Despite controversy and accusations, prosecutor Gertz Manero sat in the front row of AMLO's report

“No comment”, were the words of the Attorney General of the Republic, Alejandro Gertz Manero, when he was approached by some reporters as he left the National Palace on Tuesday, following the 13th government report by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). The prosecutor, who was accompanied by the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, said that it should be respected that this moment was for the ceremony “at which we come to celebrate the president's report”.

Journalists asked him about his position on the situation of Emilio Lozoya, the former director of Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) jailed for corruption scandals, who was supposed to have a high chance of being released on Tuesday... but he said nothing. They also questioned him about what he thinks of the allegations against him that accuse him of using his position to make politics and resolve personal matters. He didn't answer either.

Media presentations by the prosecutor have become scarce as criticism of his management has intensified. This is, for example, the first time she has appeared in public after the release of Alejandra Cuevas, the 69-year-old woman who was released on March 28 after passing 528 days in prison for a crime that doesn't even exist. The accusatory part was Gertz Manero.

Precisely that case was taken as an argument by US senators who sent a letter to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), in which they condemned that his administration is politicized and allows serious abuses such as “the personal vendettas” of the chief of the Attorney General's Office of the Republic (FGR).

The US Senators' letter to President López Obrador was revealed this week by AP agency journalist Joshua Goodman. The text accuses that the federal government is characterized by “a growing pattern of apparently selective prosecutions that disproportionately target critics of the government.”

Officials also warned that the Mexican justice system itself is “weakened and politicized,” focusing, according to Goodman, specifically on the actions of prosecutor Alejandro Gertz Manero, which they named as “personal vengeance.” In addition, he warned that the head of the FGR uses his power to “selectively pursue opponents of the current administration”.

US senators also called on President Joe Biden's government to express its concerns directly to its Mexican counterparts. Among the complainants who signed the document are Senator Robert Menendez, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Patrick Leahy, chair of the Appropriations Committee; and legislators Benjamin Cardin and Jeffrey Merkley.

However, the Mexican president spoke out in defense of his prosecutor and said that the US senators who drafted the letter “are, with all due respect, liars,” assuring that the US Democrats' approaches are due to the fact that there are interests involved, “in the United States there are elections.”

“I can only say that they are wrong, uninformed,” the president insisted, responding to them “we do not accept interference; we do not act by slogan against anyone”.

Between his walk accompanied by Chancellor Ebrard, an image published in the media of the Interior Secretary Adan Augusto emotionally embrace him and his participation in the president's report as one of the main guests, they show that regardless of the allegations against him, Prosecutor Gertz Manero has the support and support of President López Obrador, who, despite constant denunciations, has not hesitated to defend him for a moment.

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