Pumas downplay midfielder Marco Garcia’s inappropriate photos

During International Women’s Day weekend, Record.com columnist Ignacio “Fantasma” Suarez published a story about a first-division player involved in a sexual scandal.

Despite the damaging and compelling testimony from the victim, the institution that represents the player, Pumas, denied every single part of the column in a press release.

However, the next day Suarez validated the testimony of the victim, whom he called Valentina, and exposed point by point the evidence of the alleged crime that has been swept under the rug by a first division Mexican team.

The story is about Marco Garcia, a talented midfielder who became a pillar of the 2020 Pumas side in just four weeks.

Known as “La Joya” (“The Jewel”), Garcia scored in the first minute of his debut in the Liga MX.

Garcia was part of Pumas’ academy when Valentina worked in the Coordination of Organizational Development, a branch that stimulated the high school efficiency for youth players.

During class, Valentina noticed that Garcia was taking, sharing and saving pictures of her without any consent, action punishable by the Penalty Code of up to one to three years in jail.

The evidence was so overwhelming that even Garcia’s face was present in the pictures. In his column, Suarez posted one of the many images taken by the footballer.

Valentina went to see her superiors; she talked to first-division coach David Patiño, but found no resolution. Human resources kept Garcia’s phone, promising her to take care of the offense.

But nothing happened. The event was treated as a “boys will be boys” situation — an innocent mistake made by a 17-year-old.

Even when high-ranking members knew about the problem, HR deleted the evidence and gave the phone back to Garcia.

Valentina never received the written record that demonstrated the offense made by the player, but they assured her that Garcia would face a two-week suspension.

Two male professors relieved Valentina, and the actions of Garcia were minimized. And when Garcia reached the first team, Pumas fired her.  

After Ignacio “Fantasma” Suarez denounced the actions taken by Club Universidad, Pumas issued a statement (translated):

“In September 2017, Marco Garcia, 17, was denounced for taking inappropriate pictures of the tutor of the online education program launched by the Club Universidad.”

In the first paragraph, Pumas is admitting that the player indeed committed a crime. They are minimizing his actions by showing Garcia’s age at the time.

“As demonstrated in the newspaper’s articles, the Management Department, through HR, supported the victim and investigated the case. After a dialogue between both parties, they established that the institution wouldn’t fire the player. At the victim’s petition, there would be a two-month suspension without salary and any professional activity, granting the pardon.”

Here is the messy part. According to the testimony, there was no support for Valentina. They deleted the evidence, and her only card left was the written record that she never signed, nor received. But the evidence resurfaced recently, and Suarez, with the consent of Valentina, used a picture in his column.

The press release affirmed that there was a pardon in exchange for a sanction. Pardoning a crime can just be done in front of the authority. In some sketchy deals, it comes with formal documents. There’s always evidence. In this case, if Pumas can’t show something formal, they could be accused of covering up a crime.

As Valentina told Suarez, she had a meeting with Garcia and his dad. In the column, she stated that both Garcias challenged her with words and despot looks. However, the institution could argue the word-against-word principle. Not with the pardon.

Club Universidad assured that they have a resignation letter from Valentina, which has a date of November 2018.

According to the story, Articles 47 and 50 of the Mexican Federal Work Law and the amount of money she received, Pumas fired Valentina. She received three months liquidation, plus another 20 days of every year worked at the club.

Specifically, the law dictates that those measures take place when the employer finishes the relation with the employee. In case both parts agree not to continue with the commitment, there’s an acquaintance. And the mathematical operation to obtain the acquaintance is different than the liquidation.

In both terms, the employer needs to address every detail to the employee, and notify him or her by granting evidence of the situation.

Public opinion of the handling of the incident was so poor that the new president of Pumas, Leopoldo Silva, reopened the investigation and separated Marco Garcia from the first team for an undefined time.

If the respecting authorities took charge of the investigation, Pumas would be in a vulnerable spot. They openly said that there was a crime committed and assured to have all the evidence with them, even alleged documents signed by the victim.

If Valentina provides different materials, Pumas could face negative legal consequences for their handling of the Marco Garcia situation.

Follow Luis on Twitter: @LFulloa.

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