Presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
MORENA
Election2018
SeatThe National Palace
← Enrique Peña Nieto

Seal of the federal government
Official website
This article is part of
a series about
Andrés Manuel
López Obrador
  • Federal District Government
  • Presidential campaigns
  • Referendums
  • 2021 (corruption trial)
  • 2022 (presidential recall)
  • Related

The Presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador began on 1 December 2018, when he became the 65th

Jaime Rodriguez Calderon in a landslide election on 1 July 2018. His election was the first since 1988 that a president-elect's political party has also won the outright majority in both the Senate and Chamber of Deputies.[1] At 65 at the time of his inauguration, he is the oldest person to become President of Mexico.[2]

Events prior to presidency

López Obrador participated in the

National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) which would later become a political party in 2014.[3]

Timeline

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gave his daily press conference at the Palacio del Ayuntamiento in Mexico City.

López Obrador's political party MORENA would form the coalition

Jaime Rodriguez Calderon. On 1 July 2018, López Obrador won a landslide victory against all other candidates, managing to secure 53% of the popular vote against Anaya's 22%, Meade's 16%, and Rodriguez Calderon's 5%.[5]

In the Congressional elections, the coalition managed to win the majority of seats in both the Senate and Chamber of Deputies. The coalition also managed to win 5 governorships, among them

Mexico City's
.

President Peña Nieto meets with Andrés Manuel López Obrador at the National Palace

Following López Obrador's victory, he would go on to meet current President Enrique Peña Nieto at the National Palace.[6] At the meeting he said that he would not travel with armed people in a break with what the Mexican presidency usually does.[6]

He declared that he will take a 60% salary pay cut.

Santa Lucía Air Force Base instead.[8]

International reaction

López Obrador's victory was met by various reactions around the world.[further explanation needed][9] Congratulations came from world politicians that included Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,[10] Russian President Vladimir Putin[11] and US President Donald Trump.

Personnel

Campaign team

At the helm of López Obrador's campaign team was

Yeidckol Polevnsky Gurwitz. The regional coordinators throughout the nation were Marcelo Ebrard, Bertha Luján (es), Ricardo Monreal, Julio Scherer Ibarra, and Rabindranath Salazar Solorio.[12]

Transition team

Most of the people in López Obrador's campaign team joined his transition team in order to prepare for the inauguration and the subsequent 6-year presidential term that will last from 1 December 2018 to 30 September 2024.[13]

Proposed cabinet

In December 2017, López Obrador released his cabinet listing, composed of 8 men and 8 women. He proposed dispersing the

Secretariat of Foreign Affairs, and the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit remain in the capital.[14][15]

In December 2017, he presented his proposed cabinet:[16]

Replacements

Héctor Vasconcelos was replaced by Marcelo Ebrard on 5 July 2018.[17]

Presidency

Main article: Fourth Transformation

Inauguration

On 1 December 2018, Obrador was inaugurated at the

Felipe Calderon. At the end of the speech, he was honored with the Himno Nacional Mexicano
.

The foreign representation at the inauguration included the attendance of 14 heads of state and government:[18]

President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro did not attend the inauguration ceremony, but did attend a reception in the National Palace. Representatives from 37 countries, including the United States, China, Singapore, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Russia, and Ukraine also attended.

Fulfilling a campaign promise, he opened Los Pinos to the public later on 1 December and simultaneously moved the presidential offices back to the National Palace.[20]

After inauguration

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and President Obrador during the former's arrival ceremony.

Lopez Obrador gave his Primer Informe del Gobierno (State of the Union address) on September 1, 2019, before 400 legislators, governors, and business leaders. During his hour-and-a-half speech, he emphasized how he has eliminated a lot of corruption and helped the poor.[21] The speech generated 125,000 tweets and 27,000,000 viewers.[22]

Political platform and policies

Foreign policy

Evo Morales at a press conference at the Museum of Mexico City

As of December 2019, he has not visited any foreign country since assuming office, often saying that "The best foreign policy is domestic policy".

Miguel Diaz Canel of Cuba[25][26] and Carlos Alvarado Quesada of Costa Rica[27]
in October.

