PAN denounces AMLO before International Criminal Court; accuses of alleged pacts with organized crime

Mexico's National Action Party (PAN) has escalated its accusations against former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador by filing a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC). The party alleges that López Obrador and various criminal organizations engaged in "political-criminal" pacts during his presidency, seeking an investigation into potential individual criminal responsibility.

“

the reality that Mexico is experiencing today in terms of insecurity is not the product of chance or isolated criminal developments, but of the deliberate, calculated, and systematized permissive collaboration of the Mexican State that allowed or even provoked the establishment and hyper-empowerment of Organized Crime in Mexico, as a result of establishing a political pact with them between both parties, that is, between different Morena Governments (mainly the federal one 2018 – 2024) and Organized Crime.

The complaint details a grim picture of Mexico's recent past, citing over 200,000 homicides and more than 150,000 disappearances. PAN argues that these figures, along with forced youth recruitment, community displacement, and widespread cartel control, constitute alleged crimes against humanity. The party contends that the current insecurity in Mexico is not accidental but a result of deliberate, calculated, and systematic state collaboration with organized crime.

“

The narcopact known as “hugs, not bullets” allowed criminal groups to expand their territorial, economic, and political power, while the State renounced fully exercising its authority. Not only was the advance of organized crime tolerated; it was allowed to substitute the State in large areas of the country.

PAN asserts that a policy of "ceding sovereignty to organized crime" was implemented between 2018 and 2024, particularly in states like Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, and Michoacán. The party criticizes the "hugs, not bullets" approach, claiming it allowed criminal groups to expand their territorial, economic, and political power while the state relinquished its authority. PAN expressed concern over the alleged penetration of organized crime into political power, citing the cases of Rubén Rocha Moya, Alfonso Durazo, and Américo Villarreal, and stated they are turning to the ICC due to the perceived inability of national institutions to guarantee independent investigations.

“

have deepened the concern about the penetration of organized crime in political power. That is why we turn to the International Criminal Court, given national institutions that are increasingly less capable of guaranteeing independent investigations.