Mexico breathes a sigh of relief with the departure of Alejandro Gertz Manero from the post of Attorney General. His five-year tenure, marked by controversial decisions and a lack of significant results, has come to an end.
In a statement titled "Mexico Breathes Today", Scherer Ibarra and his son Julio Scherer Pareyón declared: "The departure of Alejandro Gertz Manero puts an end to one of the darkest chapters in the history of the Attorney General's Office. No attorney general in recent history had accumulated so much discredit, caused so much harm, or strayed so far from the moral duty of their office".
Gertz Manero has been in office since 2019, appointed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Although he remained in his post during the first year of President Claudia Sheinbaum's term, his administration was criticized for the lack of tangible results in the administration of justice, his long absences from the public eye, and his opacity and limited press conferences.
Among his controversial decisions were a proposal to eliminate the crime of femicide, using the Attorney General's Office to persecute the widow of his brother, and clashing with the head of the investigation into the disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa.
The confrontation escalated in April when the Attorney General's Office sought arrest warrants for a group of lawyers close to the former presidential legal advisor, leading to a direct legal standoff between the two parties.
Despite investigations into high-profile corruption cases, such as schemes in the government of former President Enrique Peña Nieto, Odebrecht bribes, and the "Master Scam" corruption scheme that diverted billions of pesos, the Attorney General failed to secure significant convictions. In May, lawyers filed a complaint against him for "collusion and criminal association", and in August, Gertz Manero withdrew his complaint against Scherer Ibarra.
Gertz Manero, born in Mexico City on October 31, 1939, is a doctor of law from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and has a long political career. He served as Secretary of Public Security of the Federal District and as federal Secretary of Public Security under President Vicente Fox.
