Lorenzo Córdova apologizes over leaked secret phone call

The head of Mexico's electoral institute apologized on Tuesday after a covert recording appeared on YouTube in which he made fun of the way an indigenous leader he had just met with spoke.

The recording of the phone call between Lorenzo Córdova, the president of Mexico's National Electoral Institute (INE), and the organization's executive secretary, Edmundo Jacobo, took place in late April after a private meeting with indigenous leaders, according to an INE source.

"During the phone call I spoke in an unfortunate and disrespectful manner," Córdova said at a media conference, where he took no questions. "I'd like to take this opportunity to offer a frank and sincere apology to anybody who could have been offended," he added.

Córdova said the call was recorded illegally in an effort to smear the INE shortly before Mexico's mid-term elections on June 7. Earlier on Tuesday, the INE said it had brought the case to the attention of the attorney general's office.