Gonzalo López Beltrán, nicknamed “Bobby,” son of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, served as an “honorary” supervisor of the construction of the Maya Train and the Interoceanic Train, an assignment given to him by the then president.
Despite the fact that López Obrador’s second son studied Sociology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), his father assigned him oversight of a project in which the Mexican government invested at least 65 billion pesos, according to a document from the state-owned company Ferrocarril del Istmo de Tehuantepec, disclosed by the newspaper Reforma.
The instructions from “Bobby” López Beltrán
In April 2024, the outlet Latinus reported that businessman Amílcar Olán, a friend of López Obrador’s sons, had received a contract to supply ballast to the builders of the Maya Train (ballast is the stone placed between the rails and sleepers to provide stability to the railway track).
Te podría interesar
In the audio recordings presented by the outlet, Olán can be heard saying that “Bobby” asked him for a specific quantity of that material.
“As for me, the instruction Bobby gave me, literally, was: ‘let’s see, you have to produce 500,000 cubic meters (of ballast) from now until November 30. How are you going to do it? That’s your problem,’” the businessman is heard saying.
Following the release of the recordings, López Obrador denied that his children were involved in business dealings with the federal government.
The Citizens’ Movement party (Movimiento Ciudadano) proposed a resolution in the Senate to investigate the awarding of contracts to Olán, but Morena’s majority in the chamber rejected the request.
“Amílcar Olán, a friend of brothers Andrés and Gonzalo López Beltrán (sons of President López Obrador), has used the influence of Gonzalo López Beltrán, nicknamed ‘Bobby,’ to operate a multimillion-peso ballast business used in the construction of the Maya Train.”
AMLO admits his son intervened in the Interoceanic project
Nevertheless, on July 5, less than three months before the end of his administration, López Obrador acknowledged what the audios indicated: that his son was supervising the railway project that derailed on Sunday, with a preliminary toll of 13 deaths.
“Gonzalo is not involved in political matters. Gonzalo has helped as an honorary supervisor on the Interoceanic project, but he does not get paid and does not work in the government,” he said.
Context: Amílcar Olán, a friend of the former president’s sons, owned a flooring store in Villahermosa, but after Morena came to power he created companies that have received contracts from the federal government and from state administrations.
Romedic sold medications to the government of Quintana Roo for more than 400 million pesos. Flavio Carlos Rosado, the state’s health secretary, acknowledged that a contract had been awarded to the company in a process he described as “clear, transparent, and in line with the established regulations, meeting the requirements set by law.”
djh