The pristine anti-corruption speech of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has grown a thorn. Several recordings, published this Thursday by the Latinus news portal , show the president's brother, Pío López Obrador, receiving envelopes of money from David León, current owner of the new state drug distributor. The images are from 2015, for the Chiapas electoral campaign, and capture the delivery of support aimed at the activities of the then leader of Morena. León had already been making those payments for a year and a half, according to what he declares in the recordings. It is about two million pesos, about $ 90,000.
In one of the June 2015 videos, David León, who was working as a consultant at that time, goes to Pío López Obrador's house to deliver a package that he claims contains one million pesos ($ 45,000). They then talk about the next installment of a second million. Leon then asks him to inform his brother of the origin of the money. “Let the lawyer know through your means that we are supporting him. The joke is that he sees that there is support, ”he says. "Brother Brother. You know, you know perfectly well. Besides, I already sent messages ”, responds Pío López Obrador.
The president said this morning that he does not know if that money was declared before the National Electoral Institute (INE), something mandatory in these cases. "I just know that a lot of people contributed resources" for the campaign. It was, the president said, support from the people to finance the Chiapas campaign, gasoline, sound equipment, and so on. "Morena did not win," López Obrador recalled. The president has recommended that the videos be delivered to the Prosecutor's Office and that his brother and David León come to testify. "I have told (León) to face the complaint and tell the truth." "I already knew that those videos would be published five days ago, that is why I told David León that he could not take over the drug company," the president said this morning. "We will look for someone else while this is cleared up and David is clean."
The president has defended himself by highlighting the differences between the 200 million dollars that are detected in "bites and corruption of public money" in the Lozoya case and the videos of his brother, where it is "about two million pesos (90,000 dollars ) ". "For years there was an account open in Banorte, with contributions, the people supported me," he said. "I got my salary that way." He thanked Banorte for having opened that account in times, he says, when they were suffering repression.
In another recording from May 2015, published yesterday by journalist Carlos Loret de Mola, the brother and David León meet at a restaurant for another delivery of money. On that occasion, Pío López Obrador takes notes in a black notebook, while complaining about delays in payment and that the amount is not complete. 30,000 pesos are missing. "The month is delivered," he says. León justifies himself: "I've been late a few times ...". “Yes, yes, I understand brother. Ok ”, answers the other.
#Loret Chapter 12. #ExclusivaLatinus. Videos of President López Obrador's brother receiving money for the campaign. Who delivers? The new anti-corruption czar for medicines, David León. @CarlosLoret #LatinusOriginals # InformaciónParaTi https://t.co/ZW0QuUJnft
- Latinus (@latinus_us) August 21, 2020León, who has just been appointed to head the drug distributor and who until recently served as Civil Protection coordinator, has recognized the validity of the video. “From November 2013 to November 2018 I was a consultant, not a public servant. My way of supporting the Movement was to collect resources among acquaintances for the holding of assemblies and other activities, ”he stated on his Twitter account. In addition, he has announced that he will not take possession of his new position "while the situation is clarified." López Obrador had called him "one of the best government cadres."
The publication of the videos takes place in the midst of the Lozoya case . This week, material related to the cause has leaked: a recording that shows a group of politicians receiving bribes and the complaint of Emilio Lozoya that implicates three former presidents and 14 other politicians in episodes of corruption. López Obrador has encouraged the dissemination of this material as a means to "purify public life." Now, the recording of a delivery of money, a scene similar to those he has criticized so much, turns against him.
President López Obrador has justified this Friday during his morning conference that the leak of these videos is due to the actions that have been taken in the Lozoya case. He has argued that in the case of the images recorded between his brother and León, the resources were contributions to his political movement. "We have been fighting for many years and the people have financed us as has happened when revolutions have been carried out." López Obrador has reiterated his intention to fight "against corruption and against impunity, be it my son, my wife, my brother, if there is a crime they must be tried."