Adàn Augusto Lòpez, Claudia Sheinbaum, Ricardo Monreal and Marcelo Ebrard, during a Morena meeting on June 11. HENRY ROMERO (Portal)
“Public debates and controversies, lawsuits for defamation, disqualifications or aggression between applicants are avoided. His followers must strictly adhere to the same rule.” It was one of the commitments signed by the six Corcholatas, as Andrés Manuel López Obrador calls the candidates to succeed him, on June 11th in the Morena National Council, and one of the ones signed by the Party-sponsored safeguards to avoid splits in the race for the presidential nomination. The campaigns have not yet crossed the two-week threshold and it already seems that, despite the script devised for the internal competition, another story is being written. Virtually all participants have exchanged claims, accusations and insinuations to undermine their political ambitions amid leaks, newspapers and suspicions, as they have expressed in rallies, speeches and interviews to the media over the past few days.
“The tours of candidates to coordinate the Fourth Transformation’s defense committees began, and with them the dirty war,” accuses a video released this week by the team led by Marcelo Ebrard, the former foreign minister. The former foreign minister asked the Contralínea portal to broadcast a report entitled “The court record that Marcelo Ebrard wanted to make disappear” and that it had been published just one night before the start of the Corcholata tours of the country. His staff denounced that the publication was based on a “political persecution” of former President Enrique Peña Nieto and that the allegations have been dismissed since 2017.
In the recording, the former secretary’s communications team indicates that the allegations are coming from outside and inside, in a sort of “friendly fire.” “Even that hasn’t stopped the accounts and bot farms of certain digital agencies sympathetic to other Corcholatas,” reads the video, titled “Who’s Who in the Dirty War?”, a nod to López Obrador’s morning part in the the government refutes and disqualifies newspaper articles and opinion columns that criticize it. “All this to try to beat Marcelo and keep him from first place,” adds a narrator. The “dirty war” claims are not new. Since mid-May, before the rules of the game between the applicants were set, the chancellor at the time had denounced a plan staged in networks to undermine his credibility.
Ebrard has also complained about the “waste” and “procrastination” of his rivals’ and comrades-in-arms’ campaigns and has threatened to file formal complaints to avoid unfair advantages in the race. Claudia Sheinbaum, former prime minister and leader of most polls, denied it was a “waste” and said she will use the resources she has invested in the massive rallies she has led in recent days make transparent.
Sheinbaum herself, of Jewish origin although not practicing, was the target of a black campaign steeped in xenophobia and anti-Semitism. There was even a false rumor that she wasn’t a Mexican citizen and was “born in Bulgaria”. The only woman in the corcholata group published her birth certificate on social networks, but later deleted it. “I’m pure Mexican,” converted the former prime minister. He also denounced that there is “a part of misogyny in society, including among colleagues”.
Sheinbaum wasn’t without leaks either. “I’m tired,” you can hear what he said to Alfonso Durazo, Governor of Sonora and President of the Morena Council. The image-damaging shot of the former prime minister came to light just days after the ruling party announced the agreements between the participants in the presidential race. The lawsuit came after supporters of other Corcholatas received it with shouts of “same ground,” despite an alleged agreement not to mobilize supporters at the Guinda Formation meeting, according to fellow prospective Gerardo Fernandez Norona’s version.
In an interview with this newspaper, Fernández Noroña assured that there was an “accusation” within the movement and that the demands for a “same floor” for candidates as Ebrard were a “euphemism” so as not to refer directly to the practices which would have led to tensions between the aspirants. “I’m not complaining about anything, but it’s evident that the entire political fabric of our movement is in the service of an entitlement,” he commented. The Labor Party (PT) nominee has also claimed that false rumors have been spread to tarnish his image, including that the PT is negotiating a rejection in favor of another candidate. “Those are lies,” he said.
Adán Augusto López, former interior minister, cracked down on journalist Carlos Loret this week for presenting a note alerting relatives of MP Andrea Chávez, one of his main supporters, to the use of a plane by the armed forces. “It’s part of the dirty war,” said López, who called the communicator “misogynistic” and “cowardly.” The Tabasco politician has also been the subject of rumors on social networks about his relationship with Chávez and aspects of his private life not relevant to the competition. Lawmakers said it was a “misinformation campaign” by the opposition, as it has seen clashes with their political rivals and questions about exploitation of their position in Congress.
“I order everyone not to file complaints. This is useless for the inner unit. I will not file a single complaint,” state-licensed Senator Ricardo Monreal said, despite his comments about the painted fences and the billboards used by the other applicants to promote their image. “I will not help undo what we have built,” he added this week.
López Obrador emphasized this Wednesday that Morena is not at risk of broken bones. “Our opponents are being abandoned and think there will be a rupture within our movement,” the president said. He also assured that after September 6, when the results of the internal survey and the “mirror” measurements are due to be announced, there would be consensus, as he instructed the Corcholatas. “There are those who are for one thing or the other, but when it is settled they will close their ranks and also if it were the case that someone falls in love thinking that what matters most is the personal and not the general interest “Nothing would happen because people want the transformation,” he explained.
However, the points of friction were obvious and ranged from the financing of the internal process and the survey methodology to some bans on applicants, which in the end turned out to be absurd and very difficult to enforce. The tight balance that Morena tries to avoid with electoral laws and not getting involved in early campaign activities has added complexity to the whole process. “On the edge of what can and cannot be done, they move in a space where there is a political agreement of courtesy with the other corcholatas, a kind of limbo where there are no regulations or clear sanctions because there is not prejudice.” campaign formally,” analyst Enrique Gutiérrez told this newspaper last week.
“Unity and mobilization” reads the banner Morena put up for the registration of applicants. In these coordinates, the ruling party is looking for a candidate and also to maintain cohesion to assert itself in the 2024 elections as the political force with the most votes in the country.
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