by Miguel Toro During the second week of October, the President Elect, Andrés Manuel López Obrador continued his thank you tour meeting with citizens all over the country talking about how his policies will help their lives. Part of the week he traveled through the southern states where he met once again with the governors of those states to discuss the project of the Mayan train. It was there that he continued to discuss the potential benefits but dismissed criticisms that people that question the project have raised regarding to the fact that the new Mexico City’s airport project (which is 30% already built) will have to be approved by a citizen referendum while this one will not. In a move very similar to the current administration, he complained about how people complain too much about his policies when he has not even taken office.
On the Mexico City airport matter, part of his cabinet members released a report showcasing the potential benefits of the Santa Lucía military base option that has been presented as an alternative to the new one being built in Texcoco. They indicated that on Monday October 15th, the information about the citizen referendum and its question would be revealed. Meanwhile, during the other part of the week, AMLO exposed several ideas that sparked debate among political pundits in news analysis programs and op-eds. First of all, he said that it is more important to transform the country than to simulate fighting corruption by pursuing corrupt political figures. He indicated that his spending-cuts policies and furthering an honest way of managing the government will do more to fight corruption than the former option. This made opposing figures question the authenticity of his fight against corruption and the promises he did during his campaign (and since many years ago). Second of all, the President Elect said that starting with his administration no wage increase would be able to be below the official inflation levels for the year. This would be done through a new law that would prohibit employers from raising their worker’s salaries below inflation levels, raising eyebrows among the more orthodox economic pundits that believe this could potentially increase inflation. It must be noted that despite some controversy that may originate around abnormal behavior by members of Congress (i.e. last week a Federal Deputy from the Morena party was involved in a late night crash and an explosion that killed the taxi driver with which the Congressman crashed into), matters in Congress have little importance in Mexican politics unless directed by the Executive power. In Mexico, most policies and new bills are presented by the Executive power (introduced through some member of Congress from the President’s party) and rarely are initiated by members of Congress, specially opposition party members. The huge attention that the President centers ‘distracts’ Congress from being more proactive in setting the political agenda, despite the number of bills that can be presented in Congress. So even though the Chamber of Deputies is discussing AMLO’s first budget bill, this rarely makes headlines or sparks debates in op-eds. Nevertheless, the contents of this bill will be very relevant to see what kind of government AMLO may have and the things he wants to pursue during his first year in office.
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Manuel Franco
4/24/2023 10:41:27 am
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