MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

AMLO's emergency hospitalization in January leaked to the press

The same “hacktivist” group has promised to release data on how El Chapo's son was released on AMLO's orders

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) was hospitalized in January due to a serious health crisis that had been kept secret but became public Friday after confidential documents were accessed by hackers who leaked them to the press.

On January 2, an Army air ambulance had to go to Palenque, Chiapas, where President López Obrador's ranch is located, to transfer him to the Central Military Hospital in Mexico City. The head of state finally admitted he had suffered a serious health crisis due to his heart problems and had to be rushed to a hospital by air ambulance after emails from the Ministry of Defense were leaked to reporters by the so-called Grupo Guacamaya.

López Obrador downplayed the importance of the leaks: “I almost could not sleep because I was worried thinking that this is the big story since there is nothing in it.” He added that he would be worried if his government was hiding things or if it were involved in business, promoting corruption, or violating human rights.

AMLO had announced on Jan. 10 through his Twitter account that he tested positive for Covid-19, but made no mention of the fact that between Jan. 4 and 20 he had had at least ten medical consultations. On Jan. 21, he was admitted to the central military hospital for a catheterization, where he stayed the night and was discharged the following day.

The President minimized the issue after it was known that the hackers obtained a good amount of military information on various issues, including the Sept. 26, 2014, disappearance of 43 students.

The head of state also admitted that the security breach was true. “It is true, there was a cybernetic attack, that is what they call the theft of information through these modern mechanisms, they extract files. Well, they are very specialized people, not just anyone, I don't know if there are specialists in this field of cybernetics in Mexico,” he said Friday morning during his daily conference.

“I understand that this same group has already done the same thing in other countries, I think in Colombia, in Chile, that is why I think it is something that is managed from abroad, that is not from Mexico,” he added.

López Obrador also admitted he takes a “cocktail” of medicines every night for several illnesses but insisted that apart from that “I am very well.” He also explained that “the most delicate thing is hypertension” for which he does “what they call cardio, exercise, and also take care of my kidneys.”

According to leaked data, AMLO has been diagnosed with gout for which he has rejected medication and only agreed to physical therapy. He was later found to have hypothyroidism, for which he was prescribed levothyroxine.

Latinus, the digital that received the confidential file from the “hacktivist” group Guacamaya, said the files contained 6 terabytes of information with data from the Armies of Chile, El Salvador, Peru, and Colombia.

The group has also promised to disclose an operation in which the Mexican Army arrested and then released Ovidio Guzmán, son of the famous drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, head of the Sinaloa Cartel, who is serving 10 life sentences in the United States on October 17, 2019. Ovidio, 32, was set free on Lopez Obrador's orders, according to a leaked email from Guacayama, after he ordered his henchmen to unleash mayhem and threatened to target families of soldiers at an apartment complex in Culiacan, capital of the northern state of Sinaloa.

The hacker group, which apparently emerged in Central America, declares itself at war against “U.S. imperialism and mining companies.”

Last week, the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Chilean Ministry of Defense announced that it had suffered interference in its systems by the same hackers, resulting in the resignation of the Joint Chief of Staff.

By stating that “everything has been said”, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador minimized the hacking carried out by a group called “Guacamayas”, which extracted confidential information from the federal government, and assured that he is not worried about sensitive national security information being disclosed, as he affirmed that “everything has been said”.

Read also: Chile's top general resigns over intel leak