The ''Videoscandals'' ( es, Videoescándalos) were political scandals in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in 2004 when videos of prominent politicians taken with hidden cameras were made public. The majority of them involved politicians in corrupt dealings with former business man

Carlos Ahumada Carlos Agustín Ahumada Kurtz (born 1964) is an entrepreneur of dual Argentine-Mexican nationality. His main areas of business are mining, construction and football. He founded the ''El Independiente'' newspaper in Mexico and was a partner and found ...

, and another showed a politician spending money in Las Vegas.

The videos

The videos are listed in order of chronological appearance on television.

Jorge Emilio González

The first video shown on national television was of

Jorge Emilio González Martínez Jorge Emilio González Martínez (born 16 April 1972 in Mexico City), popularly known as El Niño Verde (the Green Boy), is a Mexican politician affiliated with the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (PVEM). He serves as a senator in the LXII Legis ...

the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (PVEM) leader (a long time ally of the PRI party). He was taped by one of his own party members, who introduced to him the businessman interested in the project, allegedly negotiating a $2 million bribe in cash to assist in the development of a hotel in an ecologically protected area. The three met in the PVEM headquarters. During an interview with

Grupo Reforma Grupo Reforma is the largest printed media company in Mexico and Latin America. It publishes ten daily newspapers in five cities, including the leading newspapers in Mexico's three largest cities: ''Reforma'' in Mexico City, '' El Norte'' in Mon ...

, Emilio talked about some accusations: his involvement with a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

n woman death, which happened inside one of his properties located in Emerald,

Cancún Cancún ( ), often Cancun in English (without the accent; or ) is a city in southeast Mexico on the northeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. It is a significant tourist destination in Mexico and the seat ...

Gustavo Ponce

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

's finance chief, Gustavo Ponce, was filmed gambling at the Bellagio Hotel in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

René Bejarano

The second scandal came when

René Bejarano René Juvenal Bejarano Martínez (born January 11, 1957) is a Mexican politician and ex-legislator, better known for the 2004 videoscandals. He was a political economy professor at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana in 1978 and was the ...

, previously López Obrador's personal secretary, later elected to the

legislature, was videotaped accepting USD $45,000 in cash.{{cite news, work=El Universal, url=http://archivo.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/207921.html, date=2004-03-03, access-date=2016-08-01, title=Implican a Bejarano en acto de corrupción The video got to the hands of Congress member

Federico Döring Federico Döring Casar (born 13 September 1971) is a Mexican politician from Mexico City affiliated with the National Action Party (Mexico), National Action Party (PAN). He currently serves as a Chamber of Deputies (Mexico), deputy representing ...

who took it and had it shown on March 3, 2004 at

Victor Trujillo The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

's news program (which he hosted as his '' Brozo'' character).

References

2004 in Mexico 2004 in politics 2005 in Mexico 2005 in politics 2006 in Mexico 2006 in politics Modern Mexico Political scandals in Mexico Party of the Democratic Revolution