• REMOVAL One week after an attack against a nightclub in the city of Coatzacoalcos that left 30 people dead, the Veracruz state Congress temporarily removed the state’s Attorney General, Jorge Winckler, for ‘incomplete vetting’ of his background back in 2016 when he arrived to the post.
• FIGHT Since his arrival to power on December 2018, the new Governor of Veracruz state, Cuitláhuac García, (a member of Morena political party) has immersed himself into a bitter political fight with Winckler accusing the nominally independent AG office for not doing enough to fight crime.
• QUOTE “With this illegality, it is not Jorge Winckler…who’s been attacked and harmed, it’s the institution’s autonomy and separation of powers”, said Winckler vowing to present legal resources to fight his removal; back in 2016, Winckler was supposed to remain as AG for the next 9 years.
• NIGHTMARE Veracruz (pop. 8.1 million) has been plagued in recent yers with a mix of political corruption, violence and collaboration between State police and criminal groups. A 2017 International Crisis Group report labeled security forces since 2011 as an “authoritarian-criminal enclave”.
