Griselda Martínez Martínez, former mayor of Manzanillo, was charged along with former members of her cabinet and the City Council for having authorized, at the end of her administration, the granting of a subsistence bonus equivalent to three months’ salary to nearly 200 confidential employees, including officials and council members, for a total amount of approximately 25 million 547 thousand pesos.
The supervisory judge determined that there was sufficient evidence to open criminal proceedings against the former mayor and those who were part of her team for the crimes of embezzlement, illicit use of powers and authority, as well as violations of the Law on Compensation of Public Servants of the state and municipalities.
In addition to Griselda Martínez, the following were also charged: Héctor Ramírez, former chief officer; Eduardo Camarena, former treasurer; Héctor Luna, former director of human resources; as well as former councilors Rosa Herrera, Karla Nai, and Zarina Jocelyn Calleros; former councilor Daniel Mendoza; and current councilors Martha Zepeda del Toro (MC) and Sara Valdovinos (PRI).
As for the latter two, the judge imposed a precautionary measure of temporary dismissal on the current Manzanillo City Council, as they were serving as councilors on the current Manzanillo City Council. The judge imposed a precautionary measure of temporary dismissal on the latter two, while the judicial process will continue with all those involved free of charge, while the three-month period for the complementary investigation expires.
However, the court ruling sparked diverse reactions in the political arena, given that Griselda Martínez has been identified as one of the main critics of the administration of Morena governor Indira Vizcaíno Silva, to whose party the former mayor also belonged. However, she was expelled months before last year’s elections and joined Movimiento Ciudadano, for which she was a Senate candidate.
After the charges against Griselda Martínez and Martha Zepeda became known, former presidential candidate Jorge Álvarez Maynez of the Citizen Movement party denounced through his X account that both Governor Indira Vizcaíno and the current mayor of Manzanillo, Rosa María Bayardo, also a Morena member, are harassing Griselda Martínez and Martha Zepeda.
“Following the bad example of what happened in Veracruz and Campeche, they are perverting judicial institutions to persecute their adversaries,” Álvarez Maynez posted.
For her part, at the conclusion of the hearing, Griselda Martínez rejected the accusations against her and maintained that the case is driven by political interests.
“We will continue to defend and argue what we have been maintaining: we have not committed any of the crimes of which we are accused. We will resort to other legal instruments for our defense,” she declared.
The former mayor went further, accusing Colima of “the state continuing to be co-opted by an interest group, and for that reason, they are capable of daring to issue sentences without doing justice.”
Referring to a local media outlet’s report that the judge who ordered the injunction, Brenda Ivonne Zepeda Alcaraz, had appeared in Morena’s accordions during the recent judicial election, Griselda Martínez posted on her Facebook profile: “The ‘welfare’ judge acted on command.”
Meanwhile, the PRI’s state leadership described the measure to remove its councilwoman Sara Valdovinos from office as “disproportionate and unjustified,” warning that it violates the principles of citizen representation.
“Politics should not be used as a tool for persecution or revenge; the citizen voice represented by our colleague cannot and should not be silenced by decisions that harm the democratic life of municipalities,” the tricolor leader emphasized.
Source: proceso
