Clara Luz Flores tries to save her candidacy and admits her meeting with the leader of the NXIVM sect

For the candidate Clara Luz Flores, a date in late March set her electoral agenda on fire. The day a video was leaked of a conversation he had in 2016 with the founder of NXIVM, one of the most macabre sects of recent times, Keith Rainiere, convicted in the United States of human trafficking, sexual exploitation and possession of pornography childish. Flores had flatly denied her relationship with Rainiere and the sect, and was leading all the polls to be the next governor of Nuevo León on June 6. The candidacy of the chosen one of Morena surprised in a state of conservative tradition and aimed to make history. But the PRI, and his main rival in the entity, Adrián de la Garza, overtook him on the right. They leaked the conversation that she had denied. And Morena's polls plummeted.This Sunday night, Flores has sought to overcome one of the worst hits of his career through a public statement: “I made a mistake by saying that I did not know the founder of NXVIUM. I faced the situation badly and I apologize. My mistake was not publicly accepting that moment in my life. "

Filtered a video of Morena's candidate for the Government of Nuevo León with the leader of the NXIVM sect

This is how his followers see the leader of the sex sect NXIVM: from "psychopath" and "predator" to "man of peace"

The mistake Flores refers to was having repeatedly denied that he had ever met Rainiere. "I don't know what NXIVM is talking about," he went on to point out in an interview with journalist Julio Astillero, "I took a self-improvement course, I wasn't at NXIVM." And he also denied ever having met the criminal. The video where the candidate was observed chatting with Rainiere was a hook to the brunette's liver and her credibility began to fall precipitously. According to the average of the polls that this newspaper has reviewed, it plummeted to 18.8% approval. And the main beneficiary was the controversial candidate of Movimiento Ciudadano, Samuel García, who went from third place to second, with a 10-point advantage over Flores. The PRI de la Garza, who has been accused of corruption by Flores,maintains a comfortable first place, with more than 30% acceptance.

Nuevo León: the sudden collapse of Clara Luz Flores

The candidate has seen her popularity decline in recent weeks with little margin to come back to the top position with which she began the campaign. And in an unexpected turn of his agenda, he has decided to acknowledge what his constituents observed in the video, which misled the population. "I tripped like everyone, and like everyone now I get up," began the video that has been made public on their social networks. “I sought help through a course, the founder turned out to be a criminal, but it is unfair that my rivals make me carry the crimes of an international criminal who is already in jail today. It is cowardly that to win votes they want to confuse who the real criminals are. I have the sensitivity and the guts to recognize my mistakes, but also the strength to learn from them and get up, "he said.

In 2019, a collaborator of the applicant explained in an interview with EL PAÍS that Flores arrived at NXIVM about five years ago. Her arrival came years after the kidnapping of one of her stepsons in Nuevo León, while she was mayor of the Escobedo municipality and had gained popularity for taking forceful measures against organized crime. The intention of joining, noted the source, who described himself as a close friend, was to overcome the psychological consequences of the kidnapping and found results in the Executive Success Programs (ESP), the flagship product of NXIVM. According to internal documents reviewed by this newspaper, Flores was a

coach

and reached the grade of yellow belt with a streak, the second lowest level in the ESP ladder. To do this, according to the rules of the sect, he had to have recruited at least two people directly and that they had put in another five people, although high-profile members were often given facilities to rise in rank.

The candidate has not explained her specific ties to the sect or her work during those years for the organization. He has only acknowledged having taken the course, knowing Rainiere and has defended his candidacy in a terminal moment. “I have fought against organized crime. When they told me that I could not be mayor of Escobedo, I won the election three times. When they told me that I could not eradicate violence in the municipality, I made the municipality safer and was named ambassador and hero of peace by the United Nations ”, he remarked. "I have learned and I recognize that I fell as we all have, and like everyone now I get up," he ended. It is the riskiest bet of Flores to save a candidacy in free fall since the leak of the video.

NXIVM made headlines after

The New York Times

revealed

in 2017

that DOS existed, a secret group of sex slaves created by Raniere. The insinuation, since then, was that everyone who had passed through the group had consented to the abuses or, in the worst case, participated in them. In reality, few clients went from the courses to belong to the cult and there was an extremely rigid pyramidal order, in which Raniere was always the most benefited. The disintegration of the organization and the loss of the bulk of its collaborators came after the DOS sex scandal exploded. Three years after Raniere's arrest in the Mexican resort of Puerto Vallarta, the shadow of NXIVM has re-entered the electoral dispute.

Converted into a political weapon especially for the State of Nuevo León, no Mexican involved in the leadership of the group has yet faced a judicial investigation in the country.

Flores' confession puts the issue back on the public debate and the possibility of opening an investigation into his participation in the sect, as well as that of other accused of being part, such as Mario Delgado, Morena's national leader.

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