During the toughest moments of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in the defeats of 2006 and 2012, given up by his party, by the media and by a good part of the mexican society for its stubborn resistance to the electoral setbacks, and only a small group remained at his side. Among them, was an entrepreneur of Baja California, which he put at the service of the then eternal candidate all the artillery of radios, televisions, open and cable of your emporio media, a leader in the northern state. With time, that businessman ended up becoming a candidate of Brown and this summer swept the regional elections. Is Jaime Bonilla, the man who has catapulted to López Obrador in a State dominated for decades by the right, but that is now causing a water pathway into the party for his controversial bet to extend the mandate.

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The decision to expand from two to five years of their tenure, which has led to a legislative reform of urgency, and a query plebiscite with a turnout of little more than 50,000 people in a state of more than 3 million inhabitants, in front of a giant wall-building. The Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) agreed to proceed in the last week four actions of unconstitutionality filed by the other parties. While the Instituto Nacional Electoral has announced a campaign “to safeguard democracy” topped off by another appeal to the Electoral Court of the Judicial Power. Within Brown, Tatiana Cloutier, coordinator of the presidential campaign, has called the measure “aberration” and the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Porfirio Munoz Ledo came to propose even the disappearance of powers in the northern State.

In the background of the controversy, extends the shadow of one of the greatest taboos of the political in modern Mexico, the principle of non-re-election of the rulers. No re-election was the flag of Francisco Madero, one of the headlights ideological of the current president, during the uprising against the dictator Porfirio Diaz and is marked by the fire of the constitution since 1933. Throughout the conflict, López Obrador has remained without kept profile, entrusting the final outcome to the decision of the SCJ and obviating any criticism of the president northern.

the Two met for the first time in 2005, in a visit of the then entrepreneur Bonilla to the release of the still head of Government of Mexico City. “Even before that moment, I admired the profile of Andrés Manuel, his political thinking and their ability to communicate their ideas. And from here comes to an appreciation and true friendship and reciprocal,” says Marco Antonio Blásquez, right-hand side of Bonilla for more than 30 years in their companies and exsenador by Brown.

the Son of a military rigid but progressive in the wake of Lázaro Cárdenas (another of the totems to the current president), an engineer and become a successful businessman on both sides of the border, Bonilla, depending on your environment, projected Lopez Obrador, the idea of an honest politician, and with the social awareness that he also admired his father. His political career started as member of parliament for the PRD –the left mexican classical– to be passed soon to the ranks of the new project of López Obrador. The rise in Brown was meteoric: in September of 2018 gets the seat of a senator, three months later it becomes a super-delegate in the State for another three months after launch as a candidate for Governor.

By the shining path, has left some open wounds. Jaime Martínez Veloz, a veteran politician from the region forged in the priismo, formed part of the presidential campaign of Morena in Baja California. Martinez argues that from the vantage point of a senator, Bonilla already had a great influence on the movements of the party in the State, and that for months he insisted that he was the candidate for governor. “He –the politician– I did not want a mandate so short, was seen in a project of six years. But suddenly everything changed. They began to filter out to the media that already sought to extend the term and that the president himself had pushed for him to be the candidate.” Martin would end up breaking up with Brown, and competing with Bonilla as a candidate by the PRD, despite having been the man who introduced him to Lopez Obrador in that meeting, 2005, sealed bottles of wine of the valley california Napa.

The tune of the mexican president and the current governor has also been greased by the baseball, the favorite sport of the president, able to recall the milestones of the previous match in full press conference policy. Bonilla was the impeller in the eighties the local team in Tijuana, The Foals, of which he was manager. In 2016, López Obrador was one of the guests to his box at the stadium of the San Diego padres to witness the game of the stars of the american league.

political Career in the US

Bonilla has dual citizenship and came to occupy a position in a district of the county of San Diego. In fact, one of his political godfathers is Cruz Bustamante, the lieutenant governor, a democrat of California who lost the battle against Schwarzenegger in 2003. His fondness for the US has been one of the reefs where they have beaten their opponents, who accuse him of being behind the construction of a huge desalination plant on the californian coast mexican, for the benefit of the neighbors to the north.

During his charge to the front of the service water district, california, Bonilla testified before a judge in a case of alleged bribery. The mexican businessman was recognized then that, in the framework of the process, had been an informant for the FBI for at least five months, including secret recordings of meetings with other businessmen and politicians. Neither has been spared to be linked with the shadows of the organized crime. The opposition has pointed to the presence on your computer of Amado Cruz Anguiano, a businessman who came to pass by the prison in the 90s for washing money for the Tijuana cartel.

Also accuse him of collusion with both the PRI –is a personal friend former governor Xicotencatl Leyva, another pri converted into morenista after being disowned by Carlos Salinas– as with the right pan, to which it has given input in their administration, and with those who had to take forward its reform. “You have to understand that it does not come from a political party, his whole life has been an entrepreneur. Look for the progress and productivity to Baja California and least interested in is that of a party or another: it is a lord pragmatic,” adds Blásquez.

The primit was a decision after taking possession this Friday was to appoint as Attorney General of the State to his friend, personal attorney and corporate for years. William “Titi” Ruiz was a lawyer in addition to the entrepreneur and former mayor of Tijuana Jorge Hank, accused of corruption and murder. The new prosecutor of the fifth state, Mexico’s most violent was also the man who baptized one of the daughters of the governor. A new bet of Bonilla by fidelity.