Grand Theft Auto in Zacatecas: Close collaborator of Amalia García arrested

Strange days in Zacatecas. Sonia Villarreal, a close collaborator of former governor Amalia García, was arrested on charges of auto theft, as a property apparently belonging to her was full of stolen vehicles, as well as 150 rollaway beds (!) belonging to the DIF state social assistance agency.

The name Sonia Villarreal rang a bell to me, and after checking my notes I realized that I spoke with her on 3-4 occasions when I in vain sought to gain a personal interview with then-Governor García - Villareal was in charge of her agenda, apparently. While knowing nothing of her possible guilt or innocence, I did think to myself, funny how life goes.

Amalia García off the hook, for now

Former governor of Zacatecas, Amalia García Medina, has for months been under investigation for the "diversion of resources" during her government. Now, however, the 23rd Circuit Court (Zacatecas) suspended this process, blocking the Zacatecas State Comptroller's proceedings against her, and thus reversing an earlier decision by the 2nd District Court (Federal District). That means that for now, García is off the hook.

Claudia Corichi García's drunk calling; Amalia García ignores legal deadline

Claudia Corichi García is the daughter of until rather recently governor of Zacatecas, Amalia García Medina. She is a national senator of the PRD, and has past years faced quite a few charges of nepotism, of being utterly unqualfified for a senator (the bar is admittedly low), and of abusing her position for own gains - though she has never been convicted of any wrongdoing. Yet her critics found further ammunition this weekend: An intercepted telephone call where Corichi, according to some reports "in a state of inebriation," offers the PRD-PT-Convergencia candidate Ángel Aguirre to send 100 "volunteers." Aguirre responds by stating a desire for "sweets and books" to be handed out.

There are many angles here: It just happens to be that the phone conversation was leaked after a barrage of evidence has surfaced for the active and illegal -and far worse- intermission of other PRI governors, chiefly Enrique Peña Nieto, in the election. It should also be worrisome for Aguirre and his campaign that his phone conversations are obviously tapped, either by PRI directly or certainly by collaborators of the party. Yet in the end it is also an indictment of the morals of Claudia Corichi. Despite the relatively innocuous transgression, her attempted intermission (in return for what?) comes at time when her mother is facing her own, and far more serious, woes: This weekend was the deadline for the former Zacatecas governor to come up with evidence she claimed would fully dispel the many claims of embezzlement she has been facing from the new state administration. Guillermo Huizar, the state comptroller, said his office had not received any documents. That means in practice that the former governor may face legal sanctions in a few weeks' time.

It would be too cheap with a "the apple doesn't fall far" comment here, especially as none of the two - mother or daughter - has actually been convicted of any wrongdoing. Yet Claudia Corichi's drunk calling offering help to the Guerrero candidate certainly does little good for her own reputation or that of her mother.

A step toward possible prosecution: Judge denies amparo to Amalia García

A Zacatecas city judge denied former Amalia García a writ of amparo, which she had filed through a law firm to seek to avoid legal complaints about her alleged responsibility in administrative irregularities in the state she governed for six years.

García, whose administration is under scrutiny by a new PRI-led government, had sought to freeze the investigation of a possible 1.4 billion pesos embezzlement, where she is herself implicated directly in at least four out of 39 proceedings. No such luck.

Note that the ex governor had earlier claimed she would not resort to any such legal measures, which is now exposed, as it goes, as an "untruth."

García has claimed political persecution, given that the new government is closely allied with her old nemesis, Ricardo Monreal. We shall see.

Love and arrogance: Salvador García Soto's take on Amalia García and her daugher:

A withering critique of Amalia García and her senator daughter Claudia Corichi in Salvador García Soto's column today: They were felled by "love and arrogance":

"But what was the sin of a politician known for her career as a fighter on the left? There were two: Love and arrogance. Overprotection of her daughter, who was made senator with little political experience, and acquiescing to her many excesses, impudences, and interferences in her administration led to many of the problems it faces.

