Carlos Slim, Mexican Tycoon Of TracFone, Suspects US Group Of Receiving Funding From Competitors

Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecommunications tycoon and world's second richest man, wants the California Fair Political Practices Commission, a political watchdog agency, to investigate the funding sources and political interests of the organization Two Countries One Voice (TCOV). Slim's Miami-based prepaid wireless provider TracFone Wireless, Inc. - a subsidiary of América Móvil, Slim's telecommunications company - has filed a complaint with the California commission in response to protests from TCOV against what the group calls Slim's "monopolistic and predatory business practice".

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Two Countries One Voice's website says the group is "is comprised of Latino community leaders from across the country that have come together to give a voice to all those who cannot speak out" and describes the coalition as "driven by a desire to expose how the richest man in the world, Carlos Slim, continues to amass his wealth on the backs of the Mexican people and how his practices continue to corrode Mexico's economic development."

Reuters wrote that TCOV has recently led protests in the US in which it accuses Slim of inflating prices on Mexican immigrants calling home.

The Los Angeles Times reports that earlier this year, the co-director of TCOV, Juan Jose Gutierrez, held a protest together with several allies including state legislators outside the Capitol to rally support for a bill which would have given the Public Utilities Commission more power over reviews of proposed telecommunications mergers, but the bill was never introduced.

TracFone, which has more than 21 million US customers, says TCOV is an unregistered lobbying group and as such has violated California law in mounting protests against Slim's company. Spokespeople have also implied that TCOV is funded by Slim's competitors in the telecommunications industry.

Gutierrez told the LA Times, "I never lobbied anyone" and said the complaint was an attempt to stifle the voice of immigrant communities in the US.

"Little is known as to where TCOV funding comes from, but it is clear that they have abundant resources at their disposition," reads the complaint, according to Reforma. "TCOV has claimed that they are self-financed and have specifically denied that they are tied to Slim's business rivals. Andrés Ramírez" - a leader within the organization - "has been part of events put on by Azteca América, subsidiary of Televisión Azteca in the United States, a rival of América Móvil, a holding of Carlos Slim."

The complaint also alleges that TCOV's activities are guided by Mercury Public Affairs, a Sacramento lobbying and political strategy group, according to the LA Times. Mercury spokesman Roger Salazar told the paper his firm has not done any lobbying for TCOV.