Before resigning from his position as Attorney General of Mexico, Alejandro Gertz Manero, appointed Ernestina Godoy -legal advisor to the Presidency- as provisional prosecutor, according to a document released this Thursday.
The document states that Godoy was named “head of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Competition Control”, which would allow her to become interim head of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) after the departure of Gertz Manero.
Besides, National media reported that Godoy has already submitted his resignation to the Legal Department of the Presidency, which has not been officially confirmed.
Previously, the Mexican Senate approved Gertz’s request to leave office to now be ambassador “in a friendly country”, without specifying which one, as – as he said – Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum proposed to him.
The Upper House began the corresponding procedure to elect Gertz’s successor, which begins with the issuance of a public call.
In a statement, Senator Adán Augusto López Hernández stated that “the person in charge of the FGR will be the head of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Competence Control”, in which it is decided who will succeed Gertz.
López Hernández, president of the Political Coordination Board (Jucopo) of the Senate, explained that all interested parties will be able to participate in the call starting at 1:00 p.m. local time (7:00 p.m. GMT) this Friday, until the same time on Sunday.
He explained that on Monday the Jucopo will review the profiles of those who apply for the FGRand on Tuesday ten profiles – five women and five men – will be selected to be voted on in the Plenary of the Upper House.
Subsequently, he added, these profiles will be sent to Sheinbaum, so that “she in turn, in a timely manner, sends us a shortlist,” from which the next attorney general will be chosen.
In the letter sent to the Senate after a day of speculation, Gertz Manero asked the Upper House to begin the process for the ratification of his appointment as ambassador with which “the president has honored him” and to “thus be able to serve the interests of Mexico with commitment, responsibility and in strict observance of a foreign policy representative of the plurality of the Mexican State.”
Gertz Manero took over as attorney general in January 2019 and was scheduled to remain in office until January 2028.
Godoy was Mexico City prosecutor from 2018 to 2024, when Sheinbaum was head of government of the capital, and resigned from the position to join the presidential cabinet.