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Authorities found $ 35,000 in cash in a private plane carrying guests to Santiago Nieto’s wedding in Guatemala.
The head of Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), the agency responsible for cracking down on money laundering operations, has resigned as a result of a marriage-related scandal in Guatemala.
Santiago Nieto, seen as a trusted ally of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in a campaign to eradicate corruption, resigned on Monday.
That happened after Guatemalan authorities seized $ 35,000 in cash from a private jet carrying grandchildren to Nieto’s wedding to Carla Humphrey, a councilor in Mexico City’s National Electoral Institute (INE).
Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz, the wedding guest, president of the famous Mexican newspaper El Universal, carried the cash. A column in Monday’s newspaper said the money was for medical treatment and had been duly declared to Mexican officials.
However, the optics of the situation – private jets, prosperous foreign marriages and purses – were damaged when Lopez Obrador accepted his resignation.
“The issue is scandalous, even when it’s a private event … In Mexico, public issues are becoming more public and more is known about private issues,” Lopez Obrador said.
The president was elected in 2018 in a campaign against corruption in the country, but it has been. criticized for paying more attention to its public image than to properly addressing the country’s many problems.
Since taking office, Lopez Obrador has worked as an obsessive austerity character, often doing commercials, trying to sell a presidential plane, and refusing to live in the former president’s residence in the palace.
Paola Felix, Mexico City’s tourism secretary, was caught up in the wedding drama.
He also resigned as the media reported that he had been arrested at a Guatemalan airport for going to a wedding for trying to illegally take a large amount of money into the country. He has denied having done anything wrong.
Pablo Gomez, a long-time progressive politician, will take on the role of Nieto.
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