An opposition candidate for mayor in Mexico City has accused the city prosecutor’s office of requesting his and other politicians’ phone records. This allegation raises concerns about political abuse of power. The prosecutors’ office denies the accusations. The Associated Press reported
Opposition Candidate Accuses Mexico City Prosecutor’s Office of Requesting Phone Records
An opposition candidate running for mayor of Mexico City has made serious allegations against the city prosecutor’s office, claiming that they have filed a request for his phone records and those of other prominent politicians. This accusation is the latest in a series of claims suggesting that city prosecutors have been misusing their power for political purposes. The prosecutors’ office has strongly denied these allegations.
Mexico City is currently governed by the Morena party, which is led by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. López Obrador had promised to put an end to political espionage in the country, but it seems that this issue still persists. This controversy revolves around Santiago Taboada, the borough chief of a wealthy area in Mexico City, who intends to run for mayor in 2024. He views the request for his phone records as a form of “political persecution.”
Taboada took to his social media accounts to express his frustration, stating, “Now more than ever, the political persecution I have been subject to for months has been exposed.” According to Taboada’s office, the prosecutors allegedly requested phone and text records from a private phone company, not only for Taboada but also for over a dozen other politicians, including opposition figures and members of López Obrador’s own party. These requests were supposedly made as part of ongoing investigations. The New York Times first reported on this case, highlighting the potential misuse of power by the city prosecutors.
Taboada’s office discovered these requests for phone records in prosecution case files, suggesting that they were indeed carried out. However, the telephone company named in the documents has not yet responded to inquiries regarding whether they complied with the requests. The prosecutors’ spokesperson, Ulises Lara, stated that the office does not engage in spying on political figures. Nevertheless, he did not deny the existence of the documents, which Taboada claims were found during a lawsuit. Lara revealed that an investigation has been initiated into the alleged falsification of the requests and that it has been referred to Mexico’s internal affairs office, indicating that someone within the prosecutors’ office or another government employee may have made these requests without proper authorization.
In Mexico, prosecutors can request phone records in emergency cases without a court order, but they are required to obtain one eventually. Lara clarified that there are currently no open criminal cases or investigations involving the individuals whose records were sought. This situation is delicate for López Obrador, as he himself was a victim of government surveillance during the 1970s and 80s. Despite his claims that domestic spying no longer occurs, press freedom groups have reported that the government has continued to use spyware to monitor human rights activists’ phones as recently as late 2022.
This is not the first time that Mexico City prosecutors have been accused of using their power for political purposes. In a previous incident, marines were involved in the arrest of Uriel Carmona, the attorney general of a neighboring state, Morelos, and he was transported back to the capital with their assistance. However, the courts later ruled that Carmona’s arrest was improper, and he was released. Prosecutors in Mexico are only permitted to act within their own states, unless they receive permission from another state.
According to Mexico City prosecutors, Carmona was arrested on charges of obstructing the investigation into the 2022 murder of a woman from Mexico City, whose body was found just across the state line in Morelos. Carmona, however, believes that he is a victim of a political conspiracy involving Cuauhtémoc Blanco, a former soccer star and the governor of Morelos. Carmona alleges that López Obrador ordered his arrest because his office was investigating Blanco’s alleged connections to drug traffickers. Blanco, who is a political ally of López Obrador, has denied any involvement with drug traffickers, despite a three-year-old photo surfacing showing him posing with three men identified as local drug gang leaders.
Earlier this year, city prosecutors arrested a city council member from the opposition party on corruption charges. However, they have been unsuccessful in imprisoning or convicting anyone for the collapse of a city subway line in May 2021, which resulted in the death of 26 individuals and injured nearly 100. This case became particularly embarrassing as both the former mayor who oversaw the construction of the subway line and the current mayor, Claudia Sheinbaum, who allegedly failed to detect the issues or properly maintain the tracks, belong to López Obrador’s Morena party. Sheinbaum is currently the party’s candidate for the 2024 presidential elections.
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