Page 12 - aruba-today-20181201

A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 1 december 2018
New leftist president promises transformation of Mexico

By MARK STEVENSON as it sounds, they need to
Associated Press make contact with the
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mex- people in the countryside."
ico's incoming president, He has taken a similar
Andres Manuel Lopez Ob- broad-brush approach to
rador, is folksy, plain-spo- Mexico's main problems.
ken, and spontaneous — For example, Lopez Ob-
perhaps too much so for rador wants to build an
financial markets, which expensive new refinery to
have been roiled in ad- restore Mexico, which now
vance of his inauguration imports much of its gaso-
Saturday. line, to the glory days of
Lopez Obrador is the first big oil in the 1970s, though
president since the Mexi- many analysts say that will
can Revolution to rise to only add to the woes of
prominence as a protest the debt-strapped state oil
leader, and he sees his in- company.
auguration as a historic He hasn't outlined any plan
"fourth transformation" of to stop gangs that drill ille-
Mexico, following indepen- gal taps into government
dence from Spain, the lib- In this Sept. 16, 2018 file photo, Mexico's President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador greets pipelines an average of
eral reforms that broke the supporters as he kicks off a nationwide tour after his election in Mazatlan, Mexico. 40 times every day, looting
church's dominance in the Associated Press a major source of govern-
1850s and the 1910-1917 ment revenues while oc-
revolution. 1 percent of registered more than a dozen years of line to cast his vote in one casionally sparking explo-
His calls for a crusade voters. "We will always be campaigning for the presi- of Lopez Obrador's "refer- sions and employing entire
against corruption and his looking for more legitima- dency. endums" last week. "This is neighborhoods as protec-
professed concern for the cy, more support from the That hands-on style echoes something innovative," he tive human shields.
common people often as- people," he said. the folksy autocracy of his said of the vote. "Before, He has also been vague
sume the proportion of a At the same time, the man hero of the 1930s, Lazaro the government never about how he will tackle
moral mission, with a zeal who built his political career Cardenas, who national- consulted us on anything. the drug cartels, kidnap-
that carries over to pet on defending the poor fac- ized the oil industry as a Before, when the govern- pers and extortionists who
projects, such as a costly es a huge immediate chal- nearly all-powerful presi- ment decided something, have boosted Mexico's ho-
rural railroad project, that lenge: the thousands of im- dent. But many worry about we only heard about it, micide rates to historic lev-
baffle or alarm critics. poverished Central Ameri- how well Lopez Obrador sometimes months, even els.
So, who will he listen to? It's can migrants camped out will respect the opposition, years later." Contrary to calls to return
pretty clear he hears the in squalid conditions on or the counterbalances put Gustavo de la Vega, a soldiers to their barracks
financial markets, at least the border with the United in place in recent decades 30-year-old industrial de- and remove them from ci-
when they make noise States and the thousands to limit presidential power. signer who also voted in vilian law enforcement, Lo-
about the prospect of a more on the way. U.S. Presi- "I think he is resurrecting the the referendum — but pez Obrador now has pro-
president who in the past dent Donald Trump has imperial presidency of 30 against some of the proj- posed creating a National
has railed against a "ma- threatened to close border or 40 years ago," said Jose ects — said, "I do have a Guard under military con-
fia of power" that included crossings to prevent them Antonio Crespo, a political lot of hope ... but we're not trol, subsuming the federal
major business figures. from entering, and Mexi- analyst at Mexico's Cen- giving him a blank check." police and military police.
One ratings agency down- co's new leader — once ter for Economic Research One project being put to That plan, too, lacks spe-
graded Mexico's outlook labeled a hot-head — ap- and Training. "But it is also the vote was Lopez Obra- cifics. "It doesn't have any
to "negative" and the peso pears ready to defuse the mixed with Lopez Obra- dor's plan for a "Maya train" strategies for action, it
and stocks have plunged situation by agreeing to dor's personal style, which that would link resorts like doesn't say how they're go-
in recent weeks after con- provide better housing for is disorderly, ambiguous, Cancun and Tulum with co- ing to do things," said Raul
flicting signals from Lopez the migrants while they contradictory and capri- lonial Merida and the jun- Benitez, a security expert
Obrador's team, prompting wait for months on Mexican cious." gle ruins of Palenque and and professor at the Na-
conciliatory words from the soil for a chance to apply "He is going to govern by Calakmul on the Yucatan tional Autonomous Univer-
incoming leader. for asylum in the U.S. whim, according to his Peninsula. He announced sity of Mexico.
"We are going to give a But Lopez Obrador dis- desires, and he's going to a start date for the $7.5 bil- So far, however, Lopez Ob-
lot of reassurance to inves- misses his domestic critics ride roughshod over institu- lion project, though there rador has proved surpris-
tors, to those who invest as "fifi" — Mexican slang for tions," Crespo said. has been no environmental ingly adept at handling
in shares, in companies, elitist or frivolous — saying On the other hand, many impact statement, serious foreign relations despite
in financial markets. Their they need to spend more of those who contributed economic feasibility study having almost no experi-
investments will be guar- time with the poor and to Lopez Obrador's crush- or consultation with indig- ence in the field, and when
anteed, and they will get people in small towns. ing tidal wave of victory enous communities, as re- confronted with Trump and
good returns, because Lopez Obrador, who led in the July 1 elections look quired by law. his sometimes threatening
there will be true rule of protests against oil pollution forward to his inauguration Lopez Obrador brushed off language toward Mexico.
law," Lopez Obrador said in in his swampy native state with enormous hope that experts who led a petition "He has a good relation-
a taped message four days of Tabasco, comes across he will wrest power from drive against the plan, ac- ship with the United States,"
before taking office. as friendly, if a bit obsti- market-oriented techno- cusing them of being out of Benitez said. "Foreign rela-
He boasts of listening to the nate, and surely has a kind crats, and produce jobs touch with the people. tions have been the best
people, and has submitted of charisma. and better wages. "Look at what the petition- area I have seen" in the
his pet projects to a series Certainly, no politician in Francisco Javier Martinez signers don't know," Lopez incoming administration.
of unofficial "referendums," Mexican history has shak- Cardenas, a 59-year-old Obrador wrote. "I say it with "He got involved in nego-
winning overwhelming sup- en more hands or toured street vendor who uses all respect and I recognize tiations on the free trade
port, though with the par- more dusty small towns crutches and has high the majority are very smart agreement, and that didn't
ticipation of only about than Lopez Obrador over blood pressure, waited in people, but as amazing go badly."q