Calling doctors and legislators “drunks and drug addicts” didn’t go over well for Colima Health Secretary Miguel Becerra Hernández, who presented his resignation just hours after a rambling speech that also targeted overweight women.
The official story was that he resigned “for personal reasons.”
Becerra made his remarks during the swearing-in of a municipal addictions council in Villa de Álvarez.
After observing that “all women are beautiful, but if they feel fat, then they go and do stupid things like taking drugs to lose weight,” he said “the professionals who have the most problems with alcohol, tobacco and drug addictions are legislators and doctors.”
The secretary paused, perhaps realizing that some of those present were legislators.
“I screwed up — I meant lawyers. Anyway, you know what I mean. A high percentage of doctors smoke, and that’s an addiction. They throw parties and every once in a while one starts taking drugs. And among lawyers, there’s always at least one who takes them when they have their meetings.”
Concluding, he worried aloud, “My boss is going to reprimand me, but oh well, it’s very important to talk about these issues. Thank you for listening, and I hope that you are able to take away something from this. If not, it won’t have been worth the scolding he’s going to give me.”
Becerra got more than a scolding.
Hours later, Colima Governor Ignacio Peralta Sánchez published a press release that explained that Becerra had resigned from his post for “personal reasons.” The governor wrote that he had accepted the secretary’s resignation and thanked him for his time in office.
“Miguel Becerra has distinguished himself for his honesty and, as well as having used his medical knowledge in the service of the [Secretariat of Health], he always carried out his duties with loyalty to the state government.”
Source: Milenio (sp), La Jornada (sp)
