Exclusive: Mexico's biggest TV network fires their anchor to protect businesses with AMLO

The night in which Andrés Manuel López Obrador won the Presidency of Mexico, the VIP room in the Alameda Hilton Hotel was crowded by family, members of the incoming cabinet, and a few select businessmen. Among the latter were two known media figures: Ricardo Salinas Pliego, head of TV Azteca, and Bernardo Gómez, who at that time was already co-head of Televisa. New and old players of the Mexican power establishment in a new partnership for the decision-making groups that would control Mexico's fate.

Some of those in attendance said that Bernardo Gómez was overjoyed, not because of AMLO's triumph -which had been foreseen for weeks in advance- but because he had learned that one of Carlos Slim's sons had asked to be part of that exclusive celebration but had been rejected. That was the first sign of new times to come.

That night, many schemes and agreements were set into action that ended up stirring the waters in the media yesterday when it was made public that Carlos Loret de Mola, one of Mexico's most influential news anchors, had exited Televisa after decades of colaboration. A big exchange of thoughts and opinions quickly took place within the decision-making groups where they wondered whether Loret had quit or if the network had fired him due to his frequent criticism of the Government.

The truth is that Loret has never had inflammatory rhetoric against this government in his morning news program in Televisa, the biggest and oldest network in the country. It's the same case in his evening show Tercer Grado, a secondary show considering its viewership numbers. The anchor was tougher in his critique on his daily columns in both El Universal and W Radio. The problem was that even so, he represented a risk to the deals that were already taking place.

That's why a month ago, when Loret's contract negotiation was underway and seemed to be going well, Gómez entered the scene. The executive alluded to a supposed cost restructuring within the company, and Leopoldo Gómez, Vicepresident of News, obeyed without a question and started to impose a series of unacceptable conditions to the anchor. In the last hours, Leopoldo sent messages to his inner circle reassuring them that he had always been in favor of Loret staying and that he believes in freedom of speech.

 To understand the risks, we must rethink the main chapters of this relationship. Bernardo Gómez organized at his home the dinner between AMLO and Jared Kushner a few months back. Ever since that night, he made sure that ICA-Fluor won one of the units of the Dos Bocas refinery. He used all his influence to ensure a contract that favors Fluor, a company that is very close to Kushner.

But there's more; Guadalupe Phillips, CEO of Mexican construction giant ICA and a close friend of Alfonso de Angoitía, the other co-head of Televisa, won a 50 million dollar contract just for the engineering in the refinery. There will be bigger revenues later when the construction itself begins. A similar kind of lobbying took place for ICA to build a stretch of a railroad for the Mayan Train without public bidding. The argument was that the company already has the concession contract for a road that would go in parallel to the rails of this megaproject.

The business deals between Gómez and the AMLO administration are transversal and they cover many areas. In July 2018, for example, someone close to the President advised Televisa to let go of its casinos. One month later, all 17 Play City casinos were for sale. From that moment it became evident that Emilio Azcárraga, the original heir of Televisa, was effectively in the background.

But not everything is business. Having become a sort of business operator, Gómez was a key player to bring mogul Alberto Baillères and AMLO's Government together, even though the tycoon had wanted to leave the country at the middle of the year. Twist of fate: Three weeks ago, he organized a dinner at his home in Mexico City with AMLO as the main guest. A similar operation had been conducted with Carlos Hank González, owner of Banorte, who just publicly applauded the President in a forum this week.

Politics is not an exception to these maneuvers: Enrique Peña Nieto's close circle is more and more afraid as Government investigations frenziedly progress against many of its figures, but never against Former Secretary of Finances Luis Videgaray, who is living placidly and away from the power struggles in Boston. A sort of agreement or pact that also finds its origin in the network's co-head.

Such closeness to the Government is crucial to a conglomerate that has been cornered by various problems. And the stakes are too big to risk them for a news anchor.