“The Mexico of Andrés Manuel López Obrador lives a regression that goes against the promises that he made during his campaign”, said the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal in its column The Americas, in which the author mentions that AMLO is “centralizing power, trying to govern through decree and intimidation. “
In the column, entitled “The Recoil of Mexico,” signed by Mary Anastasia O’Grady, the newspaper begins by referring to the nearly 8,500 homicides committed in Mexico in the first months of the year, and highlights that this figure means an increase of 9.6% compared to the same period in 2018.
The newspaper recalls that López Obrador assumed the presidency of Mexico with the promise of reducing crime rates and improving living standards, but warns that both “underdevelopment and violent crime are symptoms of a failed state of law,” and that “None of the objectives of López Obrador can be achieved without a clear commitment to judicial certainty, from top to bottom.”
However, according to WSJ columnist, the Mexican president is going totally in the “opposite direction, centralizing power, trying to govern by way of decree and intimidation, and expanding the role of the Army in the government.”
O’Grady warns that although López Obrador believes that he can control power in that way because the value of the Mexican peso remains stable, “the new government makes it difficult to be optimistic.”
She adds that although the Mexican president is angry at the accusations that he is anti-democratic, “his actions speak louder than the words he pronounces in his daily conferences,” and she cites as an example the memorandum in which AMLO instructed to disobey the constitutional education reform, approved in the previous administration.
The WSJ collaborator declares that the head of state “sees himself as the Mexican savior, who from his position of power imparts justice and, therefore, is justified in his goal of radically transforming the country. Disqualifying anyone who does not agree with him, or stands in his way, considering them corrupt or simply calling them “Fifis” (person of an alleged higher social status with classist tendencies).
The column notes that the “President’s relationship with the Army is a matter of concern, as a candidate criticized the Army’s participation in public security, and now he proposes to increase its role in combating organized crime through a security strategy headed by a military command, instead of civilian. “
“Involving the Army in police work exposes it to the corrupt influence of the underworld and, what is worse, it is giving the leadership a share in the economy, a family tactic to buy loyalties,” the column says.
Another example of López Obrador’s way of governing has been his decision to cancel the project to replace the existing Mexico City international airport, and to build it in Santa Lucia, according to the columnist.
“López Obrador, as usual, has told contractors who formed the broken agreements not to worry because his administration will give them others, it does not matter that this is illegal given that government contracts require transparent, open, binding processes, which is not the case”. O’Grady points out.
And she concludes: “In all of this there is a pattern, and it has nothing to do with improving the lives of Mexicans.”
Source: WSJ
