a Twitter account attributed to the younger Mr. López Obrador, he is described as a founder of his brother’s political movement.
The video shows a meeting at a restaurant where Mr. León, dressed in shorts, hands over a fat envelope stuffed with what he says is the Mexican equivalent of about $26,000. In another video taken at a house, Mr. León delivers a brown paper bag with what he says is money equivalent to some $67,000 to the younger Mr. López Obrador, which he says is to help him “with the movement.” He promises another $67,000 to come soon. Mr. Loret says the tapes were made by Mr. León.
Messrs. León and López Obrador couldn’t be reached for comment. On a Twitter account attributed to Mr. León, a post acknowledged on Friday the authenticity of the videos, recorded about five years ago. At the time, the post noted, he was a consultant and not a public servant.
“My way of helping the movement was to collect resources from acquaintances to organize assemblies and other activities,” the post stated.
Critics say that Mr. López Obrador’s desire to turn Mr. Lozoya’s case into political propaganda is obstructing due process. The president’s reaction over his brother’s actions is also harmful, said Jesús Silva-Herzog, a political analyst at the Tecnológico de Monterrey university
“He minimizes the incident on grounds that it was a small amount, as if it were acceptable to commit ‘just a bit’ of a crime,” he said. “These have been horrendous hours that will poison the political environment between now and next year’s midterm elections, where it will be a competition to see who throws more dirt at the other.”
The president said the video doesn’t change his campaign against corruption, or efforts to end impunity, even if it involves his relatives.
Until recently, Mr. León was the coordinator of civil protection for the federal government. Recently, he stepped down from that job to head a new agency in charge of distributing medicine, a key federal position.
“One of our best public servants will be in charge,” Mr. López Obrador described Mr. León after announcing his promotion in July.
According to Mr. León’s Twitter account, there has been a change in plans. “Until the situation I’m going through is cleared up, and so as not to affect Mexico’s government, I won’t assume my position,” he wrote.
—Santiago Pérez and Anthony Harrup
Write to José de Córdoba at jose.decordoba@wsj.com
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August 22, 2020 at 10:07AM
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Mexican President Faces Hard Questions Over Videos of His Brother - The Wall Street Journal
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