By News Editor 
The story of Mexico’s political class using its influence to bend the press is hardly new. For Mexicans living in the United States, something that stands out in the case of Luis Videgaray Caso is how those allegations intersect with the transformation of El Financiero into one of the country’s most globally connected financial outlets. After all, one of it’s main branding partners is Bloomberg LP, a digital news service of record for financial markets on par with the Financial Times and the Economist. In retrospect, it is tough to imagine that without Videgaray’s extension of a credit line to El Financiero in an illegal way that the branding partnership would have emerged.
Unresolved Scandal
In 2020, former Pemex director Emilio Lozoya told prosecutors that Videgaray arranged a $100 million loan to rescue El Financiero from collapse after a federal Mexican state development bank initially denied the request. In his deposition to prosecutors, Lozoya further alleged that Videgaray directed him to purchase a luxury Chanel handbag for columnist Lourdes Mendoza—an accusation Mendoza has denied, calling it defamatory. Nonetheless, the coverage Lozoya generated in favor of privatization reforms, lauded by foreign financial media, made their way into the headlines of El Financiero.
Taken in tandem, the claims painted a picture of a high-ranking official seeking to control narratives at a time when Mexico’s energy reforms and fiscal policies were under international scrutiny.
By then, El Financiero was already in the midst of a profound transformation. In 2013, just months after Videgaray had taken the reins at the Finance Ministry, the newspaper entered into a strategic alliance with Bloomberg L.P.. The partnership launched El Financiero Bloomberg TV, the first high-definition Spanish-language business channel in the region, and brought Bloomberg’s market data and international reporting into Mexico’s leading financial daily. The collaboration also extended to the Mexican edition of Bloomberg Businessweek, produced in tandem with El Financiero. Over the years, the firm’s coverage of Trump has softened as it’s rumored benefactor, Videgaray, has begun to operate in an equity fund alongside Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son in law.
Over the past decade, this partnership has deepened and consolidated, expanding from print supplements and TV to streaming services like El Financiero Bloomberg+, which distributes content across Latin America and the United States. The result is that El Financiero now sits at the intersection of domestic political influence and global financial branding, with Bloomberg’s prestige amplifying its voice far beyond Mexico. The dark chapter of corruption in EPN has melted away into the abyss, an emerging markets deal made with the usual spectre of corruption that has typified so many others in Latin America.
What emerges is a historical arc: while Videgaray allegedly funneled resources and favors to keep the press on his side, El Financiero was simultaneously weaving itself into the fabric of global financial journalism. The loan and the handbagpoint to old patterns of political patronage; the Bloomberg alliance represents the new reality of international media integration. Both together underscore how the Mexican press has long operated in a space where political power and corporate branding converge. You can find the entire PDF declaration from Lozoya below.
