In the early hours of Wednesday, after an intense debate that was interrupted by the irruption of protesters in Parliament, the Senate of Mexico The controversial reform of the judiciary was approved, which stipulates that from 2025 judges must be elected by popular vote. But in order to prosper, the norm, promoted by the leftist president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO)received the key and unexpected vote of an opposition senator: Miguel Ángel Yunes Márquez, of the National Action Party (PAN).
AMLO had guaranteed 85 votes in favor of the reformone less than those needed to obtain two thirds of the Senate required for the approval of changes to the Mexican Constitution.
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On Tuesday, the senator Miguel Angel Yunes Marquez He had reported sick and at the beginning of the debate he was replaced by his father, Miguel Angel Yunes Linaresa controversial politician from the state of Veracruz who was also his substitute in the Senate.
Senator Miguel Angel Yunes Marquez.
During the debate, when sand there was speculation that there was a “traitor” which would end up supporting the ruling party, Marko Cortespresident of the PAN and fellow party member of Yunes Marquezasked him to vote against the reform.
“Darling Miguel Yunes Marquezyou still have time to become a hero of the country and not a traitor to the country“, said.
“It would have been more decent, my dear friend, if you had told us ‘I am going to betray them’”Cortés then snapped at Yunes Sr.
“You are a coward and a traitor!” Yunes Linares answered him.
Later, Miguel Angel Yunes son finally reappeared in the Senate to confirm his vote in favor of the reform of AMLOwhich was approved with 86 votes in support and 41 against.
Morena’s senators coordinator, Adán Augusto López (left), talks with National Action Party senator Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares, on September 10, 2024. (Photo by César SÁNCHEZ / AFP).
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Who is Miguel Angel Yunes Marquez?
Miguel Angel Yunes Marquez born in Xalapastate of Veracruzon May 4, 1976. He has a degree in business administration from the University of Miami and has a specialty in finance and international marketing from the same educational institution.
In 2004 he was elected local deputy in the Congress of Veracruz for the PANwhere he held the positions of Chairman of the Supervisory Commission and Secretary of the Regional Development Commission.
From 2008 to 2010 it was Mayor of Boca del Rioin VeracruzDuring that same period he assumed the role of national secretary of the National Association of Mayors AC (ANAC).
From 2011 to 2013 he was state coordinator of the defunct social program Oportunidades, of the extinct Secretariat of Social Development (Sedesol).
In 2014 he was elected again. Mayor of Boca del Rioa position he held until 2017.
In 2018 he ran for governor of Veracruzbut lost to the Morena candidate, Cuitlahuac GarciaHe wanted to replace his father in the position.
In 2021 he wanted to apply for the Veracruz mayor’s officebut the state Electoral Court rejected his candidacy for not proving his residence in the municipality.
At the moment He is a senator for the PAN from August 29 of this year until August 31, 2027.
Arrest warrant
Miguel Ángel Yunes Márquez, from the National Action Party (PAN).
On July 12th, the Veracruz Prosecutor’s Office issued a arrest warrant against Yunes Marquez for the alleged crimes of falsification of documents, falsehood before the authority and procedural fraud, events that would have occurred in 2021, when the politician requested his registration as a candidate for mayor of Veracruzthe newspaper reported The Universal.
When the Prosecutor’s Office issued the arrest warrant, Yunes Marquez He was in the United States for medical treatment.
The politician then said he was the subject of a political persecution by the state government of Veracruz headed by Cuitláhuac García and directly pointed to the judge who issued the measure for abuse and lack of ethics.
He denied that his candidacy registration had been rejected for presenting a false document.
At that time, he said that the Judicial Branch of Veracruz and the State Attorney General’s Office are the ones that require a reformand not the Judicial Branch of the Federation.
He later claimed that they were trying to take him to jail for prevent his swearing in as a senator of the Republic.
“I will not be a trophy of Brunette“I will continue to defend myself with the tools that the law gives me. I have never bowed down to anyone, this persecution will give me the great opportunity to set an example of courage and dignity in the face of power,” he said.
Yunes Marquez He filed for protection and received a provisional suspension of the arrest warrantwhich allowed him to take his seat in the Senate.
Miguel Angel Yunes Linares and AMLO
National Action Party Senator Miguel Angel Yunes Linares addresses lawmakers in the upper house on September 10, 2024. (Photo by César SÁNCHEZ / AFP).
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Miguel Angel Yunes Linares He entered politics in the 1990s when he was part of the old Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
After breaking with the PRI in 2003, he became a member of the PAN, a right-wing party that governed Mexico from 2000 to 2012.
In 2016 he won the elections for governor of Veracruz to his cousin Hector Yunes LandaPRI candidate.
In 2019, Miguel Angel Yunes Linares He was criminally denounced by the administration of the Morena governor of VeracruzCuitláhuac García, for an alleged mega fraud in the failed installation of a video surveillance system during the PAN administration between 2016 and 2018.
According to El Universal, García’s government discovered that the 6,476 security cameras purchased for a cost of 1 billion pesos were not installed, which points to a possible misappropriation of resources.
AMLO has also accused Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares of corruption. In 2017, when he was president of his party Brunette and presidential candidate Mexicosaid the governor of Veracruz and his family were involved in alleged corruption cases.
During several public events, AMLO denounced the existence of a “Blue Folder“in which he claimed to have evidence of alleged illicit enrichment of Yunes Linaresas well as various properties in his name, both in Mexico as abroad.
Among the properties mentioned in the Blue Folder were a luxury condominium located in Alvarado, Veracruz; a house in the Pedregal neighborhood of Mexico City; and another multimillion-dollar property in Coatepec, Morelos. Also a apartment in MiamiFlorida.
Miguel Angel Yunes Linares was pointed out by the journalist Lydia Cacho as one of the “friends” of the convicted pedophile Jean Succar KuriBBC Mundo recalled. Some victims said that he was present at meetings with minors, something that The politician has always denied.
However, during the 2016 campaign, his cousin Héctor Yunes Landa accused him of being involved in these crimes: “You held children’s parties on your yacht where there were no clowns or piñatas,” he told him in a televised debate, according to BBC Mundo.
