Overview
- Rubén Rocha Moya made the admission at FIL Culiacán during a book presentation, and reporters later recovered an audio recording of his remarks.
- He said Morena conducted two internal surveys that both favored Mazatlán’s former mayor, Luis Guillermo Benítez, before the announcement was twice suspended.
- Rocha recounted that Ricardo Monreal informed him the survey results would not be respected and conveyed that the President would decide the nominee.
- According to Rocha, Andrés Manuel López Obrador focused on the “intention to vote” metric and leaned on a long-standing political relationship dating to their PRD years.
- Several 2021 rivals later faced removals or legal cases, including a 2023 request by Sinaloa’s prosecutor to lift Benítez’s immunity and Rocha’s same-day decision to oust him as tourism secretary.