The Guardian
Mexican President under attack for defending politician accused of rape
Amlo again clashes with women’s rights activists by rejecting complaints against Félix Salgado Macedonio, candidate for governor Members of women’s rights groups protest to demand that Amlo reject the candidacy of Félix Salgado Macedonio in Mexico City on 15 February. Photo: Ssshenka Gutierrez / EPA A growing dispute over a candidate for governor who faces rape charges once again pitted Mexico’s populist president against women’s rights defenders. Félix Salgado Macedonio signed up to run for governor in the state of Guerrero for the ruling party Morena, despite accusations of sexual violence and rape committed by five women since 1998. Salgado remained silent as outrage over the accusations increased, although his lawyer José Luis Gallegos insisted “there is no evidence” and called the complaints “stories of invented crimes”, according to the newspaper Reforma. Salgado was not charged with any crime. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has doggedly defended Salgado, even as the demands for the president to dismiss him as a candidate increase. López Obrador initially dismissed the allegations as “politicking” and then claimed that the attacks on Salgado were little more than a ruse against the president himself, saying that he was part of a “media lynching” campaign. Mexican women responded to Salgado’s candidacy – and her defense of the president – with a social media campaign, in which they posted photos of themselves holding placards with the words “President, break the pact”, a reference to rampant machismo in Mexican politics . “This is the opportunity for the president and Morena [López Obrador’s party] to demonstrate that they really are different and have a little decency ”, tweeted the writer Alma Delia Murillo, who sent the hashtag #RompeElPacto trending. “Do not make a pact with machismo by testifying to a candidate like Félix Salgado.” Amlo, as the president is known, received these calls with the concise comment: “Ya chole!” – “Enough!” Later, he said: “They are calling me in the Félix Salgado case, and there is a media lynching campaign on all radio programs, in the entire press against Félix”. The episode again put Amlo in conflict with women’s rights activists and the country’s growing feminist movement. Throughout his tenure, Amlo rejected protests calling for action against Mexico’s plague of femicides with scorn and conspiracy charges. He claimed, without evidence, that the Mexican feminist movement was infiltrated by “conservatives” like a Trojan horse to attack his government. His government cut funding for programs and shelters for women, despite the increase in domestic violence amid coronavirus blockades. “Amlo doesn’t understand the feminist agenda,” said Bárbara González, a political analyst in Monterrey. “For him, these demands are a distraction from his agenda. It is something for elites, conservatives and people trying to thwart their plans. ”His plans include maintaining control of Congress and running for governor disputes in almost half of the 32 Mexican states in the June 6 elections. Morena, a party founded by Amlo in 2014, tends to choose its candidates through research, although Amlo has the last word in the nominations, González said. Salgado, a licensed senator, leads the polls in Guerrero, which is south of Mexico City and includes some of the country’s most marginalized and violent municipalities. Nicknamed “El Toro”, Salgado was mayor of Acapulco between 2006 and 2008, when the violence of the drug cartel exploded in what was once the grandfather of Mexican tourist destinations. He also has a long history of loyalty to Amlo, along with sponsorship networks across the state, according to analysts. Morena’s women have asked Amlo to leave Salgado and the party’s honesty and justice commission is investigating the charges against Salgado. But Morena party president Mario Delgado said Salgado could run as long as he was not convicted or sentenced. “Everything is done like this [Salgado] he is never convicted and, in reality, almost no man is convicted of sexual violence, ”said Paola Zavala Saeb, a lawyer and director of Ocupa México, a violence prevention organization. “Only 2% of complaints of sexual violence end with a sentence.”