During the

intimidating, harassing, and photographing diplomats.[32]

On July 8, 2020, he made his first foreign trip as President to

Washington, D. C. where he met with President Donald Trump at the White House
.

López Obrador with U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the North American Leaders' Summit in November 2021

On November 18, 2021, President Joe Biden hosted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico at the White House for the first North American Leaders' Summit (NALS) since 2016.

In 2021 and 2022, López Obrador advocated for a regional union, comprising the nations of the Americas, resembling the European Union.[33][34][35][36][37]

In March 2023, López Obrador defended former U.S. president Donald Trump against a potential indictment, saying that "Right now, former President Trump is declaring that they are going to arrest. If that were the case...it would be so that his name doesn't appear on the ballot.”[38] The same month, he lashed out at the United States, claiming the country is "anti-democratic" in seeking to arrest Julian Assange and deny Trump an opportunity to seek re-election. He also referenced the allegations that the U.S. is responsible for the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage instead of Russia, saying "If we are talking about acts of violence, how is it that an award-winning journalist in the United States claims that the US government sabotaged the gas pipeline from Russia to Europe?", and criticized the fentanyl epidemic in America.[39][40]

Military and security

Shortly after his inauguration, he dissolved the

Dirty War.[42] During the presidency of López Obrador, the traditional Revolution Day
civil-military-athletic parade on 20 November was reinstated that same year (2019) after 5 years.

Before becoming President, Obrador campaigned on a promise to take the military off the streets of Mexico. In keeping with this promise, he released a plan to create a

Mexican National Guard under control of the military and the Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection (which was itself established by Obrador) and would be in charge of "preventing and combating crime".[43] It was the merger of elite parts of the Federal police, Military police, Navy, Chief of Staff's Guard and other top Mexican Security agencies[44] Obrador stated that the creation of a new National Guard would be critical to solving Mexico's ongoing security crisis.[45] On 28 February, the Congress of the Union voted to approve a 60,000-member agency, which was officially established on 30 June 2019.[46] By early 2020, Obrador restored the Naval Infantry Corps' role in fighting drug cartels,[47] and he relied on the military for tasks such as law enforcement and construction.[48]

Ovidio Guzmán López, a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel and son of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán was briefly arrested in Culiacán by members of the National Guard in October 2019, setting off an operation which resulted in several deaths and Guzmán's release by authorities.[49][50][51] Hours later, Ovidio Guzmán was freed,[52] and President Obrador supported the decision in order to "prevent more bloodshed" as well as "a massacre".[53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63]

Drug war

One of his campaign promises in relation to the

Mexican Drug War was a controversial "strategy for peace": a program to give amnesty to all Mexicans involved in the production and trafficking of drugs. It was proposed as a way to stop the drug trade and the turf violence that spread as a result as well as act as a deterrent to other people from following that path, particularly low-income young people and poor farmers. President Obrador pointed out that contrary to his proposed plan, past approaches failed because they were based on a misunderstanding of the core problem, which according to him, is the country's social disparities that resulted from economic policies of past presidencies in the years prior that caused the drug problem in the first place which in turn have turned the country into a hotbed of the illegal drug trade globally. On 30 January 2019, President Obrador declared the end of the Mexican war on drugs, stating that he will now focus on reducing spending and will direct military/police/National Guard efforts on armed gasoline theft rings (locally known as huachicolero) that have been stealing more than 70 thousand barrels of oil, diesel and gasoline
daily from the nation's gas pipelines.

In 2023, President Lopez Obrador announced that he was open to a peace agreement with the cartels. The announcement came after an activist published an open letter calling the cartels to stop the practice of forced disappearance.[64]

Economic policy

Lithium reserves

In April 2022, the Mexican parliament passed a law, prohibiting private companies from obtaining licences for lithium extraction.[65] In February 2023, the president signed a decree nationalising the lithium reserves of Mexico, declaring it the property of the Mexican nation.[65] López Obrador noted the enormous importance of the natural resource for the rechargeable battery industry and plans to cooperate with Bolivia and Peru in the technological sphere, as well as to adopt the Bolivian model of lithium mining, wherein companies have to commit to establish a complete value creation chain.[65]

