Morena announces that it will carry out a survey again to choose the candidate for the Government of Guerrero

Senator Félix Salgado Macedonio in 2018 Misael Valtierra / Cuartoscuro

Morena has announced this Monday at the last minute that it will carry out a new survey to determine who will be the candidate for governor of Guerrero.

This has been confirmed in his social networks by the president of the party, Mario Delgado, who has confirmed that the new consultation will take place based on the decision made by the party's Honesty Commission.

This committee opened an internal investigation against Félix Salgado Macedonio, who was denounced twice for rape and with three other allegations of sexual abuse and harassment.

Morena's Honesty and Justice Committee opened an ex officio internal investigation after hearing the complaints and allegations against Salgado Macedonio.

The party determined last week that the complaints against him are "unfounded" and, consequently, it unanimously opted to repeat the internal polls with which Morena chooses its candidates and not to disqualify him politically so that he can run again as a candidate for the electoral race.

However, it is up to the State Prosecutor's Office to establish whether in fact these complaints are unfounded and to resolve the file.

The Guerrero Prosecutor's Office has begun to respond to the media pressure in the case of Félix Salgado Macedonio for the two complaints of rape against him.

While Morena still defines who will be chosen or elected to run for the Guerrero government, the new investigations announced by the Public Ministry consume the hours prior to determining whether Salgado will be chosen by the party for next June's elections.

The authorities that had conducted the investigations in 2018 say that since then the politician could be detained, but that there was pressure that prevented his arrest.

The state prosecutor, Jorge Zuriel, has read a statement to the press to publicize the status of the two investigation folders that Salgado Macedonio has opened in the prosecution for rape.

The most recent, filed by a woman who denounces having been raped in 1998, when she was a minor, was closed, since the crime of rape in Guerrero prescribes after 12 years.

The second case corresponds to the 2017 complaint of a woman who says she was raped by the candidate when he was director of the newspaper

La Jornada de Guerrero

.

Regarding this case, the Prosecutor's Office indicates that it continues with the investigations and that the file is currently in the refinement or integration stage to collect new evidence or data to reinforce the investigation.

“Various procedures have been carried out in order to establish, in due course, whether or not the necessary evidence data exists to proceed in accordance with the law;

that is, the judicialization of the case ”, affirmed the prosecutor Zuriel.

The folder is the same that former prosecutor Xavier Olea claims to have put in a drawer in 2018 by order of Governor Héctor Astudillo of the PRI.

Olea affirms that the investigation was already ready to dictate the arrest of Salgado Macedonio, and that it had evidence to order precautionary measures against the politician, but the file never reached the hands of the judge.

“That investigation was already done.

He had sufficient evidence and that is why the prosecution was ordered.

There were photographs, psychological tests, medical tests, and conversations between the victim and Salgado, ”says former prosecutor Olea to this newspaper.

"I spoke with the governor and he strictly prohibited me from prosecuting her," adds Olea, who has taken the defense of one of the victims before the Attorney General's Office.

The deadline to define Morena's candidate is in theory, March 5, when the campaigns formally start in Guerrero.

The decision can come at any time, as happened last Friday night with the Commission's resolution.

Meanwhile, other militants have raised their hands to be the party's standard bearers.

“It is time that a woman, of social struggle, strong and above all, who comes from the town, governs Guerrero.

I raise my hand to lead the Q4 in my State and lay the foundations for a more prosperous, just and egalitarian State, "said Nestora Salgado, senator for Guerrero and one of the virtual aspirants.

Others, such as Pablo Amílcar Sandoval, brother of the Secretary of Public Administration, Irma Eréndira Sandoval, have renounced their aspirations.

"I am not a factor of division, I am not going to lend myself to internal wars," he said on his social networks.

"These historical moments need a lot of vision," he added.

The Guerrero Prosecutor's Office assures that it sought to have contact with the victim of 2017 and with his legal representatives, although it is not clear if they have managed to communicate with her to provide specialized legal, assistance, medical and psychological attention.

A group of feminist activists has demonstrated in front of the Prosecutor's Office to demand that the proceedings be resolved quickly and that the process stop being bogged down.

Félix Salgado Macedonio has not commented on the matter.

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