Thread by @KurtHackbarth

1.) Yesterday, former Mexican president @FelipeCalderon came out complaining that he's being "persecuted."

Today it became clear why: Calderón has been implicated in the massive diversion of public funds to develop Mexico's prison-industrial complex.

2.) Through his then-Security Secretary Genaro García Luna -currently on trial in the US for drug trafficking-, the Calderón administration allegedly diverted some $300 billion pesos ($15 billion US today) into no-bid crony contracts for private prisons.

jornada.com.mx/notas/2021/04/…

3.) As I explained here, these long-term, sweetheart contracts (some possessed today by Black Rock) required the government to pay the companies as if they were at full capacity, regardless of whether a single person was in them.

https://twitter.com/KurtHackbarth/status/1349767132284903427

4.) For the woman's penitentiary in the State of Morelos, for example, which is at 32% capacity, this means that the per-day expense per prisoner is some $6,634 pesos ($330 US), more expensive than a five-star hotel.

5.) In a renegotiation with the companies, #AMLO has achieved two things: a 15% reduction and the provision that the prisons will pass over into the public sector when contracts expire, effectively phasing out private prisons in #Mexico.

6.) He made clear, though, that the legal investigations for diversion of resources by the Calderón administration will continue.

7.) This is yet another serious allegation against the Calderón administration, already under the gun for its probable ties to the Sinaloa Cartel - as I laid out in this piece:

jacobinmag.com/2020/06/felipe…

8.) Shortly after the June midterms, Mexicans are scheduled to vote in a referendum on whether they want former presidents to be put on trial for their crimes. If the referendum passes, much more on this and the former administration's drug links are likely to come out. /END