Mining reform

In early May 2023, the Senate passed with 66 votes in favor and none in opposition, a new law regulating the mining sector.[66] According to senator Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, the law is supposed to curtail privileges the sector enjoys, since the last law concerning mining regulation passed in 1992, which relaxed laws on the sector.[66] The law reduces the period of validity of extraction permits from 50 to 30 years, obligates companies to consult with affected communities and present a restoration plan for the impacted environment and outright outlaws new permits in regions with a shortage of water.[66]

Reform of the National Electoral Institute

In February 2023, a controversial law reforming the

National Electoral Institute (INE) was passed by the Congress of the Union.[67] The reform entails cuts to the funding and personnel of the INE, forcing the dismissal of about a third of its employees but saving the state about Mex$3.5bn.[67][68]

Espionage on government employees

At the end of May 2023, the New York Times published a story on the espionage of the state secretary for human rights Alejandro Encinas Rodríguez via the Pegasus spy software, which the media outlet connected with ongoing investigations of Encinas on the conduct and actions of the armed forces.[69] In a press conference, López Obrador denied any involvement on the part of the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA), while stating he did not know who was responsible for the espionage.[69] Encinas is a long time political ally of López Obrador, who already supported him two decades ago during his mayorship.[69]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Conteo rápido del INE da victoria a Andrés Manuel López Obrador". El Universal (Mexico City). 1 July 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  2. ^ Nakamura, Ángel. "Por su edad o militancia, gane quien gane la Presidencia hará historia". Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  3. ^ "Ex-candidate quits Mexico leftist party". Al Jazeera English. September 10, 2012. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
  4. ^ "Morena y Encuentro Social, aliados en 2018 pero adversarios en el Congreso - Animal Político". www.animalpolitico.com. 15 December 2017.
  5. ^ "Cómputos 2018". computos2018.ine.mx.
  6. ^ a b Solomon, Daina Beth (4 July 2018). "Mexico's president-elect shuns guards, asks 'people' for protection". Reuters.
  7. ^ "Mexico's president-elect Amlo to take 60% pay cut in austerity push". The Guardian. 16 July 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  8. ^ Navarro, Andrea; Martin, Eric; Villamil, Justin (28 October 2018). "Mexico's AMLO Scraps $13 Billion Airport Project; Peso Plunges". Bloomberg. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  9. ^ "International reactions following Andrés Manuel López Obrador's overwhelming victory". 2 July 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  10. ^ Marilia Brocchetto, James Griffiths and Samantha Beech (July 2, 2018). "Lopez Obrador scores landslide victory as Mexico votes for change". CNN. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  11. ^ "Congratulations to Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on winning the presidential election in Mexico". President of Russia. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  12. ^ Ureste, Manu; Salgado, Agustín (9 April 2018). "De Tatiana Clouthier a Marcelo Ebrard: este es el organigrama del equipo de campaña de AMLO". Animal Politico. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  13. ^ Redacción (23 April 2018). "Más allá del debate: corrupción y violencia sin control marcan agenda en la elección mexicana". Sin Embargo. Retrieved 1 July 2018. Seis candidatos a la carrera para ocupar Los Pinos a partir del próximo primero de diciembre por un período de cinco años y 10 meses. (A partir de la Reforma Electora de 2014, el Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos tomará posesión el 1 de octubre de cada año empezando en 2024 por un período de seis años.)
  14. ^ "López Obrador Officially Launches Third Bid for Mexico's Presidency". December 13, 2017. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  15. ^ "The ten proposals of AMLO's pre-campaign". December 14, 2017. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  16. ^ "Presenta AMLO Gabinete para Presidencia 2018-2024 #GabineteAMLO – AMLO". lopezobrador.org.mx. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  17. ^ "Mexico's president-elect Lopez Obrador picks Marcelo Ebrard as foreign minister". Reuters. 5 July 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  18. ^ La toma de posesión de AMLO será la más concurrida en la historia de México
