The new mayor of Tequila, Jalisco, Lorena Marisol Rodríguez, has pledged to carry out a “clean-up” of the local administration following the arrest last week of Mayor Diego Rivera on extortion charges and alleged ties to drug cartels.
“There are many things that need to change (…) We are going to see what issues need to be cleaned up and continue working. There will be a clean-up in the municipality because ultimately the entire structure of the municipality was being used by the mayor for these purposes,” Rodríguez stated to the press after taking office last night in a closed-door session under police supervision.
The former mayor of Tequila, who held the position until last week, is accused by authorities of leading a network that extorted local businessmen and merchants and of having ties to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), designated as a terrorist organization by the United States last year.
The new mayor promised that her government will do the “best” for the municipality, while emphasizing that there are “many things that need to change” regarding the case of extortion from merchants, with whom she will dialogue in the coming days.
Likewise, she distanced herself from what happened under her predecessor's administration, assuring that she was “unaware” of these alleged corrupt practices, thus stating that she is “totally independent” to perform her job.
These statements come at the same time as the request from the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, who during her daily press conference this Monday defended the need to investigate all candidates from Mexican political parties and a “greater oversight” of the resources used in electoral campaigns.
Photo: Cuartoscuro Archive
The mayor's arrest is part of Operation Enjambre, a federal offensive against the infiltration of organized crime into municipal governments, particularly in regions with high strategic economic activity, such as the tequila industry, one of the most emblematic sectors of Jalisco.
Tequila, a locality of over 40,000 inhabitants, is located 65 kilometers from the capital of Jalisco, Guadalajara.
