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Baja California’s state electoral institute unanimously sanctioned the Morena party on June 18 for using federal welfare offices in Mexicali to recruit new members. The IEEBC (Instituto Estatal Electoral de Baja California) found that party operatives wearing Morena vests stationed themselves at the Federal Palace, where the Secretaría de Bienestar (Ministry of Welfare) operates, for weeks to sign up social program beneficiaries as party militants.
The electoral council ruled the recruitment effort was organized and deliberate, not spontaneous. Opposition PAN council members originally filed the complaint in July 2025, and the IEEBC determined Morena failed to credibly distance itself from the recruiters or halt the activity before being ordered to do so. The sanction took the form of a formal public reprimand.
Welfare Office Tied to Gubernatorial Hopeful
The Bienestar office at the center of the case was run at the time by Jesús Alejandro Ruiz Uribe. He has since positioned himself as a potential Morena candidate for governor of Baja California while publicly attacking the party’s current state leadership. The dual role of the welfare office, serving both as a government social services hub and as a de facto Morena enrollment station, sits at the core of the electoral violation.
Mexico’s Secretaría de Bienestar distributes cash transfer programs and pensions that reach millions of households. The IEEBC’s ruling found that targeting beneficiaries of those programs inside a government building crossed a clear legal line. Mexican electoral law prohibits parties from using public resources or government spaces for partisan purposes.
Separate Allegations of Hidden Wealth
Ruiz Uribe faces additional scrutiny beyond the recruitment case. Investigative reporting has alleged he concealed real estate wealth by routing a multimillion-peso property transaction through bank accounts belonging to his late father, days before the father’s death. Those assets were never declared in his mandatory public financial disclosures, according to the reports.
The sanction adds to a growing national pattern of tensions between Morena and electoral authorities. The party, founded by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has clashed repeatedly with both federal and state electoral bodies over campaign finance rules and the use of government programs for political purposes. Morena’s new national president, Ariadna Montiel Reyes, previously led the Secretaría de Bienestar at the federal level, overseeing the network of operators known as “Servidores de la Nación.”
The formal public reprimand is the lightest sanction available under electoral law but establishes a legal record. Repeat violations could lead to fines. The case was first reported by Punto Norte.