Mexico’s ruling party has confirmed that an alleged rapist will be its candidate for governor of Guerrero, despite growing outcry and calls for justice and a transparent investigation into the allegations against him.
In late December 2020, Movimiento Regeneración Nacional, more commonly known as Morena, which brands itself as a supposedly leftist party and was founded by Mexico’s current president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, announced that Félix Salgado Macedonio was being considered as its candidate for the governor of Guerrero. Salgado Macedonio who had previously served as municipal president of Acapulco, Guerrero’s largest city, between 2005 and 2008, was formally named Morena’s candidate on January 31, 2021, sparking outrage due to multiple sexual assault accusations make against him. In November 2020, Milenio stated that Salgado had been accused of sexual abuse on at least three ocassions during 2016, and that these accusations had been made by a woman who worked for him when he was director of La Jornada, a Acapulco newspaper. However, the reports and evidence were supposedly buried in 2018 after Héctor Astudillo, the state’s governor at the time, asked Guerrero’s fiscal officer to not solicit measures against Salgado.
After Salgado was named Morena’s candidate for governor on January 31, 2021 more accusations against him came to light, and so far five victims have come forward: two denounced him for rape, and three of sexual abuse. Despite this, he was officially registered as Morena’s candidate on February 15, and López Obrador, better known as AMLO, claimed that the accusations made against Salgado Macedinio were merely attempts by conservative opponents to harm his party’s image. In January, measures proposed in light of the allegations included having Morena’s Comisión de Honestidad y Justicia (Honesty and Justice Committee) or Guerrero’s Fiscal Office open an investigation against him.
Although AMLO and various members of Morena have stood by Salgado, on January 13 more than 100 female legislators from the party called for him to step down from his candidacy. To this, Morena’s Comisión de Honestidad y Justicia responded by finally opening the promised investigation against Salgado. However, on March 1 it announced a ruling in favor of him, with three votes against two, and Salgado thus remained in the race.
Consequently, on March 2 Basilia Castañeda, one of the women who had accused Salgado of sexual assault, asked both national and international actors to protect her and her family from retaliation and defamation. Castañeda later announced that she would drop charges against him, citing the authorities’ indifference and high cost of legal help as her reasons. She also stated that the legal system and its prosecutors had violated her human rights by failing to properly investigate her case. This makes it clear that social and legal protections for survivors of sexual assault need to be expanded, as the current system revictimes them, and fails to protect them from further harm as a result of speaking up. The same day Castañeda solicited protection, it was announced that Salgado could no longer be removed from the candicancy, seeing as the elections will take place in the summer and the last day to remove a candidate was March 1. Theoretically, the only way through which a new candidate could be named would be if Salgado himself steps down, but Morena stated it would reconsider its candidate for Guerrero’s governance and hold a poll to decide this. By the 13th, however, it was formally announced that Salgado would retain his position.
The growing controversy in early March coincided with International Women’s Day, on which protests across the country took place, with many calling for Salgado Macedonio to step down. Feminist lawyer Estefanía Veloz resigned from Morena in a symbolic act of solidarity with Salgado’s victims, as well as with all women who have been denied justice at the hands of a corrupt legal and political system which continously shields men in power. On social media, thousands of women joined the trend “Presidente rompe el pacto,” or “President, break the (patriarchal) pact),” in response to AMLO’s staunch support of the potential governor.
The events in Mexico are not isolated, and calls for Salgado to be held responsible reflect growing demands across the world that politicians be made acocuntable for sexual assault. In the United States, cases such as those of SCOTUS Brett Kavanaugh and governor Andrew Cuomo emphasize the fact that the world’s current legal and political systems allow perpetrators of violence to rise to power. Further, the response of Mexican women to Salgado’s case is part of a growing movement which demands gender equity and justice on both a national and international level, as well as part of a wider call for a culture where women are respected and free to speak out against the violence and injustices they face. Salgado’s candidacy, and potential victory, displays the importance of having solid and trustworthy institutions that hold everyone, including those in power, accountable.
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