Vested interests in sport, a sad reality

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has made it clear that when he received the government in 2018 and began this fourth transformation, the country's structures and institutions were plagued by interest groups created, both in the energy sector, in the communications sector, and even in journalism, these groups of vested interest had taken away their autonomy from the people.

The sports field is not far from the domain of interest groups that during the six-year periods of Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón, business groups took over sport in Mexico.

Since the arrival of the current administration, a smear campaign has been generated against former athlete Ana Gabriela Guevara, head of CONADE. What lies behind the attacks against the National Commission on Physical Culture and Sport are those vested interest groups that were affected by the arrival of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in 2018.

At the end of 2019, I received in the Senate of the Republic several athletes from the aquatic disciplines of Mexico and the Mexican Swimming Federation (FMN), a federation that we are proud of and which is responsible for the largest number of medals that have been won at the Olympic Games in the entire history of Mexico. From that moment on, it became clear to me that private interest groups, led by entrepreneurs who became billionaires by their time in the country's sports institutions, as well as companies dedicated to swimming, were torpedoing the FMN and its athletes, to take over the FMN again, and thus grow their businesses further.

After a question last week to the President of the Republic about the FMN, he stated that he had held a meeting with the head of CONADE, in order to separate where there was corruption and where there was none, but the main thing that the president said, is that crimes should NOT be invented, nor should crimes be manufactured solely for the interests that exist. Subsequently, the head of CONADE Ana Gabriela Guevara, referred to what our president said about not making judgments on the air and on a sui generis situation, where in the case of the Athletics Federation, the president of the Athletics Federation, has already been tried and blamed for a fiscal issue proving appeals he received from the CONADE, and in the case of the president of the FMN, that he has not been tried and that they have made a media outcry.

Institutions for the administration of justice cannot allow persecutions against anyone, for the simple coercion of individuals. They must be loyal to the exercise of their constitutional powers.

It would be important for the president of the FMN, Kiril Todorov to present the evidence, so that it is known to the public opinion. Ministerial authorities must stop feeling pressured by people who continue to think that the trafficking of influence, extortion and intentional incrimination in Mexico today are practices that must be eradicated and investigated in order to show where the real corruption lies. Due process, the presumption of innocence and clarification of facts owed to the country. Equality and procedural loyalty must deprive between the parties and impartiality in the authorities.

As well as the beatings against the fourth transformation, CONADE and the FMN are beaten by created interest groups and through assumptions journalists and paid reporters, a whole smear campaign has been generated with the sole purpose of seizing swimming in Mexico, as well as protecting all the corruption that prevailed in the six-year periods of Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón in everything related to sport. Again, I ask the competent authorities, as well as the Superior Audit of the Federation, the state that holds the National Center for the Development of Sports Talent and High Performance (CNAR), which cost about 100 million dollars, and which presented great failures since its delivery by President Vicente Fox. The issue should be thoroughly reviewed, as well as auditing the responsible authorities, on the damage and collapse of the main pool of the sports center, as well as the points of agreement submitted since 2007 in the Chamber of Deputies, on corruption in the construction and equipment of CNAR. Every day the safety of our best athletes is compromised by technical failures and the strength of the structure that is already compromised. An installation whose cost exceeded that of a first world sports center, but which, due to corruption, ended up being a monument to impunity, with unsanitary waters gushing out of the underground under the 50-meter pool.

The struggle to take over sport, sports institutions and especially the sports budget is nothing new, simply by reviewing a series of abuses that have been committed at least from 2000 to date, the names of the same entrepreneurs always appear, who magically went from being simple instructors to sports business tycoons in Mexico. The legality of the goods with which their empire has grown is in question and must be investigated. The saying goes: “From the mouth of the thief, all are.”

The fourth transformation has not been alien to the attacks of these business groups, however, there is a guarantee that this time there will be justice.

My solidarity and support always for Ana Gabriela Guevara, who as an athlete and as a civil servant has put the name of Mexico very high. I also applaud his timely defense of the autonomy and sovereignty of Mexican institutions against the interference of FINA, which sadly, was incited and agreed by the same businessman who has done so much damage to sports in our country. Businessman who appointed and heads the designated stabilizing committee, lacking legality in our country and who plays in the face of protecting athletes but actually risks their sports interests, committing a lifetime of effort and sacrifice of our athletes for business interests.

Let these groups of rapacious businessmen know that we are here next to our president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to carry out a transformation where their interests and businesses no longer fit.

*Senator of the Republic for the State of Zacatecas, representing the Morena Party

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