Bernardo Bosch, a cattle rancher from Tabasco and current advisor at Pemex Exploración y Producción, has become the protagonist of an international scandal. On Wednesday, the Attorney General's Office accused the owner of the Miss Universe pageant, businessman Raúl Rocha Cantú, of being part of a drug and arms trafficking scheme. This came after one of the Miss Universe jurors accused Bosch of bribing Rocha Cantú to secure the crown for his daughter, Fatima. Rocha Cantú, in turn, has already agreed to cooperate as a witness. According to sources within Pemex, Bernardo Bosch had been engaged in lobbying that was positioning him for greater power within the state-owned oil company. His efforts were reportedly well-received by the Secretary of Energy, Luz Elena González, and by people from the administration of former director Octavio Romero. Meanwhile, General Director Víctor Rodríguez has found it increasingly difficult to forge alliances with the private sector. Despite organizing meetings with the world's major oil companies, business agreements with Pemex have not been materializing. A question circulating in government offices is: who sought to harm Bosch and, by extension, Rocha Cantú himself? Rocha Cantú reportedly told people around him on Thursday morning that the Attorney General's action was not a surprise and was part of some kind of extortion attempt. Another speculation circulating in recent hours is that a U.S. company with close ties to the White House is seeking to strip Rocha Cantú of the rights to the Miss Universe pageant.