  19. ^ "Díaz-Canel en México - Cubadebate". Cubadebate.cu. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  20. ^ Sieff, Kevin (1 December 2018). "Mexico's president has turned the presidential mansion into a museum". Washington Post. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  21. ^ "López Obrador en su Primer Informe de Gobierno: Los opositores "están moralmente derrotados"" [Lopez Obrador in his Primer Informe de Gobierno: The opposition is "morally defeated"], CNN en Espanol (in Spanish), September 1, 2019, retrieved September 2, 2019
  22. ^ "¿Cómo fue recibido el Primer Informe en redes?" [How did social networks respond to the Primer Informe?], MSN video (in Spanish), September 1, 2019, retrieved September 2, 2019
  23. ^ Kahn, Carrie (23 September 2019). "Mexico's President Skips U.N. General Assembly And All Other Foreign Travel". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  24. ^ Exteriores, Secretaría de Relaciones. "Mexico y España: unidos por la historia, comprometidos con el cambio". gob.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  25. ^ "Cuban president arrives in Mexico on state visit". en.granma.cu. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  26. ^ "Radio Havana Cuba | Cuban president arrives in Mexico on official visit". www.radiohc.cu. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  27. ^ "Ebrard celebra la visita a México del presidente de Costa Rica" [Ebrard celebrates the visit of the president of Costa Rica to Mexico]. Dinero en Imagen (in Spanish). Oct 21, 2019.
  28. ^ "Bolivia crisis: Evo Morales accepts political asylum in Mexico". BBC News. BBC. November 12, 2019. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  29. ^ "Bolivian President Evo Morales resigns". BBC News. November 11, 2019. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
  30. ^ "Bolivian president Evo Morales resigns after election result dispute". The Guardian. 10 November 2019. Archived from the original on November 11, 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  31. ^ "Bolivian prosecutors issue arrest warrant exiled former president Evo Morales". El Universal English. Dec 18, 2019.
  32. ^ "The tense relationship between Mexico and Bolivia". El Universal English. Dec 26, 2019.
  33. ^ Doherty, Erin; Gonzalez, Oriana (June 6, 2022). "Mexico's president confirms he will skip the Summit of the Americas". Axios. Retrieved July 26, 2022. López Obrador said he hopes to visit the White House in July to talk to Biden about the "integration" of all American countries, with the goal of forming something similar to the European Union.
  34. ^ "Mexico's Lopez Obrador to skip Biden's Summit of the Americas over 'exclusion' of some countries". France 24. June 6, 2022. Retrieved July 26, 2022. The Mexican president said that he would still visit the White House in July where he would look to discuss pan-American "integration." … "That's how they created the European Community and then that became the European Union. That's what we need to do in America," he said.
  35. ^ "López Obrador pide crear en Latinoamérica "algo semejante" a la Unión Europea". Los Angeles Times en Español (in Spanish). July 24, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  36. ^ Menéndez, Carmen (July 25, 2021). "López Obrador propone crear "algo semejante" a la UE en Latinoamérica". euronews (in Spanish). Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  37. ^ Carrillo, Emmanuel (March 14, 2022). "Debe buscarse integración de América, plantea AMLO a Fernández". Forbes México (in Spanish). Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  38. ^ Jackson, Jon (2023-03-21). "Mexico's president sides with Trump, saying charges are a "fabrication"". Newsweek. Retrieved 2023-06-10.
  39. ^ Mexico’s AMLO Upbraids America, Seeking To Distract His Countrymen From Homegrown Problems
  40. ^ Mexico’s president accuses US of lying about his country’s human rights record
  41. ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  42. ^ Mexico's president opens archives on 'dirty war period. 1 March 2019
  43. ^ "Plan Nacional de Paz y Seguridad" (PDF). transicion.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  44. ^ Robbins, Seth (2019-03-20). "Is Mexico's New National Guard Just Another Uniform?". InSight Crime. Retrieved 2019-06-18.
