Page 12 - AT

A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 27 sepTember 2018
Mexico president-elect criticized after reporter cheek-kiss

By PETER ORSI for an elected president.
Associated Press He rolls around in an un-
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mex- armored sedan, refuses
ico's president-elect has armed bodyguards, has
come under criticism over promised to sell off the
a video of him kissing a fe- presidential jet once in of-
male reporter on the cheek fice and intends to live in his
after she asked him a ques- own home instead of the
tion, the second recent in- presidential residence.
cident in which some said He speaks to and takes
he showed a lack of re- questions from the media
spect to women covering far more often than his pre-
him. decessor, and that acces-
The encounter came as sibility often leads to casual
Andres Manuel Lopez Ob- interactions with reporters
rador, who won July's presi- and citizens — the likes of
dential vote, was in Tijuana which are uncharted terri-
as part of a nationwide tory for Mexico.
thank-you tour ahead of his Jesus Ramirez, who will be
Dec. 1 inauguration. Lopez Obrador's press sec-
In the video, Lorena Garcia retary after Dec. 1, told El
of the local newspaper El Universal newspaper that
Mexicano asks Lopez Ob- the "sweethearts" remark
rador about next year's gu- Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexico's president-elect, speaks to residents in the border town was a normal interaction
bernatorial election in Baja at Plaza Miguel Hidalgo, on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. and he did not consider it
California state, which is Associated Press an insult, but "if ... they feel
home to Tijuana. He smiles, offended, I accept and un-
does not answer, turns the first time she had ever The encounter took place dor's actions came as he derstand their annoyance."
around, gives her a quick met Lopez Obrador in per- Sept. 20 but only gained declined to answer the fe- About the kiss, he said it
peck and then continues son and she found the ges- widespread attention this male journalists' questions. reflected Lopez Obrador's
walking to his car. ture "inappropriate." week as the video spread "I am always going to treat personal style of interacting
Airy cheek-kisses between "We are working. We do via social and traditional you like this with great re- with many people.
men and women are com- not have the intention media. spect and affection," Lo- "I think we have to put things
mon as a casual greeting of receiving or seeking a Lopez Obrador was also pez Obrador said about in perspective," Ramirez
in Mexican culture, but less greeting of this kind," Gar- criticized recently for ad- the earlier incident. Asked was quoted as saying. "The
so for formal, professional cia said. "Understand that dressing two women re- if it was sexist, he replied: "I journalist has a right to ex-
encounters, especially in- we are doing our job. It is porters as "sweethearts" have another vision, it is not press her annoyance, and
volving people who do not not something that I would when they tried to interview like that." if she felt offended that
know each other. like to continue happening him through the window of Lopez Obrador has raised must be pointed out be-
Garcia said in an interview to me every time I go out to his car. eyebrows for his populist cause it is about respecting
with MVS radio that it was report." In both cases, Lopez Obra- personal style, uncommon people."q

Study: Post-Maria contracts go to mainland, not Puerto Rico

By DANICA COTO economic boost a year the federal government
Associated Press after the Category 4 storm spent almost $12 billion in
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico hit and as the island is strug- the first 336 days after Hur-
(AP) — A study published gling to emerge from a 12- ricane Katrina, more than
Wednesday found that the year recession. double what has been
bulk of federal funds slated "This popular notion that spent so far in post-Maria
for post-hurricane recon- hurricanes and federal contracts in Puerto Rico.
struction efforts in Puerto funds are going to lift the Raul Santiago, co-author
Rico are going to mainland economy is not producing of the study and the cen-
companies, despite a fed- the results we're waiting ter's research associate,
eral provision that states for," said Deepak Lamba- noted that Katrina caused
local companies should re- Nieves, co-author of the an estimated $160 billion in
ceive priority. study and the center's in- damage, compared with
Of the nearly $5 billion al- vestigations director. the $140 billion that Puerto
located by the U.S. gov- Most federal funds are go- Rico's government is re-
ernment by late August ing toward construction, questing after Maria.
for work in Puerto Rico, In this May 16, 2018 file photo, a worker from the Cobra Ener- followed by services includ- He said that current con-
gy Company, contracted by the Army Corps of Engineers, in-
nearly $4.3 billion has been stalls power lines in the Barrio Martorel area of Yabucoa, a town ing engineering, inspection tracts could be amended
awarded to mainland U.S. where many residents continue without power in Puerto Rico. and remediation, which to include more Puerto
firms and less than 10 per- Associated Press have largely been award- Rico companies.
cent to Puerto Rico com- ed to U.S.-based firms. A spokeswoman for the U.S.
panies, according to the through late August after tracts after the storm, 24 of Meanwhile, local firms Federal Emergency Man-
study by the Center for a Hurricane Maria hit the U.S. them did not give any to have been contracted for agement Agency declined
New Economy. The Puerto territory. Puerto Rican firms. jobs including waste col- immediate comment, say-
Rico-based think tank ana- The study also found that The findings have raised lection, security and roof- ing officials had not yet
lyzed a federal database of the 45 federal agencies concerns that Puerto Rico ing, he said. obtained a copy of the
of contracts awarded that have awarded con- will not see the expected The study also found that study.q