Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has long derided hounds as biased and pretentious “traitors” who are aligned with their political enemies. accuses of selling “fake news”.
On Friday, Lopez Obrador intensified his war on the media by revealing to the public the alleged salary points of a prominent investigative journalist who recently reported that one of the president’s sons had a lavish lifestyle that contrasts with the president’s austere image. .
Lopez Obrador said the journalist, Carlos Loret de Mola, earned much more than he did, comparing their salaries at a press conference on the big screen. with critical stories.
Claiming that Loret makes $1. 6 million a year, compared to about $100,000, he asked, “Do you think it’s because he’s a high-flying journalist, very smart, a smart writer?No! It’s because of their work.
The incident came the day after another journalist was shot dead in Mexico, the fifth so far this year, and angered press freedom advocates who said the president not only fails to protect journalists, but is also stoking violence against them.
He also raised questions about where Lopez Obrador was given the salary data and whether he violated privacy laws. Publishing a person’s monetary records without authorization is a crime in Mexico, according to legal experts.
“There is no pretext for this abuse of power,” said Daniel Moreno, director of the political animal news site. “This is an unacceptable attack from each and every point of view. “
Loret responded on Twitter, claiming that the salary figures presented at the press conference were inflated, noting that while they purported to come from last year, they included profits from Televisa, the TV network he once worked for as a presenter but left in 2019.
“This dictator is crazy,” said Loret, who now runs a research news platform and has a radio show.
He has published investigations in recent years accusing members of López Obrador’s family circle and his political allies of corruption.
Loret wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post with a headline that used the president’s initials: “For AMLO, journalism is enemy number one.
But it’s his report last month on the president’s 41-year-old son that seems to have touched a specific nerve with Lopez Obrador.
The story alleged that Jose Ramon Lopez, who served as campaign manager for his father’s 2018 presidential bid, lives in a sprawling space outside Houston and drives a white Mercedes valued at around $70,000.
Ramón López owns an artisanal chocolate business with two of his brothers. The report also revealed that in 2019 and 2020 he and his wife lived in a nearby mansion owned by Keith Schilling, who is an executive at the Baker Hughes oil company, which has lucrative contracts with Mexican state oil company Pemex.
“The president is cornered,” said Loret. No knows how to get rid of the scandal of his son’s house. “
When he took it 3 years ago, López Obrador turned the presidential mansion into a public museum and took a 60% pay cut. He questioned why other people would want anything more than a pair of shoes or a credit card, and blames the neoliberal “decadence” of outside governments for eroding the nation’s ethical character. At the same time, he claims to have eradicated corruption like no other president.
Lopez Obrador’s attacks on the media come at a time when Mexican journalists are facing an unprecedented wave of violence.
In the first 41 days of the year, five hounds were killed. Among them are Heber Lopez, director of an online news site in Oaxaca state who killed Thursday, and Lourdes Maldonado Lopez, an investigative journalist in Tijuana who killed last month.
Before she was shot dead outside her home, Maldonado attended one of the president’s press meetings to ask for help.
“I care about my life,” he told Lopez Obrador, explaining that he got into a bitter labor dispute with one of his political allies, Jaime Bonilla Valdez, owner of a media company that once hired Maldonado.
Lopez Obrador said he would assign an assistant to Maldonado.
Asked last month about the killings of Maldonado and others, Lopez Obrador said the cases would be investigated. He then rebelled against his warring political parties and said he hoped they would not use violence against hounds to “attack his administration. “
Times correspondent Cecilia Suarez in Mexico City contributed to the report.
This story gave the impression in the Los Angeles Times.
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