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Spain grants a residence permit to Felipe Calderón with the help of José María Aznar

2022-12-14T11:19:52.286Z


The former Mexican president will have Madrid as his base thanks to a contract as a professor at the foundation of the former Spanish president


Felipe Calderón, walks with the former Spanish president, José María Aznar, on April 28 of this year, in Madrid.Europa Press News (Getty Images)

Felipe Calderón, former president of Mexico from 2006 to 2012, is preparing his trip to Spain.

The former president obtained a residence and work authorization as a highly qualified professional last October, as confirmed to EL PAÍS by sources familiar with the case.

This authorization, which requires a higher education qualification and an employment contract, has been sponsored by the former president of the Spanish Government, José María Aznar.

The former Spanish president has signed the Mexican at the Atlantic Institute of Government, the academic institution he founded in 2014. The authorization, for two years but renewable for another five, is pending the former leader of the PAN, the Mexican right, formalize his entry in the country.

Calderón's plan, according to a collaborator, is to make Madrid his base for at least the next semester.

Calderón is already the third former Mexican president to obtain papers in Spain, as EL PAÍS has been reporting exclusively.

Before Calderón, Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018) and Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994) guaranteed their legal residence in the country in different ways.

None of them has been especially specific in their motivations for moving away from Mexico, but none of the three has the special sympathy of the country's current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Calderón does not have any open investigation in his country, as is the case of Peña Nieto, but the highest police chief of his Government faces a trial in the United States for collaborating with the Sinaloa Cartel during, precisely, the years of the war against drugs that the then Mexican president launched after he came to power.

Consulted by this newspaper about the details of the granting of the authorization, Calderón assures that he "works professionally as a consultant and lecturer", in the latter case through agencies in the United States and South America.

"For these work reasons he travels constantly, concentrating for now his commitments in Europe and the Middle East."

In a text sent to this newspaper through a collaborator, Calderón explains: "Recently, the Atlántico Government Institute, through its president, José María Aznar, has invited him to collaborate in various academic projects aimed at examining the political situation and economy of Latin America.

For this purpose, he has recently requested and obtained a work visa "for highly qualified professionals" granted by the Spanish Government,

to carry out such activities, with the respective temporary residence authorization”.

The note adds: "It should be remembered that President Calderón, who had donated his former president's pension to the Fundación de Niños con Cáncer Aquí Nadie se Rinde, has lived from his academic and professional work since he concluded his term as President of the Republic, in 2012".

The first ex-president to leave Mexico was Enrique Peña Nieto, who in October 2020 obtained a golden visa thanks to the purchase in Madrid of a property worth more than half a million euros.

According to himself, he told EL PAÍS, last November, he left Mexico to "dissociate himself from Mexican political life" and to be "respectful of time" from López Obrador.

The PRI member is in the crosshairs of the Attorney General's Office (FGR), which is keeping three investigations open against him for money laundering and illicit enrichment, accusations that the former president dismisses as "absurd."

After three years without setting foot in his country, Peña Nieto has renewed his residence permit, has bought the villa where he lives and intends to stay in Madrid, for now, indefinitely.

After Peña Neto's movement, it was the turn of Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who obtained his Spanish passport at the beginning of 2021 due to his Sephardic ancestry.

Salinas de Gortari does not confirm if he lives in Spain, but his visits are recurring.

The former president has been the target of criticism from the current president for having implemented the neoliberal model in Mexico.

For years, he considered him the head of what he called "the power mafia."

But of all the former presidents, the one who is perhaps the most uncomfortable for López Obrador is Felipe Calderón.

The now president, who fought against Calderón in the 2006 elections, has since considered that he stole the presidency.

“Calderón is a puppet, a puppet of a very powerful group in Mexico that wants to continue devouring the country.

I say this with all due respect, it is not a personal matter, politically speaking Calderón has no moral authority," López Obrador said at the time in an interview with EL PAÍS.

Calderón is also a president who finds it hard not to give his opinion on the political affairs of his country.

He often does it on Twitter, where he has more than six million followers.

The custom has made his respective successors uncomfortable.

The carry is so crude that they have had to admit it.

In addition to the crimes committed, among others the massive diversion of public resources, by doing so they are admitting that they no longer have the strength to organize a voluntary rally, without payment or threat.

They were afraid to do it.

— Felipe Calderón 🇺🇦 (@FelipeCalderon) November 26, 2022

The last reason for Calderón's concern was given by the top head of the Mexican police during his government, who was arrested in Dallas (Texas, United States) in December 2019. Genaro García Luna is accused of collaborating with the Sinaloa Cartel during the years of the war against drugs that the then Mexican president launched after he came to power.

García Luna faces three charges for organized crime and the US justice system points to him as the arm of the Government that allowed the most powerful cartel in the world, in exchange for millionaire bribes, to operate with total impunity in Mexico.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-12-14

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