Alejandro Gertz Manero’s time at the FGR was a period of “losses” and “sabotage” in the fight against corruption in Mexico, agreed Ana Lilia Pérez, Perla Velázquez and Alejandro Páez Varela on VERSUS, a SinEmbargo Al Aire program. The program addressed how this management was a “dispossession of the nation” due to delay and negligence in high-impact cases such as the Master Scam, Odebrecht and the impunity of figures such as Alejandro Moreno and Emilio Lozoya, and due to the “factious” use of the institution to resolve personal conflicts.
Mexico City, December 1 (However).–With the departure of Alejandro Gertz Manero of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) leaves behind a seven-year administration of “losses” and “sabotage” in the fight against corruption in Mexico. For the same reason, the possibility of to receive an embassy as a consolation prize is an “infinitely excessive” measure, they agreed Ana Lilia Pérez, Perla Velázquez and Alejandro Páez Varela in VERSUS.
Alejandro Páez Varela classified Gertz Manero’s period in the FGR as a dispossession to the nation: “It is a shame that he was allowed to steal so many years of valuable time in the prosecutor’s office. It is a real shame that the character has spent 7 years.” Later, he insisted: “they were 7 years of losses, that is, 7 years that went into emptiness into nothingness and it is a shame.”
For her part, journalist Ana Lilia Pérez raised the magnitude of the damage, pointing out that Gertz Manero took away “7 years from the first autonomous prosecutor’s office endowed with many more powers.” [y] much more budget”, and with this “it took away the possibility of processing very high impact cases”.
“I attribute to Gertz Manero not only the delay in high-impact cases, I attribute negligence and even more so I attribute the sabotage of high-impact cases in our country. Call it the Master Scam, call it the Odebrecht case, call this impunity to Alejandro Moreno or the case of Emilio Lozoya,” the former Pemex leader accused of embezzling from the Mexican oil company.
Alejandro Páez Varela in turn linked it directly to the impunity of controversial figures: “If you want to find the reason why Congress never even analyzed the possibility that Alejandro Moreno Cárdenas was ousted, you will find it in Alejandro Gertz Manero, who never sent the request for waiver.”
Another point of criticism was the factious use of the institution to resolve personal conflicts, which blurred its role in the government’s project to combat corruption, indicated Perla Velázquez. “It cannot be that in his tenure as Attorney General of the Republic the ‘only achievement’ he has had was a file against his family.”
Páez Varela described this prioritization as “pathetic” when remembering how the first thing he did when he arrived at the Prosecutor’s Office was to resolve his personal issues: “It seems pathetic, pathetic to me,” he noted.
Ana Lilia Pérez indicated for her part that Gertz Manero betrayed the same project that made him the country’s Attorney General. “At no time does it accompany a process of transformation or the fight against corruption.”
In that sense, they agreed that the appointment of Gertz Manero as Ambassador is an undeserved reward for the lack of results and the opacity in his departure.
“Does each of these results deserve to be given an embassy? It seems that we are also changing that idea of embassies of saying ‘Well, they are the consolation prizes that end up being given to characters who are not giving results,'” questioned Perla Velázquez.
Páez Varela considered the possible appointment as an insult to Mexicans: “I totally disagree with giving him an embassy. If they want to entertain him, they should make him count his money, which is a lot, his works of art, all his businesses.” And he added: “out of dignity, he should be sent home and that’s it. If not, a case should be opened and investigated.”
Ana Lilia Pérez agreed, arguing that the Prosecutor, being “immensely rich” and having damaged the public service, “should have a minimum of honorability towards that man and withdraw from public life offering apologies for all the damage he caused. It is not possible that he wants to continue living off the budget.”