Mexico News Update. January 4, 2023.

Yasmin Esquivel Mossa

Yasmin Esquivel Mossa is a minister (deciding judge) within Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice (Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación or SCJN). She is the wife of José María Riobóo, owner of Riobóo, S.A., one of the top construction companies favored by the governments led by Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO); both in the Mexico City government when he was mayor, as well as in the current federal government.

In November 2022, a scandal regarding Minister Yasmin Esquivel Mossa after a news report was released by LatinUS about her committing plagiarism while writing her thesis to graduate from her bachelor’s degree for law school. The finding was revealed by Guillermo Sheridan, who found and exposed that the exact same thesis Esquivel Mossa used to graduate in 1987 had been written and presented by Edgar Baez Gutierrez, another attorney from the same university (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México or UNAM) over a year earlier in 1986. Both theses were directed by the same person, Martha Rodriguez Ortiz, and later it was found that there were at least three other theses, that were directed by the same person, that had a high percentage of information directly copied from Baez Gutierrez original thesis.

It is noteworthy to mention that AMLO tried to minimize the plagiarism incident of Minister Esquivel Mossa, and support her candidacy, for she was AMLO’s top pick to become the new President of the Supreme Court of Justice, upon Minister Atruro Zaldivar Lelo de Larrea’s tenure as President was over in the last day of December 2022. Nevertheless, the scandal of her plagiarism kept going, and the more she attempted to defend herself publicly the more rage and indignation grew among opposing politicians, the academic community, opinion leaders, journalists and citizens in general. The pressure in mainstream media and social media was such that it appeared almost impossible that Esquivel Mossa could be elected internally to become the new President of the Supreme Court of Justice.

On January 2, 2023 the election process within the Supreme Court of Justice took place. After three rounds of votes, the new President was elected; they elected Minister Norma Lucía Piña Hernández (Norma Piña). Her designation created great rage for AMLO, for she has consistently voted against most of his initiatives to modify the constitution in the major reforms (energy, law enforcement/security and the modification of the electoral system). Piña’s designation as the new President of the Supreme Court of Justice was considered a major victory for the opposition of AMLO (opposing politicians, academics, journalists and social activists) as a way to maintain the balance of the three major powers in Mexico (Executive Power, Legislative Power and Judicial Power).

There continues to be a lot of pressure against Yasmin Esquivel Mossa, for many members of the academic community, journalists, social activists, etc. consider she should step down from her seat in the Supreme Court of Justice because she is morally unfit for what should be an honorable position. Others have gone as far as to demand the UNAM strip her from her JD title because it is considered that the title was attained in an illegal and unethical way. The UNAM continues to investigate the matter, and although it has provided written statements about the preliminary findings of the investigations, they have not provided a final verdict on the matter.

A parallel investigation on the matter was conducted by the Mexico City District Attorney’s Office led by Ernestina Godoy Ramos, and after an expedited verdict was released publicly, which was publicly challenged by many, Godoy Ramos stated that the final findings were not yet presented. More to follow on this matter.

The Presidential Succession

Historically, especially during the era in which the ruling PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) party ruled in Mexico, it was a tradition that the successor to the president was appointed as a preferred candidate, and the entire political party supported the president’s designation. The revelation of said candidate was known as the destape (uncovering).

Currently, MORENA (Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional)––the ruling political party–– has designated three leading nominees to be the presidential successor once Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) steps down. The three nominees have been colloquially named corcholatas (pronounced: core-cho-laatas)––or bottle caps––because of the uncovering action to reveal their anointed designation, are: Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón, and Adan Augusto López Hernández.

Claudia Sheinbaum appears to be AMLO’s favorite and she has received many endorsements from those closest to AMLO. She has been the head of the Mexico City Government, a key position occupied before both by AMLO and Marcelo Ebrard. Nevertheless, in an attempt to help position her name, image and #EsClaudia caption, many legislators, local politicians and other supporters have posted many paid billboards and publicity on walls, social media, subway stations, and so on before the authorized electoral periods, which is an open and direct violation of the electoral laws. One of the supporters, legislator Carmen Patricia Armendariz Guerra (or Patricia Armendariz) openly declared in mainstream media her financial support in paying for the billboards for Claudia Scheinbaum’s anticipated campaign. This created such outrage among citizens on twitter and other social media platforms, as well as mainstream media, that even the group of legislators of MORENA in the house of representatives had to openly declare that they would take action to remove said billboards and publicity; but the law has already been broken and there is a lot of pressure from social activists to demand before the electoral court sanctions against MORENA and Claudia Sheinbaum. It is noteworthy to mention that it appears that although great efforts have been made nationwide to promote Scheinbaum Pardo, her popularity does not seem to rise to what has been desired or expected. She has against her a very poor management of two high profile crises: the falling of the Line 12 of the Mexico City Subway (Metro) rails and railcars, and the handling of the falling of an illegal addition to a building of the Enrique Rebsamen school during the 2017 earthquake in Mexico City. Both had high death tolls and no significant consequences of accountability for negligence have been executed.

Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón (or Marcelo Ebrard) is a seasoned politician who was mentored by the late Manuel Camacho Solís (PRI), who had been Mayor of Mexico City. Ebrard Casaubón is currently the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Previously he has also been the head of Mexico City’s Government. He has been very close and loyal to AMLO (one of the leading values appreciated by AMLO) to the point where he has even stepped down in internal party elections to allow AMLO to take over. Prior to being the head of Mexico City’s Government, he had been appointed to lead the city’s public safety department. Ebrard Casaubon has also been known to be a strong financial and fundraising supporter of AMLO over the years, and although does not appear to be AMLO’s preferred candidate (so far)––because many consider he may be a threat to AMLO once he steps down––he does appear to be the first runner up behind Scheinbaum Pardo, running a very close match with Adan Augusto López Hernández. Ebrard Casaubón has also been accused of anticipated campaign publicity violations, but much less so than Scheinbaum Pardo. Ebrard Casaubon has also been identified with the Line 12 Subway’s falling since it was constructed or modified during his tenure as the head of Mexico City’s Government.

Adan Augusto López Hernández is the current Minister of the Interior (Secretario de Gobernación). He is a close childhood friend, political operator and confidant of AMLO. He is an attorney, whose father is a Public Notary (which is a very relevant legal register in Mexico), and has been a great supporter of AMLO and all his initiatives. He is the former Governor of the State of Tabasco (AMLO’s home state). López Hernández has been known to openly break many electoral laws to attain the results requested by AMLO. He is not particularly popular, and has also done some anticipated campaign promotions, but to a lesser extent that Sheinbaum Pardo and Ebrard Casaubón.

Overall, it appears that the only way for the opposition can win against MORENA in the coming elections (two key governorships in 2023 and the presidential campaign for 2024) will be if most of the opposing parties (PRI, PAN, PRD and possibly some smaller ones) get together in a coalition to go against MORENA. It is still unclear who the final runners as internal candidates for the coalition may be, but it is expected that much will be defined during Q1 and Q2 of 2023.

The Government’s Mega Projects

The three emblematic mega projects of AMLO’s presidency, the Dos Bocas Refinery, the Felipe Angeles International Airport (alternate to the Mexico City Airport) and the Mayan Train have come at very high financial and political costs due to their poor planning, corruption practices and lack of tangible benefits and results. It appears that they will not be profitable and the political cost may be too high if there isn’t a strong benefit for the population within the next year and a half. Much more to come on these items in the next few months.