Manuel Bartlett

Manuel Bartlett Díaz (born 1936) is a Mexican politician and former Mexican Secretary of the Interior.[1] Bartlett was elected to the Senate of the Republic for the 2000–2006 term, where he became known as one of the most staunch defenders of state ownership of electric utilities. On May 27, 2006, in view of the low possibility of Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate Roberto Madrazo winning the Presidency, Bartlett declared that he would vote for Andrés Manuel López Obrador, then candidate for the Party of the Democratic Revolution, to avoid a right-wing victory. Madrazo and the national leader of the PRI, Mariano Palacios, both condemned these declarations, and announced the possible expulsion of Bartlett from the party. Bartlett responded by continuing to speak out against both leaders.

In a 3-part article series, investigative journalist Charles Bowden offers eyewitness accounts of Bartlett's involvement (along with other senior Mexican political, law enforcement, security and military officials) in the decision to order the kidnap, torture and murder of American DEA officer Enrique S. "Kiki" Camarena in 1985 in order to shut down his successful campaign against the Guadalajara Cartel. In these accounts, cartel figures repeatedly mention they expect Bartlett Díaz to one day become President of Mexico, with the implication that they will prosper as a result.[2] Earlier accounts claimed that DEA suspicions about Bartlett Díaz's involvement in the murder led to the ruling PRI party's refusal to consider him as a presidential candidate, leading to the selection of Carlos Salinas de Gortari in Bartlett's place.[3]

Since the 2006 election, Bartlett has aligned himself with López Obrador and his Coalition for the Good of All. In 2012 he reentered national politics, being elected a senator for the left-wing Labor Party, in coalition with López Obrador's PRD.[4] After López Obrador's election as Mexican president in 2018, he appointed Bartlett to become the CEO of Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), the state-owned electric utility of Mexico, the country's second most powerful state-owned company after PEMEX.