López Obrador fired anti-corruption official Santiago Nieto for a lavish wedding party: “We cannot tolerate extravagances”

To the president Andrés Manuel López Obrador it does not like excesses and much less of its officials. This was made clear on Thursday when justifying the departure of lawyer Santiago Nieto from the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) after the scandal generated by his luxurious wedding in Guatemala.

Two days after the controversy unleashed by the resignation of Nieto, one of the most recognized figures in the government for the fierce fight against corruption and criminal organizations, Lopez Obrador He came out in defense of the lawyer, assuring that he had great respect for his rectitude, professionalism and integrity, but maintained that austerity comes first.

“We cannot tolerate any act of extravagance or an act that goes against republican austerity”said the president during his morning conference when asked about the case.

Nieto’s wedding with one of the counselors of the National Electoral Institute, Carla Humphrey, generated great controversy after it was learned that several guests, including a high-ranking official of the capital’s mayor’s office who also resigned due to the scandal, had traveled in a plane rented and with $ 35,000 in cash that belonged to the owner of the local newspaper El Universal, a media critical of the government.

“The civil servant has to learn to live in the just mediocrity. No luxuries, extravagances, because people are fed up with that, ”said López Obrador, who also has among his banners the fight against corruption, recalling that he has set the example of austerity by traveling on commercial flights and not using since At the beginning of his six-year term in 2018, the luxurious presidential plane that he put up for sale and has tried to raffle without success.

Without good, Nieto’s departure represents a “Collateral damage to the government, Lopez Obrador made it clear that his priority is to protect his image as an austere politician, one of the strengths that has ensured him a popular support over 60%”Affirmed the academic from Tecnológico de Monterrey, Patricio Morelos.

The also partner of the local polling station Poligrama expressed that in opinion measurements the president is always identified as a politician who “Fight corruption, which is simple, humility”, and added that Lopez Obrador bet to be recognized in history as “The president of austerity and who transformed Mexico from the most unprotected class”.

Months before taking office in December 2018, the austere image of Lopez Obrador It was put to the test after the luxurious wedding that César Yáñez, one of his closest collaborators for decades, had with the lawyer and businesswoman Dulce Silva in the central state of Puebla. On that occasion, the politician chose to sacrifice his collaborator and did not include him within his government team.

For his part, Nieto, 48, had achieved in his three years of management in the UIF position himself as one of the most recognized government officials and was even beginning to appear in some polls leading up to the 2024 presidential elections, Morelos said, assuring that he does not believe that this incident represents the end of Nieto’s political career.

In relation to the future that the UIF Now hand in hand with former legislator and economist Pablo Gómez, one of the emblematic figures of the Mexican left who was part of the 1968 student movement, Morelos affirmed that it is still unknown whether Gómez will be as leading a character as his predecessor, which gave him force the unit, or if it will become a character behind the camera.

López Obrador came to the presidency of Mexico under the promise of cleaning the country of “Mafias of power”, But his critics have pointed out that he has double standards in supporting some controversial figures in his government such as the head of the Federal Electricity Commission, Manuel Bartlett.

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