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Mexico Power-Play: New round in match between Salinas and Videgaray – focuses on NXIVM and Salinas’ son’s role in sex-slaver cult

According to a new report in the Mexican publication El Universal, the sex-slaver cult of NXIVM is at the heart of a national power play in Mexico.

Mario Maldonado reports for El Univeral in Spanish: Here is an English translation largely aided by Google translation.

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Former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari and current Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray have been fighting for power for nearly six years. It has had different moments, actors and implications.

For that reason, it was not surprising that Videgaray did not attend Carlos Salinas’ birthday party last Saturday, in which cabinet members, governors and President Enrique Peña Nieto spoke.

This is interesting since it comes at a time when there is a new stage in the fight: the ‘persecution’ of Salinas’ eldest son, Emiliano Salinas Occelli, founder and president of the Executive Success Program (ESP), related to the Nxivm group. The leader Keith Raniere is accused of marking his initials with women and enslaving them sexually.

After publication of a report by The New York Times that revealed the practices of the Raniere group in October last year, and after US and Canadian authorities began to investigate, Salinas Occelli issued a statement dissociating himself from the accusations, despite the fact that he founded the Mexican branches of NXIVM, together with partner, Alejandro Betancourt, and operates their businesses under the license of Nxivm.

“We want to state that the methodology of ‘Rational Inquiry’ that we teach in Mexico, under the name of Executive Success Program (ESP), is based entirely on respect for human rights and adheres to all types of legal framework. It is important to clarify that we had no prior knowledge of the allegations made against Mr. Keith Raniere or of the alleged illegal practices that involve him, ” he said.

On March 25, the story took a turn: Keith Raniere, who had traveled to Monterrey, Nuevo León, to allegedly meet with some of his followers – most of them big businessmen from Monterrey – was arrested in a luxurious villa in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, by the Federal Police. The extradition of Raniere to the United States was made in record time, as he was transferred to Texas just hours after his arrest. There was the hand of Chancellor Videgaray, who two weeks earlier had met with Donald Trump’s son-in-law , Jared Kushner, to discuss various issues of the bilateral relationship.

It was learned that some of the members of the Nxivm network in Mexico include Alejandra González Anaya , sister of the current Secretary of the Treasury, José Antonio González Anaya, who in turn is a colleague of former President Carlos Salinas; the lawyer Federico de la Madrid Hurtado and his wife Fabiola Sánchez de la Madrid , among other businessmen whose names have not been revealed.

Last week, journalist Carlos Loret de Mola reported that US authorities would also be investigating Raniere’s ties with Mexican businessmen who gave him protection. Here, the close Videgaray-Kushner relationship plays a more than relevant role.

In addition to the Executive Success Program brand, Emiliano Salinas and Alejandro Betancourt operate MoneyBack in Mexico, which provides the service of VAT refund management to foreigners with tourist quality. This company also has a license from the American Nxivm. They also own Prorsus Capital, an investment fund specialized in business development with a presence in Mexico and Latin America.

The arrival of President Peña Nieto to celebrate the 70th birthday party of Salinas de Gortari last Saturday could have been a message of reconciliation, but also a further sign that, despite everything, Luis Videgaray is still the man with more power within the federal government.