  45. ^ Semple, Kirk; Villegas, Paulina (28 February 2019). "Mexico Approves 60,000-Strong National Guard. Critics Call It More of the Same". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  46. ^ Correa, Catalina Pérez (8 August 2019). "México necesita una Guardia Nacional realmente civil". The New York Times (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  47. ^ De Córdoba, José; Gurman, Sadie (7 February 2020). "Mexico, Under U.S. Pressure, Adds Muscle to Fight Against Drug Cartels". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  48. ^ Montes, Juan; Luhnow, David (28 May 2020). "Mexico's Leader Has Answer for All His Needs: The Army". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  49. ^ "Detienen a hijo del "Chapo" Guzmán en Sinaloa" [Son of "El Chapo" Guzman arrested in Sinaloa]. Proceso (in Spanish). 17 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019. Garcia, David Alire (22 October 2019). "In Mexico, El Chapo's sons add brash new chapter to crime family". Reuters.
  50. ^ Hamilton, Keegan (17 October 2019). "El Chapo's Son Was Just Captured — Then Freed After the Cartel Attacked". Vice News. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  51. ^ Bonello, Deborah (18 October 2019). "'Arrest' of drug king pin El Chapo's son sparks fierce gun battle in Mexico". The Telegraph. Retrieved 19 October 2019. Redacción, La (2019-10-18). "Enfrentamientos en Culiacán dejaron ocho muertos, entre ellos un civil: Sedena". Proceso (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  52. ^ "Ovidio Guzmán fue liberado, confirma Alfonso Durazo" [Ovidio Guzmán was freed, confirms Alfonso Durazo]. Proceso (in Spanish). 18 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  53. ^ "'We do not want war': Mexico president defends release of El Chapo's son". The Guardian. 18 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019. "El Chapo: Mexican police free drug lord's son as Culiacán battle erupts". BBC News. 18 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019. "Respaldé la liberación del hijo de El Chapo para evitar una masacre: AMLO" ["I backed the release of El Chapo's son in order to prevent a massacre: AMLO"]. Proceso (in Spanish). 18 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  54. ^ "Misleading information released about events in Culiacán: ex-DEA official". Mexico News Daily. 2019-10-24. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  55. ^ Vizcarra, Marcos (21 October 2019). "Suman 14 muertos por balaceras en Culiacán". Reforma.
  56. ^ Monroy, Jorge. "Y la entidad, con al menos 8,000 soldados, policías y de la GN". El Economista. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  57. ^ "Durante operativo en Culiacán, sicarios atacaron unidad habitacional militar". www.unotv.com (in Spanish). 2019-10-30. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  58. ^ "How the Sinaloa Cartel Bested the Mexican Army". Time Magazine. 18 October 2019.
  59. ^ "El Chapo: Mexican president says police 'did right' to free drug lord's son". BBC News. 18 October 2019.
  60. ^ García, Arturo Rodríguez (2019-10-14). "Trabajamos para pacificar el país sin guerra, exterminios ni masacres, dice AMLO". Proceso (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  61. ^ "Login Grupo Reforma". www.reforma.com. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  62. ^ Associated Press. "Soldados de luto, mexicanos divididos por la decisión de AMLO de liberar al hijo de 'El Chapo'". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  63. ^ "AMLO dice que sigue extradición contra Ovidio Guzmán, hijo de El Chapo". www.milenio.com. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  64. ^ Lopez, Oscar (2023-05-31). "Mexico's president says he would support peace agreement with cartels". The Guardian. Retrieved 2023-05-23.
  65. ^ a b c Thannhäuser, René (23 February 2023). "Präsident von Mexiko verstaatlicht Lithium-Vorkommen". amerika21 (in German). Mondial21 e. V. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  66. ^ a b c Spitznagel, Sabrina (9 May 2023). "Senat von Mexiko verabschiedet Bergbaureform". amerika21 (in German). Mondial21 e. V. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  67. ^ a b Gerth, Sonja (8 March 2023). "Umstrittene Reform der nationalen Wahlbehörde von Mexiko in Kraft getreten". amerika21 (in German). Mondial21 e. V. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  68. ^ "Senate approves 'Plan B' electoral reform weakening the INE". Mexico News Daily. 23 February 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  69. ^ a b c Meier, Alondra (27 May 2023). "Mexiko: Staatssekretär für Menschenrechte durch Pegasus-Software ausgespäht". amerika21 (in German). Mondial21 e. V. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Presidency_of_Andrés_Manuel_López_Obrador&oldid=1226332747"