The election of the new president of the Business Coordinating Council is complicated by the division between the 6 associated organizations that have a vote; and what is considered a worrying interference by the government through Altagracia Gómez, coordinator of the Regional Economic Development Advisory Council and close to President Sheinbaum.
Since last December, before Francisco Cervantes’ third term at the head of the CCE ended in March, José Medina Mora, former president of Coparmex, and Juan Cortina, former president of the National Agricultural Council, were mentioned as the favorites, but Cervantes, with the decisive support of the Mexican Business Council, managed to prolong the election of his successor until December, among other factors due to the great uncertainty generated by Donald Trump’s tariff policy. and the need to close ranks around Plan Mexico.
The grid inside the CCE is red hot today. Although there will be an open registry of candidates starting November 6, those who carry out the registration are the associated organizations and neither Medina Mora nor Cortina have yet achieved consensus among the voting organizations: Coparmex, Concamin, CNA, AMIS, ABM, and CMN.
Concanaco also has voting rights but its president Octavio de la Torre was “suspended of his rights” in the CCE last April, although the absurd thing is that he is a regular participant in Las Mornings not only for Buen Fin, but for the “Very Mexican Friday” that takes place on the last Friday of each month to sell Mexican products.
Sofía Belmar, still without consensus
To win in the CCE, at least 5 of the 6 votes are required and Cervantes is pushing for a unity candidate. Your candidate is Sofía Belmar, CEO of Prudential Seguros, who has the advantage of being a woman and was president of AMIS, the Mexican Association of Insurance Institutions.
Belmar has the approval of Altagracia Gómez who considers that Medina Mora and Cortina could be too fierce on critical issues such as the reform of the Amparo Law.
The problem for Belmar, who received very little media attention at the head of AMIS because he had to lead it during the pandemic, is that it still does not have the consensus of the insurance sector. It is criticized that she is an executive and not the owner of a company, although there have been other cases such as Carlos Salazar, who directed Femsa before presiding over the CCE.
Julio Carranza, without support from the bankers
Another candidate who has government support is Julio Carranza, former president of the ABM, but he does not have the support of either the steering committee of the Association of Banks of Mexico or the so-called G7 that make up the largest banks in the country.
The only former president of the ABM who has chaired the CCE is Héctor Rangel Domene, also an Executive because he was director of Nacional Financiera and Bancomext.
Insurers and Coca-Cola, efficient lobbying
The Sweet Orange of the week goes to the executives and lobbyists of the soft drink companies, led by Coca-Cola Femsa, and the insurance sector because they reached agreements with the Morena deputies before the approval of the 2026 Income Law.
In the case of Coca-Cola Femsa, after lobbying with both the Ministry of Health and the Treasury, it reached an agreement to reduce the IEPS for light or zero drinks, in exchange for several commitments such as reducing the content of sugar and caloric sweeteners by up to 30%; lower the price and produce more light drinks.
Regarding insurers, Ricardo Monreal, coordinator of Morena, announced that after lobbying by companies and foreign embassies, an agreement was reached, criticized by the opposition, for insurers to withdraw their litigation against the SAT, which intends to charge them more than 180 million pesos for the accreditation of VAT in the payment of compensation for damage and life insurance in the last 4 years.
According to Monreal, the insurers will withdraw their litigation in exchange for a “fiscal stimulus” that is actually a remission of the charges that the SAT intends to charge them, and they agree, starting in 2025, to no longer credit VAT in payment of compensation.
Nahle, insurance cancellation vs. natural disasters
The Limón Agrio Award goes to Rocío Nahle, Governor of Veracruz who continues to accumulate criticism for her terrible performance. First, he minimized the alerts he did receive from Conagua about torrential rains and the overflowing of the Cazones River; later because she was overwhelmed by the tragedy and it was President Sheinbaum, who has assumed the supervision of care for the victims in both Veracruz, Hidalgo, Puebla, Querétaro and San Luis Potosí.
The last straw is that Nahle did not renew a Bx+ policy against natural disasters that expired last May, and instead created the Veracruzana Comprehensive Services Insurance Company that operates? with total opacity and apparently without authorization from the CNSF.
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