María Estela Ríos González will assume the role of the Mexican president’s chief legal counselor, Photo: Google

By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) announced Wednesday, Sept. 2, that lawyer María Estela Ríos González will assume the role of his chief legal counselor, a seat opened by the exit of the president’s former counselor Julio Scherer Ibarra.

After thanking Scherer Ibarra (whose exodus had been foretold by rumors across partisan divides for the last week) for his nearly three years of service, AMLO announced Ríos González’s new position during his daily morning press conference at the National Palace.

Ríos González served as AMLO’s legal counselor when he was mayor of Mexico City.

AMLO praised the work of Scherer Ibarra, who he said was like a brother to him, and called him a key element in the country’s political transformation process.

Scherer Ibarra was the main actor in the drafting of AMLO’s constitutional reform initiatives.

“During the time that he served as counselor, he was in charge of preparing the reform initiatives to the Mexican Constitution to adjust the legal framework to our project to transform the country,” López Obrador said.

In referring to Ríos González, AMLO said she was “an honest person, with experience, principles and ideals.”

Ríos González studied law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and has a master’s degree in political science from the same university.