Acquitted Rosario Robles Returns to Politics as PRI 'Defensores de México' Coordinator

PRI national president Alejandro Moreno ('Alito') presented Rosario Robles Berlanga — former Peña Nieto-era SEDESOL and SEDATU Secretary — as coordinator of 'Defensores de México' (Defenders of Mexico), a citizen network tasked with mobilizing 50 activists across 17 states ahead of Mexico's 2027 midterm elections. Robles was definitively acquitted by the SCJN's First Chamber in October 2024 in the Estafa Maestra case, after spending nearly three years in preventive detention (2019–2022). Her return to public life via a PRI-aligned platform drew sharp criticism from civil society groups and former AMLO-era officials, who argued her case exemplified elite impunity given the MXN $7.67 billion in federal funds allegedly diverted under her watch at SEDESOL and SEDATU through ghost companies during the Peña Nieto sexenio.