The Validity of Pegasus Program Will Be Reviewed: López Obrador

“Sol Prendido” for Borderland Beat

The president informs that it will be analyzed if it still exists or if the espionage program was canceled; Questions Peña Nieto’s government investment to spy on him and his family.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced that it will be reviewed whether his government maintains or canceled the contract with the Israeli company that provided the Pegasus espionage program.

The Commander in Chief said that all the instances involved in the espionage case during the previous administration will review if there is still any link with the Pegasus program, and if the contracts are maintained they will be terminated, since his administration has as a principle not to spy on opponents or journalists.

“No. I don’t know if the contract can exist. And I’m going to review it and today we’re going to report on it. What I’m absolutely sure of is that no one is spied on,” López Obrador said.

Will the contract be renewed? He was questioned.

“We would have to see who has it. An investigation will be done. If the contract exists, it must be canceled. I don’t think it exists, but the review must be done anyway, and what I have no doubt about is that we don’t spy on anyone,” López Obrador said.

He questioned that the previous administration has invested money from the budget to hire the espionage service, and that among those who were followed were him, his wife, his children and a total of 50 people from his closest circle.

“Of course, they spied on me, for a year or two, well, many more. But now it’s been announced that they also spied on my wife, my children, well even the doctor who treats me, the cardiologist.

Fifty people close to me, but it wasn’t only in my case, there were journalists, everyone” (…) “Imagine how much it cost, how much money was destined for espionage,” he said.

He stressed that there are records that he has been spied on since the seventies of the last century, when he was an official of the National Indigenous Institute and was not an opponent.

He commented that it will be investigated which instances authorized the acquisition of the Pegasus program, who paid for the licenses, and who and with what criteria authorized spying on journalists and opponents.

He added that he will not denounce to any judicial instance the espionage he suffered throughout his political career.

Excelsior