The Mexican Environmental Prosecutor's Office is condemned to remain on the sidelines for the next few years, say environmentalists, following the designation of Patricio Patrón as its new leader. According to environmental groups, the only merit of Patrón, former governor of the southeastern state of Yucatán (2001-2007) and member of the governing National Action Party, is that he is a friend and of the same party as President Felipe Calderón.

“The government has defrauded everyone with the designation (Jan. 18). I don't give even the benefit of the doubt to the new official,” Alberto Székely, a spokesperson for the Citizen Observatory for Environmental Monitoring, made up of 50 non-governmental groups, told Tierramérica.

Because it is not independent of the Executive branch, the Environmental Prosecutor's Office is a non-starter, he said. “And even more so now, with the designation of Patrón.”