And arrogant pride, because even in defeat, after a mistake of choosing a bad candidate for the PRD that was disregarded by the likes of Marcelo Ebrard and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who advised her to reconsider and to support an alliance PRD-PT-Convergencia  when faces with the risk of losing, Amalia never had the humility to accept that she lost and that behind her defeat was not only a young politician and current governor Miguel Alonso Reyes, but her nemesis, whom she confronted but whose upper strength knocked her down, former Governor Ricardo Monreal Avila."

Ouch.

Amalia's story

A straightalker she is not: Far from it. Amalia Garcìa sat down in a full-lenght interview with El Universal to give her side of the story, yet it is pretty disappointing given how circumspect she is on many topics.

 Her main line: What Governor Miguel Alonso is doing is regressing to the "dark eras" of the PRI, persecuting her politically. Among the specific points:
- The millions of pesos spent on popular artists was an investment, to drive tourism to the state and generate employment.
- The current governor, in any regard,  was her secretary of tourism, and approved of it
- The comptroller and the government is using the media to judge her, without summoning anyone for questioning
- Debt contracted and left was only 600 million pesos, not 2 billion pesos
- The current governor is a monrealista, and as such it is also an attack by Ricardo Monreal.

Then, and rather astoundingly, Amalia García hints that she is being targeted in order to prevent her from running for mayor of Mexico City - as it were, also a goal expressed by her arch-enemy Monreal. That Amalia, given the recent battering, but also from the fact that she can´t even legally run - she is not a resident of the Federal District, having left Zacatecas merely weeks ago - already talks of a Mexico City run in the midst of what may or may not be a major corruption scandal, to me appears more than a bit presumptuous.

She does, in any event, certainly have a point when it comes to Ricardo Monreal, whose ghost hovers over the new Zacatecas government. As Bajo Reserva notes:
- The new comptroller, Guillermo Huizar, was head of the state branch of the Partido del Trabajo, which Monreal and his brothers joined after ditching the PRD
- The new attorney general Arturo Nahle was Monreal's Government Secretary
- His chief administrative officer Le Roy Barraga is Monreal's suplente in the Senate

Even Arturo Ramírez  Bucio a federal deputy for PAN from Zacatecas, told the new PRI governor to "cut the umbilical cord," which may be taken almost literally: Governor Alonso was at one point even Monreal's personal secretary.

Amalia´s "anomalies": Corruption and fraud charges against former Zacatecas governor Garcìa Medina

A "political persecution" and "witch hunt" - or the uncovering of massive corruption, embezzlement and overspending? Mere days after Miguel Alonso Reyes assumed the governorship of Zacatecas in September, his finance secretary informed Amalia García's government had left a debt of at least 2 billion pesos. Now, two months later, the state's financial control organ appears to have uncovered a range of financial irregularities in her 6-year Zacatecas administration, with more than 1.5 billion pesos "diverted" or simply lost. This includes: million-peso contracts that weren't properly tendered, falsified invoices, manipulated social programs, irregular personal loans, illegally contracted debt, and, to add, spending millions of dollars on hiring popular artists to perform, such as paying 17 million pesos to Plácido Domingo, 15 millones to Alejandro Sanz, and 9 million pesos to Juan Gabriel - this, in one of Mexico's poorest states. Amelia Garcìa in response accused the new Alonso Reyes government of engaging in a "witch hunt" and "political lynching," and mere incompetence in the revision of the accounts.

"The offensive that you and your government has started is without merit and is motivated by political reasons. To these accusation I and those who were my staff have decided to ive a timely response, yet it is clear that along with acting in bad faith, there is great inability to investigate with professionalism the information that was provided with the handover of the administration.

Notably, though, there were no direct responses to the specific accusations. Moreover, further comments said in defense were hardly ingenious: Medina, in a PRD press conference, suggested the new government, was only trying to cover up its own incompetence and the growing violence in the state - a bit of a far stretch given that the Alonso Reyes only took over two months ago, when crime had long been on the rise. Her daughter, Senator Claudia Corichi, for her part meekly rejected accusations of her incompetence as head of the state DIF, because her position was merely "honorary."

