In his book “Neither Vengeance Nor Forgiveness,” former legal advisor to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Julio Scherer Ibarra, describes his six-year term marked by palace intrigues, personal vendettas, and officials who, according to his testimony, betrayed AMLO's trust or manipulated power for their own ends.
His accusations range from the Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero and Senator Adán Augusto López Hernández, to the head of advisors Jesús Ramírez Cuevas, the Undersecretary of Health during the Covid-19 pandemic Hugo López-Gatell, and former Minister Olga Sánchez Cordero. Here is a summary of the accusations made by Scherer against each figure:
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Alejandro Gertz Manero The current Mexican ambassador to the UK is portrayed as the main antagonist. Scherer accuses him of using the Attorney General's Office (FGR) to carry out personal vendettas and political extortion. Scherer recounts that Gertz arrived at the FGR at his suggestion and that of Alfonso Durazo. The conflict between Gertz and Scherer Ibarra erupted, according to the former advisor's version, when Gertz accused him of orchestrating a media campaign against him through the magazine Proceso. At a meeting, Gertz allegedly made a direct threat: “Look, Julio, you had an option: you could have a friendly prosecutor or an enemy prosecutor, and you chose.”
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Olga Sánchez Cordero The former Secretary of the Interior is accused of being part of a group seeking to harm him. He recounts that she handed then-President López Obrador a list of Scherer's alleged private businesses and conflicts of interest, accusing him of handling personal affairs outside the government to make money. Scherer also narrates that he sought a meeting with AMLO to clarify the matter, but the then-federal head of state allegedly dismissed it as “gossip.”
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Adán Augusto López Hernández The senator from Tabasco is described as a politician who governed the state “as he saw fit,” and whose management at the Secretariat of the Interior (Segob) lacked the political efficacy necessary to resolve serious internal conflicts. Scherer points out that Adán Augusto, along with Rocío Nahle, was responsible for bringing in machinery to destroy mangroves in Paraíso, Tabasco, without the required environmental impact permits. He also lost his political channel with the judiciary after replacing Olga Sánchez Cordero.
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Jesús Ramírez Cuevas The former presidential spokesperson and current head of advisors for President Claudia Sheinbaum is described as the operator of a “radical group” that isolated López Obrador by filtering biased information to silence moderate voices. Scherer also accuses him of manipulating the “morning press conferences,” selecting topics and questions to induce the president to attack personal enemies of Ramírez or the group he coordinated.
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Manuel Bartlett The Director of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) during AMLO's sexenium is labeled a liar and responsible for the stagnation of the energy sector for purely ideological reasons. He is accused of deceiving the president about CFE's capacity, causing a lack of private investment and current energy deficits. Scherer also points to his stubbornness in the Chicoasén plant case, which cost the state $300 million in an arbitration, and for provoking unnecessary conflicts with pipeline companies.
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Hugo López-Gatell The former Undersecretary of Health is accused in the book of dismissing scientific criteria to please López Obrador, causing thousands of preventable deaths during the SARS-CoV-2 or Covid-19 pandemic. “There was a character at the Health Secretariat who did a lot of damage: Hugo López-Gatell,” Scherer states.
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Raúl Escandón Sinisterra The former senator is accused of using his position to promote the interests of his brother, Rutilio Escandón, the former governor of Chiapas. Scherer asserts that Escandón Sinisterra pressured officials to facilitate his brother's appointment, which the former advisor finds “shameful.”
