Is It a Bluff? Mexican President Obrador Says Former Corrupt Presidents May Be Prosecuted, Beginning With Carlos Salinas

This may be just “show talk” – big talk – the kind of thing a new, clean-image president says about his predecessors.

More bluff than reality.

Still, it is bold.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has announced that he would support the prosecution of Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

While Obrador says he is not personally interested in going after Salinas or any of his predecessors criminally, if, through lawful channels, and in the interest of cleaning up corruption and punishing past corruption, the decision is made to prosecute any former presidents, it should begin with Salinas.

Obrador said Salinas is the father of modern corruption in Mexico.

If Obrador is serious and if he lives – that is if Salinas does not assassinate him – it might one day occur.

Or maybe not. For Salinas, not unlike Hillary Clinton, maybe too big to prosecute.

According to sources, Carlos is currently living in the UK, where he has been granted permanent residency.

There is little doubt Salinas was politically weakened by the election of Obrador over his handpicked candidate – and there are some who claim his son, Emiliano Salinas’ complicity in the slave branding sex cult of Nxivm helped caused his party’s loss in popularity and tip the election to Obrador.

Prior to Frank Report breaking – and then the New York Times reporting on – the DOS branding story, his son, Emiliano, was under consideration for the PRI party’s nomination for president.  That fell apart when Mexican media got wind of the branding story.

While Carlos may have lost political strength, he has not, according to sources, lost all his power with the Mexican drug cartels.

Is he still in control?

Carlos Salinas’s wealth is unknown, but some estimate it to be more than $100 billion making him one of the richest men in the world. But no one knows. Normally, the bosses of drug kingpins – the true kingpins – do not provide Forbes with information about their net worth.

Still, a lot has happened in the last year, including Carlos’s departure from Mexico. And the possibility that Emiliano may yet be indicted in the US for his role in the Nxivm racketeering enterprise.

The fact that President Obrador would dare make such a bold statement is proof that times have changed.

At a press conference in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Obrador said if it is decided to prosecute Mexico’s former presidents, he would begin with former President Carlos Salinas because “he is the father of modern inequality” in Mexico.

Obrador said, “If the former presidents who caused this national tragedy are prosecuted, Salinas, Zedillo, Fox, Calderón, Peña Nieto have to be taken into account, because they all have to do with atrocities that were committed to cause the decline in Mexico.

“Salinas is the father of modern inequality. He gave his friends and relatives the assets of the nation, the assets of the people of Mexico,” said Obrador of Salinas’ six-year presidency.

He also said, during Salinas’ presidency, the greatest growth in inequality occurred and that is why, in case the citizens decide to do so, the former federal leaders must begin to be investigated.

He said that his government seeks to end corruption, although he reiterated that he is not in favor of prosecuting former presidents since he is not interested in revenge.

However, Obrador indicated that if a citizen consultation is organized and the requirements are met, he will not oppose the initiation of a trial of his predecessors.

“Not for revenge, not for political persecution,” he said, “but to mark the difference very well and start a new era without corruption, without impunity. And that is what we are now achieving.”

Whether this is tall talk, just bluster and nonsense, the kind of thing a politician says to make himself look big, tough and at the same time above the desire for revenge or politics, is hard to say.

Obrador could really be signaling he is ready to support the prosecution of Salinas – which, in turn, might very well mean he is ready to tackle the drug cartels and possibly the US CIA, which some think supports the old guard cartels in their quest to sell American youth poisonous drugs, in order to earn operating money for the CIA outside the purview of Congress.

If Carlos is, as he is reputed to be, the “boss of bosses,” by going after him, President Obrador might be in danger.

It is not known which is more powerful, the Mexican Federal Government or the Mexican drug cartels.

If this is more than mere tall talk, we might just find out.