Fourteen years of presidential campaign came to an end last year when AMLO, a leftist candidate formed in the PRI, finally became Mexico's president. He was runner-up in both the 2006 and 2012 elections representing the PRD, a political party that emerged in the late 80's formed by several leftist movements of the civil society. AMLO never admitted defeat and in both elections he accused his opponents of committing electoral fraud with the help of the whole State apparatus that, according to him, also controlled the media. He thought that everything was a conspiracy inspired by the neoliberal policies of the technocrats who stayed in the power since 1982. AMLO called this group "the power mafia".

Ever since the establishment of the technocrat experiment, it was tarnished of corruption due to the political party that ruled Mexico for more than 70 years, PRI. In 2000, national elections saw the opposition dislodge the ruling party from power, but corruption continued growing even after the so-called major change. The state governors became some sort of feudal lords that were not bothered as long as they payed their tribute to the country's monarch. At the end of Peña Nieto's six-year term in 2018, 22 former governors were under investigation.

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AMLO came into power in 2018 mainly due to the social discontent after the high levels of corruption, violence and inequality that existed in the last decade. López Obrador won last year's election by a record margin (53% of votes) and had sky-high approval ratings after making a promise of putting an end to corruption and impunity. In November 2018, as president elect, he said "Revenge is not a strong trait in me, and I do not believe that is in the country's best interest to prosecute corrupted people from the past".

It is not clear, however, that the Government would be interested in fighting for the anti-corruption cause in the future. The Secretariat of the Public Service, which is an arm of the executive power in charge of supervising the federal officials, announced that it will ban Emilio Lozoya, former director of PEMEX in the Enrique Peña Nieto administration, the right to hold public office for ten years. He is accused of misuse of public resources after buying an industrial plant for a cost overrun estimated at 31 million dollars.

The move against Lozoya seems to have a clear target: PRI, that will hold internal elections to decide their new president in June. As opposed to the Republican and Democratic parties, the president of PRI has a high influence related to political decisions taken in the Congress by its own members of the party. Many analysts believe that Peña Nieto, in an agreement with Mexico's president, is promoting the governor of Campeche, Alito Moreno, to become the leader of the party. The agreement would be that, as long as PRI legislators support AMLO's Morena party initiatives in Congress, the current administration will not pursue the corruption of the previous administration.

Alito's opponent is José Narro, former secretary of Health during Peña Nieto's administration and director of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the biggest and most important university in Mexico and Latin America. Narro, who is supported by many long-standing wealthy politicians is also pursuing the presidency of the party.

Narro is supported by important political actors such as Manlio Fabio Beltrones, who was the major leader in the legislative branch during Peña Nieto's administration; Emilio Gamboa, who was the leader of the PRI senators until last year; Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, former Secretary of the Interior with Peña Nieto; and Claudia Ruiz Massieu, current leader of the party and niece of mythical former Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari. Narro is close to the most traditional and old-schooled divisions of PRI; within the party his message has been more confrontational towards AMLO than in any other sector of the party.

But Narro's most powerful ally is outside the party: Carlos Slim, the richest man in the world from 2010 to 2013, and the wealthiest man in Mexico.

AMLO's anticorruption actions seem to be a very clear warning to PRI's movements, warning them to be careful which political direction they take. While Peña Nieto's group is eager to preserve a peaceful relation with the current president and avoid possible investigations of corruption, the other wing within PRI seems ready to confront Mexico's president.

It is not coincidence that on March 26, during the presidential morning press conference, the Secretary of Communications, Javier Jiménez Espriú, stated that among the "strategic advisors" of Parsons, one of the companies in charge of the construction of Texcoco Airport, (one of Peña Nieto's milestones that AMLO canceled in December for alleged corruption), two names came to his attention: Alfredo del Mazo González and Alfredo Elías Ayub.

For many analysts this was a clear message to the PRI and to Slim. Alfredo del Mazo was the former governor of The State of Mexico with the PRI, and father to Alfredo del Mazo Maza, the actual governor. Del Mazo Maza has not yet decided whether he will support José Narro or Alito for the candidacy. Del Mazo's power and influence is such that his decision could define the outcome of the internal election next month. With his comment, Jímenez Espriú perhaps tried to tip the balance towards the candidate that his boss, the president of Mexico, prefers: Moreno.

The other Alfredo is the brother of Carlos Slim's son-in-law. The richest man in Mexico gave a press conference, during AMLO's presidential campaign, to publicly question his airport project, and this was not taken so gratefully by the president. His eager defense to Peña Nieto's project in Texcoco would have had several explanations, and now another one arises: the brother of his son in law worked for one of the construction companies.

PRI, the once imperial party that ruled with unquestionable authority from 1929 until the end of the XX century, is passing through a critical moment. After spending two periods in the opposition and then regaining the presidency in 2012, last year the PRI had its worst election in their history. Their candidate José Antonio Meade, chosen for his image as a pragmatic economist and independent from the party, did not win a single electoral district in the contest and finished in third place, despite having the whole State apparatus and all the economic support from the Federal government. They could not win any of the state governments at play, and in fact they lost two states they previously had won. In the Deputies Chamber it went from being the first political force in terms of number of deputies, to the fifth one nowadays.

However, if something has stood out from the party is its ability to renew itself and regain power. In 2006 they also came in third in the presidential race, and six years later they won again. In 2000, when for the first time (since dictator Porfirio Diaz's was defeated in 1910), a candidate of the opposition force (the PAN) Vicente Fox won, no one believed that the PRI would rise again.

Meanwhile, it is said within the presidential cabinet, that they must be aware of the consequences of opening the Pandora box of corruption. That when Governments investigate corrupt construction companies, they soon run out of partners.