Mexico’s coronavirus czar is drawing intense criticism after pictures surfaced of him enjoying a beach vacation while telling the rest of the nation to stay indoors. In the photos, the top health official is seen not wearing a mask amid extensive complaints that his staff is suppressing the true scale of the pandemic.
“Stay at home, stay at home, stay at home” is the message that Mexico’s Undersecretary of Health Hugo Lopez Gatell has preached since early 2020 when he told the public that the best way to avoid exposure was to stay indoors. Over the past weekend, photographs surfaced depicting Lopez Gatell at a beach resort restaurant in Oaxaca.
Prior to the beach getaway, Lopez Gatell begged the public to avoid traveling during the holiday season. The czar is also regularly criticized by Mexican and international news outlets for concealing the true number of cases by not broadly testing patients. Those tested are primarily those in hospitals with serious respiratory conditions. That tactic has allowed Mexico to report artificially fewer cases than other nations despite a higher-end mortality rate. Lopez Gatell and his staff have also been accused of undercounting deaths by blaming other causes.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.