Pemex Workers Union head Carlos Romero Deschamps. Photo: imagendelgolfo.mx

By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF    

Carlos Romero Deschamps, head of the powerful Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) workers group, the Mexican Oil Workers Union (STPRM), said Wednesday, Jan. 31, that he is not concerned about the alleged charges against him.

Earlier in the day, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) said Romero Deschamps will soon be charged with alleged fuel theft by the Federal Attorney General.

Although the indictment has yet to be processed nor has Romero Deschamps been officially advised, AMLO said during his programed early morning press conference Wednesday, that the charges will proceed within the next few days.

Romero Deschamps, who is closely linked to former President Enrique Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and who was in 2013 included in Forbes’ list of the “10 Most Corrupt Mexicans,” was spotted having lunch in an upscale Mexico City restaurant, where said that he was not concerned by the alleged charges against him.

He also said that he had consistently been a political scapegoat and was being singled out for unfounded charges, adding that “I am not the devil.”

On Jan. 9, the STPRM leader officially endorsed the president’s nationwide program to curb huachicoleo (gasoline theft), which was launched in late December.

According to Mexican government figures, huachicoleo costs Pemex more than $3 billion a year.

During his press conference, AMLO said that his government is not out to persecute any person or organization, and that there will be no political witch hunts during his administration.