(NYT, Elisabeth Malkin, 16.Oct.2019) — The longtime leader of Mexico’s oil workers union, a powerful figure who had become emblematic of graft in the state-owned oil company and yet seemed untouchable, resigned on Wednesday in a symbolic victory for Mexico’s president in his fight against corruption.
The resignation of Carlos Romero Deschamps, who is under investigation for his unexplained wealth by Mexico’s attorney general, is an important step for President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has made the attack against corruption the centerpiece of his administration.
The attorney general’s office has opened investigations into several former officials in the past government — including the former chief executive of the oil company, Pemex.
Mr. Romero Deschamps, 75, is a singular figure, though: He has outlasted five presidents and multiple scandals since he became general secretary of the oil workers union in 1993.
He is a member of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which was overwhelmingly defeated in last year’s general election on the perception that it was riddled with corruption.
The union did not formally confirm the resignation. Tatiana Clouthier, a legislator with Mr. López Obrador’s party, who is close to the president, announced the departure of Mr. Romero Deschamps on Twitter. The union had no comment on the announcement.
Mr. López Obrador had been telegraphing the resignation of Mr. Romero Deschamps over the past couple of days. On Tuesday, he confirmed that Mr. Romero Deschamps was under investigation. “If he takes the decision to leave the union to attend to these matters, it is his right,” the president said, promising not to interfere in the union’s internal affairs.
On Wednesday, Mr. López Obrador said that the attorney general’s office was investigating two complaints involving the union boss’s unexplained wealth.
Calls to the union’s headquarters were directed to the communications office, which did not respond. There was no comment from Mr. Romero Deschamps’ office.
Corruption in Mexico’s oil company, whose full name is Petróleos Mexicanos, has a decades-long history. One of its former chief executives served a five-year prison term in the 1980s, and a former union boss, Joaquín Hernández Galicia, was arrested in 1989 and jailed on arms charges.
His arrest allowed Mr. Romero Deschamps to take over the union’s leadership four years later.
“It was a regime of corruption and deal-making,” Mr. López Obrador said Wednesday in describing Pemex. He has promised that eliminating corruption will allow the company, sinking under more than $100 billion in debt, to reverse years of declining production.
“They were covered up, the untouchables couldn’t be touched,” Mr. López Obrador said. “Now it is not like that, it’s over, impunity will no longer be allowed for anybody.”
But it is unclear if the allegations against Mr. Romero Deschamps will lead to formal charges, much less a trial.
“It is not a fight against corruption if it is just about removing the (allegedly) corrupt from their positions,” wrote Carlos Bravo, a columnist and professor at CIDE, a Mexico City university, on Twitter.
“It is a fight against corruption if, as well as removing the (allegedly) corrupt from their positions, there is a trial to bring justice and not let them to enjoy impunity,” he added.
Manuel Limón, a PRI legislator who is also the union’s secretary of internal affairs, is next in line to lead the union. But Mr. López Obrador pointed out that under a new labor law, Pemex union members will have the right to choose their leader by a secret ballot.
“We’ll wait to see what happens in this case,” he said.
Mr. Romero Deschamps has remained atop the union despite numerous scandals, including evidence that the union diverted millions of dollars to the 2000 election campaign of the PRI’s presidential candidate, who lost.
Newspapers have chronicled his vast riches, including a yacht, a luxury Cancún apartment and expensive watches. His daughter caused outrage in 2012 when she posted photos on social media of her shopping trips aboard private jets accompanied by her three English bulldogs. His son was reported by a Mexican newsmagazine to drive a Ferrari worth $2 million.
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