A check that took 15 years to arrive
Ricardo Salinas Pliego, the magnate owner of TV Azteca, began this Thursday to settle a pending account with the country. He paid the first 10,400 million pesos of a debt that exceeded 32 billion. The final figure includes a 37% discount on surcharges, granted by the SAT.
The fine print of the ‘agreement’
The Salinas Group is not happy. He agreed to pay to “turn the page”, but assures that the amount exceeds what was agreed upon. The federal government, for its part, flatly denied that such prior agreements existed.
“The conglomerate expressed its disagreement with the final figure, but promised to comply with the payments.”
With this movement, the debt is practically closed. A negotiated end to a case that seemed eternal.
For the Treasury, this is more than money. It is a symbolic victory after more than 15 years of fruitless legal battles. The government’s current strategy, which included renewing ministers in the Court and tightening the fiscal screws, finally managed to encircle one of the greats.
Memory is fragile, but numbers don’t lie. While the country debates other issues, a multimillion-dollar bill begins to be collected. It remains to be seen if this sets a precedent or will be remembered as the exception.
