Mexico’s ruling Morena party, long defined by its austerity principles and motto ‘For the good of all, first the poor,’ is confronting a growing contradiction as several senior figures disclose or are linked to substantial personal wealth, drawing scrutiny from analysts and the public alike.
The latest flashpoint came with a public financial filing by Alejandro Gertz Manero, the former attorney general whom President Claudia Sheinbaum appointed as Mexico’s ambassador to the United Kingdom. The declaration, reported by The Guardian World, revealed ten houses, seven cars including two Rolls-Royces with one valued at $150,000, jewellery worth more than $1 million, and an art collection appraised at nearly $500,000. Gertz Manero also holds bank accounts in Mexico, the United States, Spain, and Switzerland, owns a US property valued at over $1 million, and purchased a flat in Madrid for €1 million, roughly £860,000. He stated in the filing that many of these assets were inherited.
A Party Built on Austerity
Morena was founded by former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who cultivated a carefully austere public image. He drove an old sedan, reduced his own salary, and abandoned the presidential residence and official private jet. His signature phrase, ‘There can be no rich government if the people are poor,’ became a rallying call for the movement.
The party reinforced that image last year when it issued internal guidelines explicitly warning members against displays of material ostentation, including jewellery, designer clothing, high-value properties, luxury cars, upscale restaurants, and lavish tourism, describing such behaviour as contrary to Morena’s principles.
A Pattern of Contradictions
The wealth disclosures are not isolated. Senator Adán Augusto López Hernández, a close ally of López Obrador, reportedly received nearly $4.5 million in private income during 2023 and 2024, according to outlet N+. He acknowledged the funds, saying they came from legal services and were fully declared in tax returns. ‘All my income is declared, as shown in the tax returns. I have never hidden my income,’ he said.
López Obrador’s own family has also drawn attention. Last year, his son Andrés Manuel López Beltrán was spotted at a $400-a-night hotel in Tokyo, with a local outlet reporting he spent $2,600 at the hotel restaurant. He acknowledged the trip in a public Instagram letter, describing the resulting criticism as ‘a political lynching campaign steeped in hatred, classism and slander,’ and insisting he used his own money. More recently, the former president’s other son, José Ramón López Beltrán, was photographed at a Cartier store in Cancún. A local Morena politician in Tulum added to the controversy when he posted a TikTok video of himself aboard a private jet in luxury clothing, prompting the party to open an investigation.
A Strategic Miscalculation
Public policy expert Viri Ríos, director of Mexico Decoded, said the party created its own dilemma by tying wealth to moral failure. ‘What’s been created is a contradiction between what Morena appeals to narratively versus what the party really is,’ she told The Guardian World.
Ríos argued that the party’s original framing left no room for nuance. ‘If that’s going to be your position, then from the beginning you must prevent anyone who is very wealthy from joining the movement,’ she said, adding that Morena made a strategic error by associating all types of wealth with a lack of morality.