What will come of these accusations, if they are indeed true? Governor Miguel Alonso Reyes has certainly backed up the control organ's investigation, and already before the preliminary results  - which so far only cover about 2 percent of the state's total budget - had been released, the  former director of investigations of the state attorney general's office was detained for embezzlement, although Guillermo Huízar Carranza, the state comptroller, says the government is so far not accusing Garcìa directly of any wrongdoing. Moreover, as El Universal points out in an editorial, such "housecleanings" only seem to be done whenever there is a change of parties in the state government, more than hinting at a political tinge to the investigation. Certainly, many of the new functionaries, as well as the governor himself, are very close to Garcìa's predecessor, Ricardo Monreal Ávila, who while then technically of the same party - Monreal was a lifelong PRI member until he failed to get the gubernatorial nomination, and then joined the PRD (he dumped it for the PT later) - soon became a bitter enemy of the Garcìa administration.

Yet Garcìa hasn't herself exactly inspired confidence by appointing close members of the family to important posts. And while she appears knee-deep in serious corruption charges, she still took the time off for a final offensive at PRD Senator Tomás Torres Mercado, managing to have the Zacatecas senator expelled from the PRD for having backed the campaign of Alonso Reyes, a former PRD member himself. Whichever the nature of the recent investigations - a political witch hunt, revenge, or actually the uncovering of massive wrongdoing - this should really be the least of her concerns.

Miguel Alonso Reyes assumes as Zacatecas governor, will investigate Amalia García's government

Miguel Alonso Reyes, the first of the governors elected the past July 4th to assume power, had very harsh words for the outgoing state administration of Amalia García Medina. Alonso declared in his inauguration ceremony,

"Our people people reprove of the profit making for the personal and family gain of our rulers. We reject the irresponsible practice of those tho feel that public goods and the government are their property. The exercise of public service is always to serve."

Very strong words, especially with Amalia García just meters away from the podium. The new governor declared he would revise the public accounts and budget spending for any irregularities. Denunciations of nepotism involving García and her daughter Claudia Sofía Corichi García have certainly been flying around for quite some time, and one might find out whether these had any substance. 

Miguel Alonso, notably, is  former PRD member who held positions in both García's and her predecessor Ricardo Monreal's government, but ditched the PRD to run on a PRI-PVEM-PANAL coalition. His victory, which meant the PRD's loss of Zacatecas after 12 years of governing, has primarily been attributed to a mediocre performance by Amalia García, who was strongly criticized by Alonso for leaving Zacatecas with declining social indicators and economic performance standards.

García saw her presidential ambitions pretty much squashed after failing to impose Antonio Mejía Haro as her successor, but the failure of PRD-PT-Convergencia to present a common candidate - Monreal has since ditched the PRD and worked for a separate PT candidate - was clearly of huge importance as well. 

Zacatecas damage assessment: PRD´s electoral disaster on July 4th

PRD certainly had a rather brutal defeat in Zacatecas, going from 46.40 percent to 24.6 percent - a pretty stunning drop.

Why did this happen, and what can the PRD learn from this?
The most important lesson, as the PRD seems to acknowledge, is that PRI-style dedazos will backfire drastically. The PRD's candidate was seen as an imposition by Governor Amalia Garcia, whose lackluster administration has been a deep disappointment, in particularly for those who saw her as a possible candidate for the presidency.

(We´ll talk about the damage done by former priísta, former perredista, and now ardent petista, Senator Ricardo Monreal later).

Yet also it shows the poor party loyalty from many of the nominal perredistas who bailed ship and actually supported the PRI candidate (himself a former perredista!), such as Raymundo Càrdenas.
It is understandable that there will be disaffection among the party base and elite under such circumstances. But it nonetheless illustrates the amazing opportunism among even long-time PRD cadres, who jump ship to join their old archenemy PRI.
What is to be done?