Durazo Goes for Sonora / MX$41 Billion Funneled to Companies

Durazo leaves SSPC to run for Sonora governor. Minister of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) Alfonso Durazo said he will run for governor of Sonora, a US border state. He will represent the president’s party, Morena. “I’m resigning from the cabinet but not the political project that the president leads,” he said. Durazo, a former PRI, PAN and PRD member, pointed out that his departure was in response to the “the Sonora militancy.” Olympic medalist Ana Guevara, another close aid to the president and former sports council (CONADE) head, has already joined that race for Sonora representing the Labor Party (PT), which also has close ties with the López Obrador administration.

Highlights MX$111 billion saved from huachicoleros. Minister of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) Alfonso Durazo said that the less than positive results in security indicators does not diminish the other security achievements during this administration. “The strategy we have applied is providing results progressively. The problem of insecurity will not be solved overnight,” he said. Durazo added that in September, theft of hydrocarbons had fallen to 4.07 barrels per day, a figure he said will continue to fall. He said Mexico has saved over MX$111 billion (US$528 million) in the fight against the fuel theft cartels also known as huachicoleros. Durazo also highlighted 599 arrests of high-profile criminals, mostly from the Jalisco Nueva Generación and Unión Tepito cartels.

Private companies got billions. CONACYT funneled more that MX$41 billion (US$195 million) from 2013 to 2018 to private companies through the 109 financial trusts that were terminated yesterday, the office’s director, María Elena Álvarez Buylla, reported. “More than MX$15 billion (US$71 million) was transferred directly and another MX$26 billion (US$12.4 billion) went through the annual innovation stimuli program, totaling MX$41 billion (US$195 million) funneled directly from CONACYT to private companies,” she said. While presenting a detailed report on every company and the funds they received, Álvarez Buylla explained that in the last six-year term, 44 percent of the resources managed by the science and technology council where given to private companies, including Intel, Whirlpool, Volkswagen, Mabe, IBM and Monsanto.

AMLO thanks legislators, orders audit. President López Obrador thanked senators and House representatives for approving the elimination of 109 financial trusts. “Those funds were managed without any transparency. There are allegations of corruption related to these trusts,” he said and insisted that he will make sure the funds are given to the people who deserve them. López Obrador reported that the legal adviser of the presidency has already started procedures to carry out a comprehensive audit of all funds and trusts. “It will be a financial, administrative, technical audit, and if there is evidence of corruption, criminal complaints will be presented to the Attorney General’s office,” he said.

Slim rejected proposal to run in election. During the 2018 elections “those who think they own Mexico” proposed Carlos Slim to become a presidential candidate and thus prevent him from winning the federal election, President López Obrador said. It was “groups that were in charge, those who felt they were the owners of Mexico,” he said. The president insisted on the need to separate political and economic powers. “This does not mean we are fighting businesspeople since they are very important for the development of the country. Not everyone is evil. There are those who, with a lot effort and work, build a patrimony. We have to respect them,” he said.

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Click HERE for full transcript in Spanish