President Andrés Manuel López Obrador denied that it will be reconsidered to propose Pedro Salmerón – accused of sexual harassment against ITAM students and also by women militants of Morena – as Ambassador of Mexico in Panama.
“No, because we consider him to be a capable person, as I said last time, he is one of the best historians of this country,” he responded in a morning conference.
He assured that he would not give in his decision to propose the historian as ambassador to a ‘media lynching‘ motivated by conservatives, and that if there was evidence against him, as well as an accusation made by a judge, he would not defend it.
“So, I’m not willing to give in on those things. Now, if there is a trial, if there is evidence and it is in the public prosecutor’s office, it is in the judge, it is accused, because how are we going to defend it, in no way, but nothing more for the media campaign, for the media lynching …”
López Obrador pointed out that with the accusations against Salmerón he and his relatives were being harmed, so he questioned whether there should not be “some respect” with them.
Read more about it: ‘There are political interests’, says AMLO after accusations of harassment against Pedro Salmerón
“Already then are there going to be courts like those of the inquisition? Nothing else because there are complaints from sectors, if you do not act in accordance with the law,” he also questioned.
On Monday, the Foreign Ministry of Panama reported that it had delivered a letter to the Mexican Foreign Ministry in which it expressed its position on Salmerón’s proposal for the Mexican embassy.
In this regard, the president denied knowing the contents of the document; however, he dismissed that it dealt with the complaints filed against the historian.
“I don’t know, but what I mean is that if there are no criminal complaints, we don’t know, I don’t know the letter, but I do not believe that because of the complaints that has to do with ITAM and that also has to do with the position of conservatism, I have no doubt about that,” he said.
He admitted that he was taken by surprise by the document when the corresponding request to appoint Pedro Salmerón as ambassador of Mexico has not yet been sent, since the previous procedure, such as the approval and the vote in the Senate of the Republic, still remains.
At the conference on January 19, he said that the senate will finally approve the appointment of the historian as ambassador to Panama.
‘A stalker should not be an ambassador’: complaints vs Salmerón
Since news broke about Pedro Salmerón’s proposal for the Mexican embassy in Panama, ITAM students rejected the possible appointment, noting that he was accused of sexual harassment during his time as a teacher.
In a statement by the Fourth Wave, a student organization, the students asked to reconsider their appointment and do justice for the victims.
The student collective maintained that Pedro Salmerón also has accusations in the MeTooAcadémicosMx account, in the UNAM, as well as within the Morena party.
We tell you: Collectives, organizations and women ask Panamanian authorities to reject Salmerón’s appointment as ambassador
Regarding the accusations against him, Salmerón responded on his Twitter account that in the evaluations carried out by ITAM students there was “not the slightest allusion to any act of harassment, not even remotely misleading.”
However, in 2019 he resigned as a professor at the institution, after the publication of allegations of sexual harassment, through the account #MeTooITAM, although he pointed out that the accusations were false.
Shortly after the accusations, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, defended the proposal to appoint Pedro Salmerón as ambassador, also pointed out that there is no formal complaint, so he asked to wait for evidence to be presented.
In a press conference on Tuesday, the president said that Salmerón is a first-class and very prepared historian.
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