Hugo López-Gatell, the leading figure in Mexico’s coronavirus response, is being criticized after photos caught him on holiday over the weekend amid an increase in cases in the country.
Local media posted images of López-Gatell, Mexican secretary of health, located in the open-air restaurant in the relaxed beach resort of Zipolite, in southern Oaxaca. The area has mandatory rules about face masks.
In one of the photos, he was caught sitting at an outdoor bar with a woman – both without masks.
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In another photo, taken a few days earlier on a flight from Mexico City to the beach resort, López-Gatell was seen on a cell phone without a mask covering his nose and mouth.
His actions were considered hypocritical, as he repeatedly encouraged Mexicans to stay at home, while regularly providing information on the toll of the pandemic in the country. His daily notice about the risks of the virus caused some to associate him with dr. Anthony Fauci in the US compared
“He is traveling at the worst moment of the pandemic,” political writer Denise Dresser tweeted according to the newspaper about López-Gatell. “He is far from where he needs to be: with health professionals, implementing the vaccination campaign, setting an example.”
Hugo López-Gatell, leader of response to coronavirus in Mexico, points to a vial of the COVID-19 vaccine during his first administration to health workers at the General Hospital in Mexico City, early Thursday, December 24, 2020. (AP Photo / Eduardo Verdugo)
But unlike Fauci, López-Gatell has previously criticized the media for being alarmist, after Mexico surpassed the bad milestone of 100,000 deaths from the virus last year.
“The epidemic is terrible in itself, you do not have to add drama to it,” López-Gatell said. “Putting statistics on the front page doesn’t help much in my opinion.”
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In response to the photo setback, López-Gatell said he was not wrong to go to Oaxaca to see friends and family. He noted that the alert level for viruses there was lower.
Meanwhile, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador – who has been criticized for often not wearing a mask – underestimated López-Gatell’s actions and called him a “good civil servant”.
“It is good that there is this investigation, but a civil servant also has rights,” said López Obrador.
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As of the end of Monday, Mexico had reported at least 1,455,219 confirmed cases of coronavirus and more than 127,757 deaths due to the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Associated Press contributed to this report