He has been virtually out of the spotlight since he requested leave from the Senate last June, but Ricardo Monreal will return to prominence at the latest at the start of next year after undergoing a period that has proven that politics is often the art of swallow toads
In the short period of five months, Monreal – one of the most solid contemporary politicians – had to separate himself from the leadership in the Senate, renounce his presidential aspirations, support the candidacy of Claudia Sheinbaum, see canceled the possibility of seeking the head of Government of Mexico City and, finally, enter a limbo that until now did not seem to mark a route of resurgence.
Monreal Ávila, 63, will reappear to resume leadership of the Morena parliamentary faction in the so-called upper house, according to sources familiar with the Zacatecas politician, who opportunely reviewed his letters and decided not to break with the ruling party.
His name is insistently mentioned to resume his seat and unblock negotiations with the opposition parties to release a hundred stuck appointments, some for more than a year. Among them, that of two magistrates in the federal electoral court, after the vacancies left by the controversial José Luis Vargas Valdés – nicknamed “banknote magistrate” – and Indalfer Infante.
Among these appointments, there are also twenty magistrates of electoral courts in 17 entities of the Republic, three commissioners of the INAI – the body that guarantees transparency -, members of the federal court of administrative justice, of the agrarian court, as well as diplomats.
After Mrs. Sheinbaum’s nomination as Morena’s virtual presidential candidate, at the beginning of September, Monreal opened a negotiation with her and other figures close to Palacio that, until now, profiles him as the next leader of the Congress of Mexico City. However, the talks continue, and it is not ruled out that their spaces will be expanded with some positions that were scheduled to be handed over to Marcelo Ebrard, who has not yet reached an agreement with the main winner of this process.
Monreal’s star shone brightly in the first half of the López Obrador government, with whom he was pictured having breakfast in the Palace to agree on both parliamentary issues and other agendas that intersect the governability of the self-proclaimed fourth transformation. But the 2021 elections would upset all of his scenarios.
In those elections, which included the renewal of the federal and local chambers of deputies of the country’s capital – governed by Sheinbaum -, Morena suffered bitter setbacks, among them in capital mayoralties: one of them Cuauhtémoc, the “jewel in the crown.” in the city. There, Sandra Cuevas, close to the then senatorial leader, triumphed, which was used to argue his betrayal of López Obrador’s “movement.”
Monreal’s “winter” included a ditch of silence with the Palace for two years. López Obrador managed his return, first through messages transmitted by the then Secretary of the Interior, Adán Augusto López. Then he entrusted Claudia Sheinbaum to initiate a rapprochement with the Zacatecan. Both met in the old City Hall Palace in February of this year. History made a loop there; a new chapter began.
Notes: Manuel Velasco, former governor of Chiapas, closely linked by family ties to President López Obrador, failed in his intention to block the candidacy of his political rival, the aforementioned Eduardo Ramirezin the bid to relieve the current state president, Rutilio Escandon. Velasco pushed his ally until the last moment Sasil de Leónwho, according to Morena’s official survey, will only achieve the consolation prize of a senatorial office.