Julio Scherer Ibarra, legal adviser to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Photo: Twitter

By ADRIANA GARCIA VALDERRAMA

On Wednesday, April 27, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) defended his government’s top judicial advisor  Julio Scherer Ibarra who one day earlier ruffled feathers by stating that reporters’ voices should be silenced. The declaration was taken as an invitation for censorship.

Speaking during his daily morning press conference, AMLO called Scherer Ibarra “a good civil servant and the son of an exceptional communicator.”

Scherer is the son of the late Julio Scherer García, who once led the left-leaning weekly magazine “Proceso.”

Asked about the inflammatory comment that Scherer Ibarra had made during an interview reporter Carmen Aristegui for her blog, AMLO said the statement was “unfortunate,” noting that Scherer Ibarra had “already apologized in his Twitter account.”

Scherer Ibarra said that the statement was a “common expression” and that it had nothing to do with censorship.

In the tweet, he also said he had “absolute respect for journalists.”

He explained that some questions from the press violate the National Electoral Institute’s (INE) current restrictions on discussing government achievements that may influence the vote in Mexico’s upcoming midterm elections, thus putting the president in an awkward position.

AMLO refused to condemn his friend and ally Scherer Ibarra.

…April 29, 2021