New president promises transformation of Mexico
145 views · Published 8 December 2018 · 2:30 · Indexed 2 October 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(30 Nov 2018) Mexico's incoming president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, is folksy, plain-spoken, and spontaneous - perhaps too much so for financial markets, which have been roiled in advance of his inauguration on Saturday. Lopez Obrador is the first president since the Mexican Revolution to rise to prominence as a protest leader, and he sees his inauguration as a historic "fourth transformation" of Mexico, following independence from Spain, the liberal reforms that broke the church's dominance in the 1850s and the 1910-1917 revolution. His calls for a crusade against corruption and his professed concern for the common people often assume the proportion of a moral mission - with a zeal that carries over to pet projects, such as a costly rural railroad project, that baffle or alarm critics. The biggest question is: Who will he listen to? It's pretty clear he hears the financial markets, at least when they make noise about the prospect of a president who in the past has railed against a "mafia of power" that included major business figures. Jose Antonio Crespo, a political analyst at Mexico's Center for Economic Research and Training, told The Associated Press that Lopez Obrador is resurrecting the imperial presidencies of 30 or 40 years ago. Lopez Obrador has dismissed domestic critics of his proposals as "fifi" - Mexican slang meaning frivolous or upper-class - saying they lack "a bath of the people," a Mexican phrase akin to getting one's hands dirty. He boasts of listening to the people and has submitted his pet projects to a series of unofficial "referendums," winning overwhelming support, though with the participation of only about one percent of registered voters. Certainly, no politician in Mexican history has shaken more hands or toured more dusty small towns than Lopez Obrador has done over more than a dozen years of campaigning for the presidency. That hands-on style echoes the folksy autocracy of Lopez Obrador's hero of the 1930s, Lazaro Cardenas, who nationalized the oil industry as a nearly all-powerful president. But many worry about how well Lopez Obrador will respect the opposition, or the counterbalances put in place in recent decades to limit that presidential power. On the other hand, many of those who contributed to Lopez Obrador's crushing tidal wave of victory in the July 1 elections still look forward to his inauguration with enormous hope that he will wrest power from market-oriented technocrats, and produce jobs and better wages. One of the points on the referendum was Lopez Obrador's plan for a "Maya train" that would link resorts like Cancun and Tulum with colonial Merida and the jungle ruins of Palenque and Calakmul on the Yucatan Peninsula. He announced a start date for the 7.5 billion US dollars project, though there has been no environmental impact statement, serious economic feasibility study or consultation with indigenous communities, as required by law. Lopez Obrador brushed off experts who led a petition drive against the plan, accusing them of being out of touch with the people. He has taken a similar broad-brush approach to Mexico's main problems. For example, Lopez Obrador wants to build an expensive new refinery to restore Mexico _ which now imports much of its gasoline - to the glory days of big oil in the 1970s, though many analysts say that will only add to the woes of the debt-strapped state oil company. He has also been vague about how he will tackle the drug gangs, kidnappers and extortionists who have boosted Mexico's homicide rates to historic levels. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/8c81ed8233491326877c2cd1e086ce82
