AMLO conflict-of-interest allegations reach Maya train

An alleged conflict of interest involving the son of Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) is reaching the country’s most important infrastructure project, the 200bn-peso (US$10bn) Maya train. 

Originally, AMLO’s eldest son, José Ramón López Beltrán, was linked to Pemex contracts with Baker Hughes. But after AMLO confirmed Monday his son works as legal counsel for KEI Partners, media attention has shifted to the Maya train.

The US company is owned by Érika and Iván Chávez, children of Grupo Vidanta founder Daniel Chávez Moran, who advises AMLO on construction of the 1,500km passenger and freight rail line that will connect five states in the southeast

“But he does not charge anything at all, nor do we have any business relationship. He does not have any business with the federal government, there is no problem of interest,” AMLO was quoted as saying by daily Expansión. 

Grupo Vidanta is among Mexico’s top tourism real estate developers. In 2018, Chávez announced the company was interested in investing in the Maya train. 

According to its website, Vidanta owns or develops resorts in luxury destinations, including the Riviera Maya and Acapulco. 

While reports don’t imply criminal activity, they emphasize conflicts of interest. AMLO promised to eradicate corruption and has accused opponents of unethical behavior. 

BACKGROUND

KEI Partners and López Beltran have been in the spotlight since media outlet LatinUS published a report by anti-corruption organization MCCI in January that linked López Beltrán’s alleged luxurious lifestyle in the US to a Baker Hughes executive, allegedly providing him a luxury home in Houston. Baker Hughes has benefited from contracts with national oil company Pemex, two of them worth over US$100mn.

The parties involved have denied the accusations, with López Beltran clarifying he works for KEI Partners but has no business with Baker Hughes or the government. 

KEI Partners was founded in Texas in 2018, two months before AMLO took office.

On Tuesday, KEI Partners said in a statement that López Beltran has been working for the company since 2020, and clarified that its website was created a long time ago rather than hastily assembled just recently, as Mexican press reported.