The imminent resolution of the 'Salgado Macedonio case' tenses Morena before López Obrador's fierce defense

Guerrero's candidate, Félix Salgado Macedonio, during a pre-campaign event.Dassaev Téllez / Dassaev Téllez

The controversial case of

Félix Salgado Macedonio, Morena's candidate for governor of Guerrero on whom two complaints of rape and at least three other accusations of abuse and sexual harassment weigh, is approaching a turning point.

The party's Honesty and Justice Commission, a kind of internal guarantees committee that oversees compliance with the statutes and principles within the group, must immediately decide what it decides to do with the politician's candidacy, a matter that has been become a drag on the organization, which begins well positioned towards the June 6 elections.

The scandal has not only strained the party that supports the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has turned to his defense and has tried to reduce it to an episode of political attacks and a "lynching campaign" of his adversaries and the press .

Salgado Macedonio reappeared on Wednesday in a video recorded on one of the state's beaches.

The candidate, who has denied all the accusations against him before the domestic court, left a message to his supporters about the visit of President López Obrador to Guerrero.

The president, whom Macedonio called "the best we have ever had," visited the municipality of Iguala to celebrate flag day with the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández.

The López Obrador rally, however, could not avoid the controversy that marks his party as there were protests by feminists at the event.

The protesters were beaten by supporters of the politicians.

Salgado Macedonio's nomination is still on the air a few days after the electoral campaign begins in Guerrero, on March 5.

The investigation in the hands of the Honesty and Justice Commission has not been without complications and opinions that may affect the final resolution.

Starting precisely with the defense that the president has made of the licensed senator.

Every time López Obrador has ruled on the matter - the last time this Thursday morning - he has left no room for doubt: Salgado Macedonio will be a candidate until a court proves his guilt.

The president has described the complaints of the women and victims who have raised their voices as "a product of electoral times."

The president considers the candidacy unmovable because Macedonio is the candidate with the most internal support after conducting a series of local polls, the method the party uses to settle internal disputes.

The internal treatment of the case and the president's position are part of a decisive electoral process for the fourth transformation, AMLO's political project, which seeks to maintain majority control in the Chamber of Deputies and obtain as many states as possible from the 15 that will be at stake.

The electoral campaign begins in April in most of the territories, but in Guerrero it will begin in early March.

The times increase the nervousness before the opinion of the Morena commission.

Morena's Honesty and Justice Commission formally still has ten days of margin to position itself, but it can arrive at any time from this Friday.

"It is an important decision and we understand the impact of the commission's resolution in the electoral sphere," says Zazil Carreras, a member of the committee.

This Thursday, two daughters of Salgado Macedonio offered a breakfast in Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero, to 50 women in an operation to clean up the politician's reputation before the voters.

"He is a good person and a good father of a family," said Evelyn and María de Jesús Salgado, who tried to get out of the script set by the women who have denounced the applicant.

There has been no lack of voices in the party or in the Government that have expressed their discomfort, starting with the Secretary of the Interior, Olga Sánchez Cordero.

However, in public the statements have often followed one another with half measures and nuances.

Silence, in any case, has also been the mirror of a climate.

“There are those who say that the president's position is political nose, but I think they are justifications for not talking about the obvious.

They do not see machismo in this issue because they have not experienced misogyny, lasciviousness or abuse, ”says a Morena legislator.

In addition to the support of López Obrador, Salgado Macedonio has received the explicit support of key leaders of the formation, such as Ricardo Monreal: "As the leader of the majority, I always have to take care of our people and you are one of us," said the head of the Morena bench in the Senate in defense of the politician, who also has the support of Mario Delgado, national president of the formation.

His closeness to the president is not new.

López Obrador and Salgado Macedonio grew up together in the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).

The candidate to the Government of Guerrero has already participated twice in the elections in that State, was a deputy, is a licensed senator and was mayor of Acapulco.

At 64, he has a political career forged over decades behind him.

The power he has accumulated has largely become a shield.

The candidacy has caused more than discomfort among senior officials, legislators and feminists in the orbit of the fourth transformation.

A senator from Morena maintains, with clarity but keeping anonymity, that “the candidacy should not be allowed” and doubts the performance of Salgado Macedonio in the campaign.

“It would not make way for a person with this background.

As a woman I would never vote for him.

In the party we look for things to change, real changes and we cannot allow someone like this to come to govern, ”he says.

In his opinion, the candidate with his attitude "is hurting the party and the political project."

"In his place, I would have stood up and stood aside to clarify my legal situation," he continues.

This legislator, however, also makes an effort to understand AMLO's position.

"We cannot be judges and that is why in a way, the president has said what he has said because he has experienced the harassment of the opposition and believes that in this case the opposition is also behind it."

Salgado told the domestic court that there is no evidence against him and to prove his innocence he provided his criminal record sheet.

Salgado Macedonio rejected, according to the sources consulted, the control of the commission for a crime of rape that, he said, corresponds to the ordinary justice system.

He also maintained that the publications on which the investigation was based are part of a campaign against him.

The politician had, until a month ago, an internal rival who also aspired to the Government.

Pablo Amílcar Sandoval, in charge of all social programs in Guerrero and brother of Irma Eréndira Sandoval, secretary of Public Function.

EL PAÍS tried to contact the applicant personally, who resigned weeks ago to challenge the process, but received no response.

“I never heard that Pablo Amílcar Sandoval had orchestrated a campaign against Félix Salgado.

I think he could have beaten Salgado in the polls but he should have done more when he was superdelegate in Guerrero to strengthen the leadership and the bases, "continues the senator from Morena.

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