Strange way Mexican athletes get monetary rewards: confiscated from crime

2024-07-23 22:26:02

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico has a special way of raising money to reward high-level athletes for participating in major international sporting events: using funds confiscated from corrupt individuals or drug traffickers. Competitors at the Paris Olympics will also be beneficiaries of these funds.

President Andres Manuel López Obrador said on Tuesday that he had provided bonuses to those who competed in the Olympics, with funds that the Mexican prosecutor’s office had just recovered from a U.S. court corruption case. received.

“For the first time, the United States Department of Justice has returned funds confiscated from a politician in the state of Coahuila (a state in the north of the country),” the president said, without providing details about the politician. “The money will be used to support athletes,” he added.

During this administration, the president created the Institute for the Return of Stolen Property, a unit of the Treasury Department responsible for channeling funds seized from criminals or criminals. Auction of property seized from drug trafficking or tax evasion suspects as well as government vehicles and other property no longer in use. The money gained is always used for social activities.

Under previous administrations, Mexican medalists had received bonuses for their sporting achievements, but under López Obrador, this support was extended to the entire participating delegations, not just those who won medals of people, just like the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima or the Olympic Games in Tokyo, which were protected from the impact of the epidemic.

In December, the president said approximately $18 million was available for high-level competitive athletes, and those resources would be expanded this year.

The Mexican delegation to the Paris Games consists of 109 athletes. Almost half are soldiers Because the armed forces have become a lifeline for many athletes, who find financial respite there.

The National Sports Commission has been in the spotlight for several corruption cases, but no responsibility has yet been determined, according to the commission’s director, Ana Gabriela Guevara, this week. One of them is still open.

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