Since the mandate of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador began, various requests for information have been filed in which people ask the Presidency of the Republic to make transparent data on the costs of events carried out by the institution, such as meals with businessmen, or the same presidential morning conference, however, the Presidency denies having data on the same acts that it carries out, or affirms that they were free of charge.
As an example of this is the request with folio 331000121000375 in which a person asked the Presidency to report on the costs generated by the food at the National Palace that President López Obrador offered, on November 23, 2021, to businessmen, as well as the name of the companies contracted for the banquet.
It is worth remembering that the meal convened by the Presidency was attended by the country’s most important businessmen such as Carlos Slim, president for life of Grupo Carso, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, of Grupo Salinas, Daniel Chávez Morán, of Grupo Vidanta —today in the controversy after the reports by AMLO’s son, Ramón López Beltrán—, as well as Carlos Hank González, from Grupo Financiero Banorte, among others.
In response to the request, the Presidency reported that the General Directorate of Material Resources and General Services was consulted, through official letter UAF/DGRMSG/SAI/388/2021, which indicated that after conducting a search in the physical and electronic files “No legal instrument and/or documentary evidence was located regarding the information that was the subject of the request that meets the request of the interested party in the specified terms.”
It also consulted the General Directorate of Finance and Budget, through official letter OPR/UAF/DGFP/DAE/021/2021, which replied that “to date, no documentary evidence has been located that meets the request of the applicant, emphasizing that a exhaustive, extensive and reasonable search of the archives”.
Executive Conferences
Other recurring requests to the Presidency are the costs of the presidential conferences from Monday to Friday offered by the head of the federal Executive, some of which are held within the Republic.
About them, there are at least 15 requests for information addressed to the Presidency of the Republic between 2019 and 2021. In them, the responses delivered by the Presidency emphasize that these conferences do not generate additional expenses since resources are used with which they are already used. they count.
For example, in 2019, a person asked the Presidency, through the request with folio: 0210000256319, to report on the cost of broadcasting the conference, as well as the resources spent for production.
In response, the institution reported that it consulted the General Directorate of Finance and Budget, the General Coordination of Social Communication and the Spokesperson of the Government of the Republic on the subject, which indicated whether or not they had information or that the conference does not generate any expense. .
These same answers have been repeated in the subsequent years 2020 and 2021.
Since the conferences began, in December 2018 to the present, the morning set has undergone modifications that range from the integration of a screen to the placement of rails for video cameras.
Given the changes, the spokesman for the Presidency, Jesús Ramírez, stated that the infrastructure used was already part of the assets of the Presidency.
Other information that citizens have requested from the Presidency is the cost of the president’s meals and clothing, as requested in the request with folio: 0210000042721, however, the institution has responded that there is no documentary evidence of the requested information.