President López Obrador’s wife has urged the new governor of Campeche to exercise caution after she appointed an official to her cabinet who last year insulted Mexico’s leader and his spouse.

Layda Sansores, who took office in the Gulf coast state earlier this month, formalized on Tuesday the appointment of Manuel Enrique Pino Castilla as general director of the Campeche State Workers Social Security Institute (Issstecam).

Pino, formerly cultural director at the Campeche Autonomous University, called López Obrador and Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller imbeciles in a Facebook post in February 2020.

“Behind an imbecile, a big imbecile,” the new Issstecam chief wrote above a link to an article about Gutiérrez’s opposition to the national women’s strike, held on March 9, 2020. The post, which Pino denied writing himself, was subsequently deleted.

Gutiérrez, a writer and academic, has evidently not forgotten the slight. Beneath a Facebook post by the news website Visión Política that linked to its story about Pino’s appointment, she wrote “ojo” – “watch out” or “be careful” – before tagging Governor Sansores, who represents the ruling Morena party, which was founded by López Obrador.

Her remark garnered hundreds of responses, including one from Sansores herself, who asserted that Pino had not made the offensive remarks.

“He is a respectable university teacher who has been close to our movement since 2003 and is incapable of making these kinds of aggressive and disrespectful comments,” she wrote before directing Gutiérrez to a “clarification” Pino published to his Facebook account.

He again denied that he had personally written the post calling the president and his wife imbeciles, insinuating that his account had been hacked.

“My political commitment is with the president of the republic and Governor Layda Sansores,” Pino wrote.

“… I’m profoundly respectful of the wife’s president and all women; today more than ever the work Dr. Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller is undertaking for the benefit of Mexican woman requires the support of all Mexicans,” he wrote.

“The show of affection, support and recognition I’ve received in my new assignment is irrefutable proof of my career and work for Campeche. I regret that perverse minds are obsessed with discrediting the work of the fourth transformation [a nickname for the federal government] and of those of us working for the good of Campeche,” Pino said.

“… I affirm my love and unconditional support for the president … and his wife …”

 With reports from Proceso