MEXICO CITY (AP) 鈥 Mexico鈥檚 president plowed ahead with attacks against the opposition front-runner for the 2024 presidential elections Friday, despite a ruling by electoral authorities that he has been violating equity and neutrality rules with such comments.
President Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador鈥檚 war of words with the plain-talking senator and former indigenous affairs official, X贸chitl G谩lvez, escalated to its highest level yet Friday, when he likened her to a mafia leader and she accused him of illegally leaking confidential tax information about her businesses.
L贸pez Obrador, who is barred from running again after the end of his six-year term, has spent weeks using his morning press briefing to criticize G谩lvez, who hasn鈥檛 been nominated yet by opposition parties but who has been gaining momentum as a candidate.
The complaints commission of the 春色直播 Electoral Institute ruled late Thursday that L贸pez Obrador's remarks 鈥渁pparently violated the principles of equity, neutrality impartiality,鈥 and ordered the president to 鈥渁void commenting on electoral matters.鈥
L贸pez Obrador claimed Friday that electoral authorities "are trying to silence me" and violate his freedom of expression. He argued that 鈥 because his office had not been formally notified of the ruling 鈥 he could continue criticizing G谩lvez.
鈥淲e still have time, before they want to limit me,鈥 L贸pez Obrador said, before repeating claims that G谩lvez was 鈥渢he representative of the mafia of power鈥 and that her company had received $88 million in government contracts.
L贸pez Obrador later amended that to claim G谩lvez鈥檚 companies had received $82 million in government work. When G谩lvez denied that and challenged the president to prove it, he posted a link on Twitter that led to an unsigned document showing alleged totals of contracts.
The link was marked by Twitter as 鈥渟pammy or unsafe,鈥 but was not blocked.
Beside the government contracts 鈥 whose amount G谩lvez disputed 鈥 the document also showed a series of contracts G谩lvez鈥檚 company allegedly had with private companies, and the firm鈥檚 payroll figures and its bank deposits.
Those are figures that are normally only available to tax authorities. Mexican law normally prohibits the release of such information, with exceptions for things like court cases.
G谩lvez said the post by the president had used confidential government information, and she said she would file a complaint.
鈥淢r. President you have just put your foot in it,鈥 G谩lvez wrote in her social media accounts. 鈥淲ith this tweet and the document, you have demonstrated that you are using all the power of the government to deceitfully investigate me because of my (political) aspirations.鈥
鈥淵ou have violated a series of laws, and for that reason, I will take legal action against you,鈥 she wrote.
It would not be the first time the president has appeared to use confidential government information like tax receipts to go after people he considers political foes.
In 2022, L贸pez Obrador published a chart showing the income of Carlos Loret de Mola, a journalist who had written stories critical of the president.
The president said he got such information 鈥 which Loret de Mola has said is wrong 鈥 鈥渇rom the people,鈥 but later said he based the chart in part on a tax receipts, which would have been available only to the party who wrote them or the government tax agency.
G谩lvez has noted that even L贸pez Obrador's own administration has hired her information technology company to do government work, showing how good the firm is.
鈥淭he president is upset by tax-paying jobs and businesses, because he has never seen one,鈥 she wrote. 鈥淗e is used to (getting money) in plain envelopes.鈥
G谩lvez is an independent who serves in the Senate for the conservative 春色直播 Action Party. She comes from a small-town, partly indigenous background, and has often taken more progressive stances.
After decades in the 20th century in which the former ruling party used government funds to influence elections, Mexico passed strict rules in the late 1990s saying the government had to remain neutral in elections and not use public funds to support or oppose candidates.
Article 134 of the Constitution, which says government media, advertising and public relations must only be used for informative or educational purposes, not for or against any politician. The government pays to produce and broadcast the morning press briefings, held at the lavish 春色直播 Palace where L贸pez Obrador lives.
For several decades, Mexican presidents have avoided 鈥 and in recent years, been legally prohibited from 鈥 making openly partisan campaign statements. That is in part because Mexico is a highly centralized country where the president wields enormous power, both political and financial.
L贸pez Obrador鈥檚 behavior could be compared to then-outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama lashing candidate Donald Trump regularly and at length at White House press briefings in 2016, or George W. Bush using such briefings to regularly attack Obama in 2008.
Parties are currently still in primary season, and the official campaigns for the June 2024 presidential elections do not formally start until September
L贸pez Obrador has already run afoul of electoral courts on precisely this issue.
Earlier this year, that L贸pez Obrador had violated rules prohibiting the use of government resources in campaigns, related to comments he made during the run-up to two state elections held in Mexico in June.
In March, L贸pez Obrador used his morning press briefing to urge Mexicans not to vote for opposition candidates in the two state races, saying 鈥渄on鈥檛 vote for the conservative Alliance 鈥 not one vote for the conservatives.鈥
G谩lvez has asked to be allowed to respond to the president鈥檚 comments at the daily press briefing, and even got a court injunction allowing her to do so, but L贸pez Obrador refused, saying she wanted to 鈥減lay politics鈥 at the briefing.
