Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Thursday his legal counsel and close advisor Julio Scherer was stepping down and would be replaced by Maria Estela Rios, another longtime ally.
Scherer, one of the key interlocutors between Lopez Obrador and business and political interests, was widely viewed as a relative moderate in an administration that has sought to strengthen the hand of the state over private capital.
Saying Scherer was "like my brother", Lopez Obrador told reporters at a regular news conference that his influential advisor would be returning to work as a lawyer after he had helped to craft many of the government's legislative reforms.
Scherer's departure comes a week after Lopez Obrador replaced Interior Minister Olga Sanchez with close ally Adan Lopez, a move that could portend a shake-up in how the government interacts with domestic political players.
Lopez Obrador noted that Rios was a legal counsel to him when he was mayor of Mexico City between 2000-2005.
(Reporting by Raul Cortes and Dave Graham, writing by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
